Lake and McHenry County Scanner

15 years in prison for man convicted of sexually assaulting child in Marengo

Posted: 27 Apr 2022 05:11 PM PDT

Nathan N. Rieken, 25, of Rockton.

A Winnebago County man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Marengo, court records show.

Nathan N. Rieken, 25, of the 300 block of Valley Forge Trail in Rockton, was indicted on 10 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child.

The Marengo Police Department said in July 2019 that they received information about allegations of a sexual assault that took place in 2016.

Detectives conducted a thorough investigation and obtained an arrest warrant for Rieken on July 19, 2019, the department said.

Police did not release any further information about the assault but court records show the child was younger than 13 years old.

Rieken was taken into custody with the assistance of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Warrant Apprehension Unit and was transported to the McHenry County Jail.

Rieken was released in September 2019 after posting 10% of his $500,000 bond, court records show.

On Wednesday, Rieken pleaded guilty to one count of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony.

Prosecutors dismissed the rest of his charges as part of the plea deal.

McHenry County Judge Michael Coppedge approved the plea deal and sentenced Rieken to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Rieken will also be required to register as a sex offender for life. He was ordered to pay $6,789 in court fines and fees.

Child from McHenry County among dozens of victims groomed into making child pornography by California man

Posted: 27 Apr 2022 02:43 PM PDT

Sheriff’s police in Sacramento County, California arrest 24-year-old Demetrius Carl Davis on sex crime charges. | Provided Photo

A California man has been charged after police say he groomed and obtained child pornography from over 100 children on social media, including a child victim from McHenry County.

The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an online account that was uploading child sexual abuse material to the internet.

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Rod Grassmann said investigators in December executed a search warrant at the residence of 24-year-old Demetrius Carl Davis, a resident of Sacramento County, California.

Numerous screen recordings were discovered stored on Davis’s digital devices depicting children engaged in sexual acts.

Grassmann said that Davis is suspected of generating numerous fake social media accounts portraying himself as a female child named “Lizzy.”

He used the accounts to befriend and communicate with children on the internet in order to groom them.

After establishing a relationship with a child, Davis would direct them to produce child pornography and engage in sex acts with other children, Grassmann said.

Over 80 child victims have been positively identified across the United States, two of which reside in Illinois.

One of the victims includes a 13-year-old from Bull Valley, which is near Woodstock. The second Illinois victim is a 6-year-old from East Dubuque.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is assisting police in identifying victims that reside internationally, Grassmann said.

Davis is believed to have communicated with over 100 children between late 2020 and December 2021.

“Please check your children’s electronic devices if there is a way they could have had internet contact with people you are not familiar with,” Grassmann said.

Parents who believe their child may have engaged in illicit communications or sent illicit content to a subject named Lizzy over social media are asked to notify the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-3002 or by emailing ICAC@SACSheriff.com.

Davis is being held without bail on felony charges.