A former McHenry man has been arrested and charged in Arkansas after the sheriff said he sexually assaulted a child and also kidnapped her while threatening her and a woman with a shotgun.
Marion County, Arkansas, Sheriff Gregg Alexander said his office arrested Steven M. Manson, 35, of Yellville, Arkansas. Manson is a former McHenry resident.
Manson was taken into custody on several felony charges stemming from two different incidents.
Alexander said Manson was accused of sexually assaulting a female child on November 20 and had threatened the child and an adult female with a gun on December 3.
The girl was brought to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on December 4 where she was interviewed by investigators.
Investigators arranged for the victim to be forensically interviewed at Grandma’s House, a Child Advocacy Center (CAC) in Mountain Home where she detailed that Manson had sexually assaulted her, Alexander said.
Manson was charged with one count of rape and sexual assault in the second degree. Bond was set at $100,000.
Manson was additionally charged with two counts of kidnapping, possession of firearms by certain persons, terroristic threatening and habitual offender. Bond was set at $250,000.
The second set of charges was the result of Manson threatening the same child and an adult female with a shotgun during an argument on December 3, Alexander said.
Investigators conducted a search warrant at Manson’s residence where they located and seized the firearm he allegedly used to threaten the victims.
Alexander said Manson is a Level 2 sex offender registered in Marion County, Arkansas.
He was previously convicted in Illinois of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and is a convicted felon prohibited by law from possessing firearms.
Court records show that the incident occurred in September 2010 in Woodstock.
The victim was a teenager and Manson was sentenced in 2012 to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Manson is currently wanted for failing to appear in court on Wednesday in a pending McHenry County case where he is accused of fleeing the scene of a crash that left a woman injured at Ackman Road and Lakewood Road in Lakewood in August 2023.