4½ years prison for Florida man who abused Aurora teen

A man who drove from Florida to Aurora to sexually abuse a teen he met on social media in 2017 was sentenced to 4½ years in prison and must register as a sex offender for life.

Tony F. DiMaio, 34, of Marathon, Florida, was sentenced last week by Kane County Judge David Kliment after pleading guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse and indecent solicitation of a child, both felonies.

Prosecutors said DiMaio made friends with the victim, who was between 13 and 16 years old, and gave his age as 17. DiMaio drove from his home to Aurora in November 2017 and sexually abused the victim, prosecutors said.

The victim's parents saw DiMaio on surveillance video the next day and alerted authorities.

DiMaio pleaded guilty to the charges in May in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the most severe charge of criminal sexual assault/victim unable to give consent.

The criminal sexual assault charge carried a top prison term of 15 years; the sexual abuse charge to which DiMaio pleaded guilty had a sentencing range of three to seven years in prison.

"Mr. DiMaio preyed on this child, convincing the child that he was a teenager when in truth he was a 31-year-old, married child predator," said State's Attorney Joe McMahon. "It is difficult to fathom the effort he went to have sex with a child, grooming the child online and driving to the Chicago area from south Florida."

Under state law, DiMaio can have his sentence halved for good behavior in prison.

DiMaio gets credit for two years and three months served at the Kane County jail, where he was held on $100,000 bail while his case was pending, meaning he soon could be released.