Additional pleas net Inverness man expanded jail time

An Inverness man sentenced to 10 years in prison last year after a jury convicted him of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old swim student received an additional five years Monday in exchange for pleading guilty to molesting four other girls during swim lessons at a Palatine pool.

Former swim instructor Kevin Skowron, 23, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another 4-year-old student during a lesson and received five years in prison. The sentences must be served consecutively for a total of 15 years in prison.

Skowron also pleaded guilty to molesting three other female students ranging in age from 5 to 9. For those charges, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Fecarotta Jr. sentenced Skowron to seven years, to run concurrently with the other sentences.

Skowron must serve 85 percent of his sentences before he is eligible for release, after which he must serve five years on parole, authorities said. Additionally, the court ordered him to register as a sex offender.

The incidents took place between October and November 2008 at Palatine's Buehler YMCA.

Fecarotta cited the best interests of all the victims in accepting the guilty plea. He also ordered Skowron, who had no criminal background before his 2008 arrest, to undergo sex offender counseling.