Man charged with sexually assaulting 7-year-old child in Glendale Heights

A Glendale Heights man has been accused of breaking into an apartment on Sunday and sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl.

Bail was denied Monday for Carlos Espinales-Guevara, 25, of the 200 block of Gladstone Drive.

He is charged with predatory criminal sexual assault - victim under 13 and home invasion - sex offense.

The charges allege that at 3 a.m. Sunday, while the victim was sleeping, Espinales-Guevara entered the family's home and then her bedroom. He got into her bed and assaulted her, authorities say.

The family dog alerted relatives, who removed Espinales-Guevara from the house and called 911.

Authorities allege he tried to re-enter the house.

According to the prosecutor's application to deny bail, the victim was sleeping in the bottom of a bunk bed. The application alleges Espinales-Guevara took some of the family shoes from outside their apartment door.

It also alleges that he then tried to enter another apartment in the complex. That resident, who also called the police, took a photograph of the man, in which he was carrying the shoes.

The application says that when police interviewed Espinales-Guevara, he told them he had drunk 12 to 16 beers that evening. He said he thought he was entering his own residence.

He also told police this reminded him of when he was warned by police in April, after talking to some children fishing in the complex's pond, not to approach children in such a manner, prosecutors say.

"Our children are our most vulnerable, and it is incumbent upon us to protect them from those who would do them harm," State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a news release. "Keeping sexual predators behind bars ensures that they will be unable to prey upon our innocent, defenseless children, and if found guilty of these crimes, that is exactly where Mr. Espinales-Guevara will find himself for a very long time."