Jan 14, 2009 6:55 pm US/Central
Union Leader Pleads Guilty To Child Sex Abuse
YORKVILLE, Ill. (Aurora Beacon News) ―
The former head of the Aurora Laborers Union has pleaded guilty to criminal sexual abuse.
Joseph Mann, 51, of the 200 block of East Galena Street, Big Rock, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after admitting he fondled two female family members on at least three different occasions, the Kendall County state's attorney's office said.
One girl was between 8 and 13 years old and the second victim was 4 years old when the abuse occurred, prosecutors said. The abuse occurred between 2000 and 2005 in unincorporated Kendall County, police said.
"When the offender is also a family member, the effects on the victim as well as the victim's family may be more dramatic than if the act was committed by a stranger," said Kendall County state's attorney Eric Weis.
Detectives interviewed Mann who gave statements regarding the sexual abuse of both children, prosecutors said.
Mann will begin his sentence Feb. 9 and will serve two years on parole after his sentence is completed. He will have to register as a sex offender.
A family member of the victims was relieved the case did not go to trial so the girls did not have to testify.
"They're survivors, not victims any longer," said the woman, who is not identified to protect the victim's identity. "We're just grateful that he will never be able to do this to a kid again."
Mann, a well-known figure in labor circles, retired from the union's leadership, shortly before he was charged. He stepped down after 20 years as the business manager, the top administrative post in the 700-member local.
At the time of the charges, union officials said they did not know about the criminal investigation at the time of his retirment, which he was eligible to take because of his 30-year career with the union.
His former co-workers said they were shocked to hear of the allegations. Mann never ran into trouble in managing the affairs of the union, where annual audits always came up clean, union officials said.
(CBS 2, the Naperville Sun and the Aurora Beacon-News are news partners covering stories in the western suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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