DeKalb man gets 65 years for sex assault of a child

A DeKalb man was sentenced this week to more than 60 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child.

John Theis, 42, was sentenced Tuesday to 65 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, according to court documents. A jury found him guilty on April 16 of three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, according to court documents.

Circuit Judge Robbin Stuckert sentenced Theis to 20 years each for the sexual assault charges and five years for the sexual abuse charge.

Theis will have to serve 85 percent of the 60 years on the predatory criminal sexual abuse sentences, and at least half of the sentence for the aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge, according to court documents.

The sentences will be served consecutively, DeKalb County First Assistant State's Attorney Bill Engerman said, and Theis will have to serve at least 53 years of the sentence.

Engerman said he was pleased by the sentence, noting the state's attorney's office had spent a lot of time on the case.

"It's a substantial period of time and I think effectively he will spend the rest of his life in prison," he added.

Theis was found guilty of performing sex acts on a 2-year-old boy he was baby-sitting during the period between December 2004 and February 2005, according to court documents. He was charged Feb. 1, 2005, and indicted May 26 of the same year.

John Theis' wife, Valorie Theis, was sentenced in November 2007 to life in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting two children, one of them her own daughter and the other the same 2-year-old boy her husband was found guilty of assaulting. She was charged with four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, and was found guilty on each count.

DeKalb County Public Defender Regina Harris said she still has to speak with Theis to see if he wants file a motion to reconsider the sentence, which must be done before the case can be appealed. A motion for a new trial was denied Tuesday by Stuckert, Harris said.