Former North Aurora pastor gets 14 years for sexually assaulting teen
A former pastor at a now-defunct North Aurora church has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after admitting to sexually assaulting a minor church member and failing to notify authorities of his new address as part of his sex offender status.
Ralphael J. Robinson, 41, formerly of the now-shuttered Kingdom church, was arrested and charged in April 2016 with aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sex abuse.
At the time of his arrest, he was on probation for failing to report to authorities a change of address as part of his lifetime sex offender registration requirements stemming from a sexual abuse case in 2004 in Cook County, in which he was guilty.
In May 2016, prosecutors added more felony charges that he failed for the second time to report a change of address and knowingly gave authorities false information, Kane County court records show.
Robinson pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual assault of a minor while in a position of trust and authority, as well as failure to report an address change, records show. He faced a top punishment of 22 years in prison - 15 years on the sexual assault charge and up to seven years on the failure to report the new address charge.
Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler accepted the plea agreement late last week.
Robinson was required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life after a 2004 conviction in Cook County for sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl when he was 25.
According to Kane County court records, Robinson was charged in September 2013 with failing to report a change of address to authorities in 2012. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 180 days of electronic home monitoring and 30 months of probation, which ran through October 2017 and included a requirement that he not commit any new crimes.
Under state law, Robinson can have his 14-year prison term cut in half for good behavior. He also gets credit for two years and five months served at the Kane County jail while the cases were pending, court records show.
The church, formerly on South Lincoln Street, eventually closed after Robinson's arrest.