Sex Crimes

After an arrest for a sex crime, it is imperative that you work quickly to retain the legal defense of a trusted attorney. Your future on the line – you could be facing prison time, fines, restitution, and probation. If you are convicted of a sex crime, then you may need to spend the rest of your life registering in a sex offender registry. There is a lot at stake after an arrest, and if you have been taken into custody or know that an investigation is under way, you need to schedule a case evaluation with Attorney Fred Mark Dry today. Your future could depend on his legal counsel.

If you are convicted of a sexual offense, such as date rape, sexual abuse, prostitution and solicitation, or internet sex crimes such as child pornography, you could be held accountable for your actions for the rest of your life. After a conviction, you will be required to register with the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, which will provide personal information about you to the public. On this registry, your name, offense, home address, and information that distinguishes you, such as height, weight and tattoos, will be made available. If, after your conviction, you fail to register with your local law enforcement or you fail to do so after a move or address change, you will face prison, probation and increased sentencing.

There is so much on the line after a sex crime accusation; you need to ensure that you work with a trusted Cook County criminal defense attorney. Fred Mark Dry stands ready to provide you with outstanding representation for your case. Even a charge for a sex crime can be detrimental to your future and livelihood, so it is important that you act quickly to retain trusted legal counsel. Attorney Dry can investigate every aspect of your case, gather evidence, and interview witnesses to help determine the strength of the case against you, if there are fefenses and if your rights were violated in any way. You need to work with Fred Mark Dry immediately after an investigation or arrest. Contact the firm today to schedule case evaluation as soon as possible.

Interviewer: How long have you worked with sex crime cases?

Fred Dry: I’ve been defending people on criminal cases including sex crimes since 1975, so next year in the fall, I’ll celebrate my 40th anniversary of defending people.

Interviewer: What are some of the common sex crimes that people allegedly commit?

Fred Dry: The names of the crimes are criminal sexual abuse or aggravated criminal sexual abuse or criminal sexual assault or aggravated criminal sexual assault. But those are the typical types of activities that we know by other names like rape and sodomy and assaulting children and forced sexual encounters of every kind, nature or description that you could imagine. It’s just that the name of the crime is different because the name includes several definitions of different types of behavior that people shouldn’t be engaging in.

Interviewer: What are rape crimes and what’s the scenario with those typically?

Fred Dry: The rape is a compelled or forced sexual encounter and that might include any type of sexual encounter with an unwilling partner. Or the person is not legally able to consent or does not understand the nature of the act. That might be intercourse or it might be some other kind of sexual conduct. It may be just an inappropriate touching; it doesn’t have to be intercourse. But it tends to describe a crime where there is an unwilling partner or a partner who is, under the law, unable to legally give consent, an underage person and typically known as statutory rape.

Interviewer: Are there any sort of misdemeanor offenses that are sex crimes?

Fred Dry: Not very many, if any. However, Criminal Sex Abuse can be a misdemeanor 720 ILCS 5/11-1.50(d) where both people are under 17 years of age as well as Prostitution and Solicitation of a Sex Act. The penalties for these types of crimes have gotten more, I wouldn’t say extreme but more severe. And during the time I have practiced law, I think that’s probably due to the fact that we’re more aware of these things happening, and maybe because the government is more aggressive in prosecuting. Also, people are more likely to come forward when these things happen in their lives, unlike in the past where people were ashamed and for other reasons, they might not come forward and make a complaint and now it’s very common for people to complain as opposed to keeping it to themselves.

Interviewer: What about indecent exposure, would that be considered as sex offense or some sort of sex crime?

Fred Dry: Indecent exposure might be a misdemeanor in the absence of aggravating circumstances and is not listed as requiring sex offender registration. Indecent Solicitation of a Child (720 ILCS 5/11-6), Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child (720 ILCS 5/11-1.40), Criminal Sexual Abuse involving force or threat of force (720 ILCS5/11-1.50), Aggravated Criminal Sex Abuse (720 ILCS 5/11-1.60) are examples of those offenses which will make a person who’s convicted to register as a sex offender and being subject to all those restrictions that that might include. Some of the restrictions might be that you can’t live within a 1,000 feet of a school or other types of places where children congregate like a park. When we’re saying 1,000 feet, we’re not saying 1,000 feet where you have to walk a square corner around the block; we’re talking of 1,000 feet radius. So, if you were to draw a circle from the nearest schoolyard with a 1,000 foot radius, that’s where people can’t live if they are sex offenders. So, it’s not only the potential for fines and imprisonment than just the opprobrium in the community of being as convicted sex offender and there are other restrictions. So, defending those cases become increasingly important.

Call for a case evaluation or to set up an appointment at our downtown Chicago office.