A Crystal Lake man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison after being found guilty of over a dozen sex crimes against a young female relative, who reported that she was sexually assaulted for over 13 years straight.
Arturo Hernandez-Pedraza, 42, of Crystal Lake, was found guilty by a jury in October of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, four counts of criminal sexual assault, three counts of sexual relations within families and one count of domestic battery.
Prosecutors said that Hernandez-Pedraza sexually assaulted the girl, who is now an adult, weekly and sometimes even daily for over 13 years, dating back to 2005.
McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Sharyl Eisenstein said that Hernandez-Pedraza threatened to kill her, her mother and her brother if she told anyone about the assaults.
The girl told her mother about the assaults when she was 6 years old. The church that she went to with her mother was informed of the allegations as well but they also did not report it to police, prosecutors previously said.
The girl reported the abuse again in 2018 to the church and church elders finally reported it to Crystal Lake police, who opened an investigation.
Hernandez-Pedraza was sentenced on Thursday by McHenry County Judge Michael Coppedge to 50 years in prison, but he will only be required to serve around 40 years and be required to register for life as a sex offender upon his release.
The case was investigated by Detective Eitel of the Crystal Lake Police Department and prosecuted by Sharyl Eisenstein and Susanne Groebner of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.