Former Illinois Rep. Nick Sauer has been sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty over four years after being charged with posting nude photos of women online.
Nick Sauer, 40, of Lake Barrington, was indicted by a grand jury in January 2019 on 12 charges.
The indictment charged Sauer with non-consensual dissemination of a private sexual image, a Class 4 felony.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office said at the time that the case involved two separate victims.
Sauer surrendered to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and appeared before a judge before being released after posting 10% of a $30,000 bond.
As part of his bond conditions, Sauer was ordered to have no contact with the victims and not use social media.
Illinois Legislative Inspector General Julie Porter notified the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office in July 2018 about the allegations against Sauer.
Sauer was a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives at the time.
He resigned hours after a report was published by POLITICO detailing the allegations.
In a criminal complaint filed by Kate Kelly, Sauer’s former girlfriend, she said that Sauer used an Instagram account to catfish men.
“Nick would use this account to direct message men with my photos to engage in graphic conversations of a sexual nature. The men believed they were communicating with me and Nick shared private details of my life,” Kelly said.
Sauer represented the 51st district, which included a large portion of Lake County.
Court records show Sauer, who pleaded not guilty in early 2019, entered into a negotiated plea deal on Monday with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office.
He pleaded guilty to one count of attempted non-consensual dissemination of a private sexual image, a Class A misdemeanor, in exchange for the rest of his charges being dismissed.
Sauer was sentenced to 90 days in the Lake County Jail, 120 hours of public service and two years of probation.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said the victims in the case were consulted on the plea negotiations. They submitted prepared statements in advance of Monday’s court hearing but there were technical problems with the court’s Zoom platform.
“The veteran prosecutors, who have been working on this case since 2018, worked very hard to hold this offender accountable through a jail sentence and to make sure he is monitored closely by probation in order to protect the community,” Rinehart said.
“Regardless of whether the case was a misdemeanor or a felony, he never would have been required to register as a sex offender under the current law,” the state’s attorney added.