A 54-year-old Waukegan man was sentenced to 21 years in prison Monday for the repeated sexual assault of a victim under the age of 13.
Under a negotiated plea deal, Jose Hernandez-Tovar pleaded guilty to two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault against a child. The charge carried a possible sentence of six to 60 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
In exchange for the plea, the state dropped several additional counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and other charges that included child pornography and videotaping a minor. He will also be required to register as a sexual predator for life.
Hernandez-Tovar must serve a minimum of 85 percent of the 21-year sentence, but will be given credit for 591 days spent in the Lake County Jail since his arrest in October 2014.
Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Grindel said the criminal charges Hernandez-Tovar pleaded guilty to are related to the repeated assault of a girl that occurred between Jan. 1, 2007 and March 18, 2015.
Grindel said the girl’s family found inappropriate texts Hernandez-Tovar sent to the girl, which prompted a Waukegan police investigation that eventually led to an indictment on the charges.
Jed Stone, one of Hernandez-Tovar’s defense attorneys, said his client was abused as a child and the justice system isn’t doing enough to stop the cycle of abuse.
Stone said that while the defense agreed to the sentence, “there must be something better to do with the Jose Hernandez-Tovars of the world other than sending them to prison to die.”
Stone said a 21-year sentence is better than dying in prison, “but I think 21 years is way too long.”
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Hernandez-Tovar’s wife, Maria Hernandez, is the subject of an unrelated civil lawsuit filed earlier this year that claims Hernandez-Tovar sexually abused two young children. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for next month in Lake County Circuit Court.
The suit alleges Maria Hernandez “failed to provide adequate supervision” at a day care operation, according to Chicago attorney Bridget Duignan, who represents the plaintiff of the suit.
“In and around October of 2014, it became known that (the victims) had been repeatedly sexually abused by Jose Hernandez-Tovar, the defendant’s spouse, while at day care,” according to the suit.
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