Illegal immigrant sentenced to 32 years for rape of woman in Amtrak station

Lasalle County, IL Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr sentenced an illegal immigrant to 32 years in prison for the attack on a 67 year old Dixon, IL woman at the Mendota, IL Amtrak station. Emerson A. Hernandez-Reyes, 27, of Peru, was sentenced to consecutive 14 year terms for 2 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and 4 years for robbery, for stealing the victim's cellphone. The aggravated criminal sexual assault charges require 85% time served, but the robbery charge require only 50% time served. Hernandez-Reyes will be 52 before being released from the Illinois Department Of Corrections.

He was charged March 30 after the Dixon woman reported she’d been sexually assaulted in the women’s room. Hernandez-Reyes, she said, had entered the restroom and advised her he wanted sex. She told police she did not know her assailant, who then punched her in the head, grabbed her by the neck and committed two forcible sex acts after she refused.

The victim was soon found by an unidentified motorist who stopped a Mendota police squad car and reported the crime. A short time later, armed with a cursory description of the man, La Salle County sheriff's deputies spotted the 6 foot-tall, 200-pound Hernandez walking south on Route 251 near North 39th Road and took him into custody.

Prosecutors said Friday that Hernandez-Reyes confessed to the crime. A DNA match between victim and assailant further corroborated the sexual assault.Public defender Tim Cappellini declined to comment on Friday’s disposition.

Theoretically, Hernandez-Reyes is scheduled for decades of mandatory supervised release, but more likely, he'll be deported, as he had an immigration hold even before the rape.