Alfredo De La Cruz, 71, of Beach Park.

An appeals court has ordered the release of a Beach Park man, who is charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a disabled victim, after calling a judge’s decision to detain him pending trial “an abuse of discretion.”

Alfredo De La Cruz, 71, of Beach Park, was charged in May with 17 various charges including aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, aggravated sexual abuse and criminal sexual abuse.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded on May 17 to an area hospital after a woman was being treated for a panic attack and disclosed her daughter had been sexually assaulted.

Sheriff’s detectives responded and spoke to the woman more in-depth about the allegation, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said.

Detectives learned the victim’s mother cleans De La Cruz’s home in the 10200 block of West Fairbanks Avenue in Beach Park.

Covelli said she had been cleaning the home for approximately two years and bringing her adult non-verbal, intellectually disabled daughter with her when she cleans.

The victim usually stayed in the living room of the home while her mother cleaned.

The mother of the victim became suspicious of De La Cruz after she noticed he appeared to be zipping his pants when she came downstairs into the living room area where her daughter was located, Covelli said.

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The mother of the victim placed a recording device to monitor her daughter on May 17.

After leaving the home, she watched the video and found De La Cruz was forcing her daughter into sexual acts, Covelli said.

Prosecutors said that De La Cruz was caught on video sexually assaulting the woman on more than five occasions in his home on May 17.

Prosecutors said the victim was unable to fend off the attacks and communicate afterward.

Sheriff’s detectives obtained an arrest warrant and arrested De La Cruz on May 21.

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain De La Cruz pending trial, calling him a real and present threat to the community.

Prosecutors said that De La Cruz’s wife owned a daycare which served children, some of which were young and non-verbal, and they argued that he poses a threat to them as well as the victim in the case, along with any other vulnerable person in the community.

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Attorneys for De La Cruz argued that he could be released and his family could be with him full-time to monitor him and that he would not be near his wife’s daycare in Waukegan.

Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak granted the petition to detain De La Cruz pending trial during a detention hearing in May.

The judge noted that while De La Cruz did not have a prior criminal history, the victim had no one to protect her and the video of the assault “speaks for itself.”

Defense attorneys filed a motion for relief from De La Cruz’s pre-trial detention on June 4.

Potkonjak denied the motion for relief after saying the “facts of this case were egregious to say the least.”

Defense attorneys later filed an appeal with the Illinois Second District Appellate Court seeking to have the pre-trial detention overturned.

On Friday, the appeals court released a 3-0 opinion in the case and reversed Potkonjak’s decision, saying the judge “erred.” They ordered De La Cruz to be released from custody pending trial with pre-trial release conditions.

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While the appellate court acknowledged De La Cruz’s actions were “egregious” and the charges were serious, they said no evidence was presented to show that conditions of release could not mitigate his alleged real and present threat to the community.

“Moreover, the purpose of pretrial detention is not to punish a defendant prior to trial for their alleged wrongdoing, no matter how repugnant. Under the plain language of the statute, the purpose of pretrial detention is to guard against a real and present threat, based on the specific articulable facts of the case, which cannot be sufficiently mitigated by conditions of the defendant’s pretrial release,” the opinion said.

The appellate court called Potkonjak’s ruling an “abuse of discretion” and said his “finding on conditions of release was against the manifest weight of the evidence.”

De La Cruz is expected to be released on Monday morning from the Lake County Jail following a court hearing where a judge will impose conditions of release.