Rockford man sentenced to life in prison for second sexual assault of child
James E. Melvin | Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office
SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A Rockford man was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting a child for the second time.
James E. Melvin, 40, was convicted in December of last year for assaulting a girl he knew, who was under the age of 13, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said in court that Melvin sexually assaulted the girl on February 27, 2009. The girl immediately told her mother, who called police.
Melvin, formerly of Carpentersville, pleaded guilty in the case that year. In 2015 the Illinois Appellate Court Second District ruled that his plea was improper, and returned the case to the trial court. He had been convicted of a similar crime in 1998 in Cook County, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
Melvin was found guilty on charges of felony predatory criminal sexual assault and six counts of felony aggravated predatory criminal sexual abuse last year by Kane County Circuit Judge James C. Hallock, who carried out his sentence Wednesday.
In addition to his sentence, Melvin must register for life as a sexual offender in accordance with the Illinois Sexual Offender Registration Act.