An 82-year-old Oswego man has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl who was also a family member.
Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis announced that Allen A. Taft was convicted of three separate counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of Child and one count of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse following a jury trial held this week. The jury deliberated for just over one hour before returning guilty verdicts on all charges.
Charges against Taft were filed after an investigation began in April of 2022, when the victim, a family member of Taft, disclosed to law enforcement investigators that for approximately six years, starting when she was just 6 years old, Taft had committed multiple acts of sexual penetration on the child victim while inside Taft’s home. The victim, who is now an adult, had kept this abuse a secret for many years before coming forward to report the abuse to law enforcement. A detective from the Oswego Police Department interviewed Taft where he confirmed some of the acts he committed against the victim many years ago.
Weis stated that the courage of this victim and her confidence in the State’s Attorney’s Office to come forward and confront her abuser in open court, and testify about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of this offender allowed justice to be served.
Taft’s bond was immediately revoked, and he was remanded to the custody of the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office. Taft will be sentenced on October 8th, 2024. Taft’s faces a minimum sentence of 21 years in prison, effectively a life sentence given his age.
