Coles County Jury Finds Defendant a Sexually Violent Person

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has announced a Coles County jury has found a registered sex offender is a Sexually Violent Person (SVP).

Following the verdict, Coles County Circuit Court Judge James Glenn ordered Kenneth Lewis, 59, to be remanded to the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). Lewis was transferred from the Illinois Department of Corrections to the IDHS Rushville SVP Treatment and Detention Facility in Rushville in 2020 to await his trial.

“I appreciate the jury’s work to find this offender to be a Sexually Violent Person,” Raoul said. “His criminal record shows a disturbing pattern of harming children, and now this verdict prevents him from being able to harm any more innocent children.”

Lewis was sentenced to a total of 20 consecutive years in prison after he was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in 2004 and aggravated criminal sexual abuse in 2005. Previously in 2001, he was sentenced to two months in jail after he was found guilty of rape in the state of Washington. Soon after in 2002, he was arrested but not formally charged for a child sexual offense.

Under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, Raoul's office prosecutes cases seeking to commit offenders to the custody of IDHS. To be committed under the act, a person must have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder. Prosecutors must also prove that the offender is likely to commit future acts of sexual violence if released from custody. Once committed to IDHS, offenders are re-evaluated on a regular basis to determine if they continue to meet the criteria for commitment as a sexually violent person.

Assistant Attorneys General Vanessa Minson and William Bryant handled the case for Raoul's Sexually Violent Persons Bureau.