Man avoids prison, not deportation
A former Lake in the Hills man arrested in a 2005 Internet predator sting Friday avoided prison, but not a federal immigration agent, when a judge sentenced him to 30 months' probation, then turned him over for deportation.
Kadir Sadique, 33, could be headed back to his native Bangladesh as soon as Sunday as a result of his conviction for indecent solicitation stemming from the sting that ended with his arrest at Algonquin's Presidential Park.
Sadique, a married father of two living in the United States legally since 1995, plans to waive a federal hearing process on his deportation and pay his own way back to his country of origin, his attorney said.
His imminent departure from the United States, however, did little Friday to satisfy the mother of the teenage girl Sadique contacted over the Internet.
"I wanted him to go to prison," said the woman, whose name is not being disclosed to protect her daughter's identity. "I don't want him anywhere near any kids."
Her daughter, now 17, testified Friday that she began having online conversations with Sadique in March 2005. The discussions began innocently enough, she said, but soon turned sexually explicit.
"I told him he was creeping me out," she said. "I was uncomfortable with the conversations."
The girl's mother learned of the communications and made up the identity of a 14-year-old friend of her daughter's to continue the discussions.
Eventually, McHenry County sheriff's investigators took over and made plans, as the 14-year-old girl, to meet Sadique at the Algonquin park. When Sadique arrived for the meeting in June 2005, sheriff's detectives were waiting to arrest him.
Sadique, who moved to Schaumburg after his arrest, apologized Friday for his actions and denied prosecutors' accusations he regularly trolled the Internet looking for underage girls.
"I made a big mistake," he said. "I had no intentions to harm any kids at all."
Like the girl's mother, McHenry County prosecutors asked for a prison sentence, labeling Sadique a sexual predator. Among the evidence they presented Friday was testimony that Sadique had on his home computer child pornography and evidence of online discussions about sex with children.
But defense lawyer Daniel Regna said prison would serve no purpose since Sadique was facing permanent deportation.
"It would be a waste of taxpayers' dollars and resources," he said.
Judge Sharon Prather agreed with prosecutors' assessment of Sadique's behavior, calling it "repulsive" at one point, but decided under his circumstances probation was the appropriate sentence.