People v. De La Cruz, 2024 IL App (2d) 240381-U

Alfredo De La Cruz, a 71-year-old man with no criminal history, was charged in Lake County, Illinois, with aggravated criminal sexual assault and related sexual offenses against C.P., a severely disabled, nonverbal adult woman.
The alleged assault was captured on video and occurred while C.P.'s mother was cleaning De La Cruz's home; C.P. was present due to her need for constant supervision.
The State filed a petition to deny pretrial release, citing the seriousness of the alleged offenses and arguing that De La Cruz posed a threat to vulnerable individuals, especially in light of his wife's operation of a daycare.
The defense argued that De La Cruz's family would supervise him full-time if released, he would not have contact with the daycare, and highlighted his lack of prior criminal conduct and age.
The trial court granted pretrial detention, finding De La Cruz posed a real and present threat with no conditions able to mitigate this risk, but made only generalized findings rather than specific factual determinations.
On appeal, De La Cruz contended—based on People v. Martinez-Ortiz—that conditions were available to mitigate any real threat and that the lower court abused its discretion by not adequately considering such options.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether any conditions could mitigate defendant's real and present threat to others or the community	State argued no conditions would suffice and that defendant posed a risk to all vulnerable persons, relying on the severity of the alleged conduct and daycare proximity	De La Cruz argued for supervised release, citing age, lack of priors, family monitoring, and no further access to the victim	Trial court erred; conditions such as supervision and no-contact orders could mitigate risk; order reversed and remanded

(No official reporter citations provided, so none listed here)