Lake County child molestation trial gets under way

An 8-year-old girl was raped repeatedly over a period of months that ended last January, a Lake County prosecutor said Wednesday.

No, she was not, Carl Horak's defense attorney responded, because there was a house full of people who would have heard or seen something.

Horak, 26, formerly of Wauconda, is on trial for predatory sexual assault of a child and could face as much as 120 years in prison if convicted.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ari Fisz told the jury of 10 men and two women seated before Circuit Judge Fred Foreman that the victim trusted Horak and his wife, Tiffany Horak. The couple abused that trust, Fisz said, and committed what he called "a series of despicable acts" against her between September 2007 and January 2008.

Tiffany Horak, 27, pleaded guilty in July and agreed to testify against her husband in exchange for a prison sentence of 14 years.

She announced her desire to avoid testifying Tuesday, but Foreman said he would not grant her blanket protection of the Fifth Amendment. She is expected to take the stand sometime this week.

Fisz said the girl told a relative about the abuse she suffered at the hands of the Horaks, and Lake County sheriff's detectives were called.

"She is going to tell you that man repeatedly molested her," Fisz said in his opening statement. "She is going to say it happened again and again and again."

Defense attorney Robert Ritacca of Waukegan told the jurors his client never touched the girl, and was not living in the Wauconda Township house where she claims the abuse took place during some of the time when the attacks were to have occurred.

When Carl Horak was present, Ritacca said, there were several other adults in the house who would have had to be aware of something of that nature.

"Complaints of this nature have to be corroborated," Ritacca said. "It has to be shown, it has to be seen."

He also said a nurse, specially trained in the treatment and diagnosis of child sex abuse, will testify she found no physical signs of abuse during an examination of the girl.

But Fisz countered the nurse will also say she did not examine the girl until 10 days after the last attack, and it is possible any physical damage could have healed.

Testimony is expected to continue today.