Man gets maximum sentence for raping girl with cerebral palsy

A Harvard man who snatched a physically disabled girl from her wheelchair and raped her - and then allegedly threatened to kill her and her family if she told - was sentenced to 28 years in prison Friday.

"This monster took away her dignity and innocence," McHenry County Assistant State's Attorney Mary Baccam said. "He thought he picked a perfect victim because he mistakenly thought she wouldn't tell."

In September, Jose Luis Rojas, 29, pleaded guilty to predatory criminal sexual abuse against the 12-year-old girl who suffers from cerebral palsy. Rojas was acquainted with the girl. He entered the plea agreement under the condition that he could receive a maximum of only 28 years in prison.

The maximum is exactly what Judge Joseph Condon imposed on Rojas.

"His decision to engage in this behavior in regard to this particular victim was exceptionally cruel," Condon said.

Rojas' attorney, Assistant Public Defender Christopher Harmon, asked the judge for a six- to 10-year sentence.

"Jose has a very low intelligence," Harmon said. "He's even mildly mentally retarded."

During the sentencing hearing, Rojas gave a brief statement to the judge through a Spanish interpreter:

"I'm asking for forgiveness for what I've done. I am ashamed of what happened.

"If I could just have one opportunity to go back to my mother and family again. I won't do this again; and I will never come to this country again."

Rojas, not a U.S. citizen, will be deported after serving his time.

He will be required to serve a minimum of 24 years of his sentence.

The girl, who attended the sentencing hearing, was wheeled out of the courtroom after she became emotionally overwhelmed when Rojas asked the judge for forgiveness.

"Before, she was very happy despite her cerebral palsy and being in a wheelchair, but her smile has disappeared," her mother wrote in a victim-impact statement. "Now, she doesn't even want to play or smile with her brothers."

Rojas lived with the girl periodically since 2001. He was an extended member of the family and a father figure in her life, prosecutors said.

He raped her in May 2005 when she came into his room to ask to borrow a marker to use on first-communion invitations that she was making, prosecutors said.

McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi called the victim a hero.

"Despite the fact that she is forever confined to a wheelchair and struggles to communicate, she acted bravely in this case by promptly reporting this horrific crime and, in doing so, has protected other innocent children from this defendant." Bianchi said.

Source: Northwest Herald (nwherald.com)