A former University of Illinois star running back charged in three 1990s sex attacks around the school was sentenced today to 90 years in prison for an assault on a student, according to the Champaign County State’s attorney.
Steven Feagin, 42, of Pompano Beach, Fla., was found guilty last month of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for a 1995 attack on a woman in her Urbana apartment building.
Authorities suspected him in other attacks in the mid-1990s. They had remained open cases until DNA from the Illinois incidents was matched to that from an unknown offender in a 2007 Florida case.
After learning of the match, Urbana police suspected that their offender may have been a U of I student who came from Florida.
Eventually, their investigation led to Feagin, who played football for the Illini from 1989 to 1992. A sample of his DNA was matched to some collected in the 1995 attack, authorities said.
Feagin has been held in the Champaign County jail in lieu of $10 million bail since his arrest last September. He awaits trial in two other assaults.
The 90-year sentence handed down by Judge Thomas Difanis was the maximum. Feagin must serve at least 45 years.
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