Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles, Ralphael Robinson paused expressionless as a man shouted at the North Aurora pastor from the gallery of Kane County Judge Linda Abrahamson’s courtroom Thursday.
“Release your people. Tell them what you did,” the man yelled at Robinson, who is accused of sexually assaulting and abusing a teenage girl at Kingdom Church in North Aurora.
The outburst, which followed 39-year-old Robinson’s first formal court appearance since his April 22 arrest, came after a bailiff warned those in the courtroom that no disruptive behavior would be tolerated. That announcement was in response to a woman yelling at Robinson supporters outside the courtroom during an earlier recess. The man and woman who yelled at Robinson were escorted to their vehicle by courthouse security and a victim services representative.
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Charging documents state Robinson — a convicted sex offender — fondled the girl April 18 at the church located on South Lincolnway Street in North Aurora. The girl confronted him about the alleged incident before going to authorities, according to published reports. Robinson, who is being represented by a public defender, remains held in Kane County Jail on $100,000 bail with a May 26 court appearance scheduled.
Robinson appears on the state’s sex offender list in connection to a 2004 sex abuse conviction in Cook County involving a teenager. He is required to register for life but was charged by Kane County prosecutors in 2013 with failing to do so in Aurora, where he lived in recent years. He pleaded guilty last year to a single count of violating sex offender rules and was placed on 30 months of probation, court records show. He was ordered not to commit any new crimes, to undergo a sex offender evaluation and to have no abusive contact with a woman.
Prosecutors have filed at least two violation of probation notices since Robinson’s guilty plea last year. The first violation was filed after officials were unable to activate his electronic home-monitoring system because the electricity at his residence was turned off for nonpayment of the bill. A second violation was alleged after police found Robinson had a website, blog and active Facebook account — things prohibited as part of his probation — after he claimed to have no such accounts, according to court documents.
Although Kingdom Church shut down its website and Facebook page, another entity operating at the church’s street address continues to promote Robinson’s work. Incorporated in May 2015, Ralphael Robinson Ministries is registered with the Illinois secretary of state’s office as a not-for-profit organization. Its website describes Robinson as the “senior leader” at Kingdom Church and someone who “has the amazing ability to diagnose the spiritual condition of a ministry/people.”
The site refers to “Dr. Robinson” and his methods which are “known to stimulate growth and success.” The ministries’ offerings include, among other things, books written by Robinson, a May seminar on “making prophecy work for you,” and credit repair services.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.