Man pleads guilty in trail attack

A Round Lake Beach man faces up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to attacking a woman on a jogging trail.

Circuit Judge George Bridges has already promised Robert Evans he is "looking at the high end of the sentencing range" when Evans returns to court Oct. 6.

Evans, 29, is the half-brother of serial rapist Christopher Hanson, currently serving a life sentence for a June, 2006 attack on a 19-year-old Wildwood woman on a jogging trail near Libertyville.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ken LaRue said Evans attacked a 19-year-old woman Oct. 31 as she jogged on the Millennium Trail near Wauconda.

He knocked her down and dragged her into some bushes before she was able to fight him off.

Evans was arrested a short time later, and while in custody confessed to an Oct. 8 attack on a 50-year-old woman working in a barn near Mundelein.

Evans was charged with attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault in both cases, and faces a mandatory prison term of six to 30 years because of his prior criminal record.

LaRue said he researched the possibility that Evans would face a mandatory life sentence as a habitual offender, but found he was not eligible for that sentence.

Evans has two convictions for burglary and one for aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

LaRue agreed to drop the charges against Evans in the Oct. 8 attack in exchange for his guilty plea in the Oct. 31 attack, but said the Oct. 8 victim will testify against Evans at the sentencing hearing.

Earlier this month, Bridges told Evans that because of the seriousness of the charges against him and his criminal history, any sentence handed down would likely be severe.

Evans is held on $1 million bond.