SYCAMORE – It took a jury less than three hours Thursday to find a Sycamore man guilty of molesting his stepdaughter more than 100 times, giving a judge the option of putting him behind bars for life.
Richard J. Janusz, 50, lived with his wife and two children in the 500 block of Nathan Lattin Lane in Sycamore’s Heron Creek subdivision – “one of the nicest subdivisions in our county,” as DeKalb County State’s Attorney Rick Amato said residents describe it.
Photos by Sandy Bressner – sbressner@shawmedia.com
Prosecutors said it was in that house that the abuse occurred starting in January 2010 and continuing until July 2014, when the girl, by then 11, told a Children’s Advocacy Center caseworker about the abuse. Prosecutors said Janusz sexually assaulted and photographed the victim, whom he had known since she was 2.
Janusz’s only real defense at trial was that he never had sex with the victim.
The jury of 10 women and two men found Janusz guilty on 11 counts of predatory criminal sex abuse of a child and four counts of production of child pornography. Janusz will be sentenced July 13 by Judge Philip Montgomery to between 90 and 450 years in prison, and must serve well more than 100 years, Amato said.
“You only hope the family can move on now and find some closure,” Amato said.
Janusz gave little more than a casual smile to his family, seated behind him, before he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
Amato said in his opening statement that the victim and her brother were interviewed July 31, 2014, by forensic interviewer Monique Heilemeier at the Children’s Advocacy Center at Family Service Agency as part of a standard risk of harm interview.
“What was disclosed during that interview was far from standard,” he said.
He said Janusz sexually assaulted the girl in multiple rooms and areas in the house.
The victim testified to what her stepfather did to her, and video was shown of Janusz admitting to CAC staff, while police were watching, that he’d had inappropriate contact with the girl at least 100 times and that he’d taken pictures of the assaults with his cellphone.
“He said that [he’d fondled her about 100 times] not once – he said that more than once, that he did these things to the girl he called his daughter,” Assistant State’s Attorney Alicia Caplan said during her closing statement Thursday afternoon.
Janusz (above) decided Thursday morning he would not take the stand; his lawyer, Peter Gruber, called no witnesses, nor did he present any evidence.
Gruber argued in his closing statement that Janusz readily admitted he’d committed “offensive, repugnant and disgusting” crimes.
“He made a choice: Am I going to protect myself, or am I going to tell the truth?” Gruber said. “He throws away his self-preservation. He tells the truth.”
(Caption: Assistant States Attorney Alicia Caplan gives closing arguments as Judge Philip Montgomery listens during the trial of Richard Janusz, charged with 15 counts of predatory criminal sex abuse of a child,Thursday at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore.)
Gruber said, however, that Janusz didn’t hesitate when asked whether he’d had sex with the victim.
“He doesn’t flinch,” Gruber said. “He said, ‘No.’ He has the same, relentless commitment to the truth. He confessed to what he did – at his own risk, and his own peril.”
Gruber also claimed the victim’s interviewer at CAC picked and chose which parts of the disclosure to document, opting not to report when the victim minimized the extent of the inappropriate contact with such responses as “not really,” “not that often” and “I don’t remember.”
The jury didn’t buy the argument, and said Janusz deserves a full sentence.
“We hope this is a case that will resonate and tell people, someone out there is listening,” said Holly Peifer, director of Children’s Advocacy Center.