The state’s attorney’s office is defending a plea deal for a man who was sentenced to 90 days in jail after prosecutors say he touched a child inappropriately and tried to kidnap a woman in North Chicago.
Ivan C. Hernandez, 32, of North Chicago, was charged in November with attempted kidnapping, aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and battery.
The North Chicago Police Department responded on November 13 to an apartment building in the 600 block of 10th Street for a report of an attempted kidnapping.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Francis DeRosa said at the time that a woman reported her 8-year-old daughter had been holding the rear door of their apartment while the woman threw out the trash.
Hernandez approached and began caressing and touching the child’s hair and face, DeRosa said.
The child’s aunt was close by and pulled the child inside the apartment building’s door.
Hernandez attempted to force his way inside and then fled the scene, DeRosa said.
Police officers arrived and learned of a second incident nearby involving Hernandez and a 45-year-old woman.
The woman had been walking on the sidewalk when she heard the commotion from the first incident.
DeRosa said Hernandez approached the woman on the sidewalk and grabbed her.
He began pulling the woman towards a parked car in a nearby lot, DeRosa said.
DeRosa said the woman was able to fight off Hernandez as he tried to force her into the car.
“The defendant’s actions make it clear he was intent on kidnapping a female,” DeRosa said during a detention hearing, adding that Hernandez poses a danger to all women in the community.
Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson Sara Avalos said that Hernandez told the woman to “get in the car” after grabbing her arm. The car did not belong to Hernandez.
The woman had moments prior chased after Hernandez after he touched the child.
A public defender for Hernandez said his client is married, has two children and does not have a past criminal history.
Hernandez was ordered detained in the Lake County Jail pending trial following his arrest.
Court records show he entered into a negotiated plea deal with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office late last month.
Hernandez pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony, in exchange for his other charges being dismissed.
Hernandez was sentenced to 180 days in jail and two years of probation pursuant to the plea agreement.
The 180 days in jail was to be served at 50% and he received credit for 107 days already served, meaning his sentence was complete upon the plea and he was released from the jail.
Hernandez was also ordered to complete 100 public service hours, not consume illegal drugs or alcohol, not possess any weapons and submit to random testing.
Avalos told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that Hernandez was highly intoxicated with two friends at the time of the incidents.
“The drunken defendant had no plan to kidnap anyone – certainly not on a public street in front of his friends and multiple people,” Avalos said in a statement.
“The veteran prosecutor and veteran victim specialist who handled this case care as much about safety as anyone in the community,” she said, adding that the victims did not return multiple attempts at contact by the state’s attorney’s office.