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Solicitation of a Minor

770: Brad Graven

Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Brad Graven is a former Moultrie County board member and he was an active volunteer for Illinois Rep. Mary Miller’s campaign. He not only collected signatures, he was given access to her legislative vehicle and drove her to meetings and events.

Miller was convicted of soliciting a minor. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and 40 days in the DuPage County Jail. He had arranged to meet with someone he thought was a teenage boy for sex, but he actually met a police officer.

Ironically, a frequent statement in Rep. Miller’s speeches is that people’s character is known by who they hang around with.

Sullivan man gets 40 days in jail on child sex charge March 4, 2005 | Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) Author/Byline: H&R Staff Report | Page: A5 | Section: News 294 Words | Readability: Lexile: 1510, grade level(s): >12 Read News Document WHEATON —A Sullivan man was sentenced to two years’ probation and 40 days in the DuPage County Jail after pleading guilty to indecent solicitation of a child. Brad Graven, 40, of Sullivan was sentenced to 40 days in the DuPage County Jail in Wheaton for indecent solicitation of a child, a Class 3 felony, according to DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett. Graven, who formerly worked in State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka’s office, pleaded guilty to indecent solicitation of a child in October 2004. At that time, the state dismissed one count of attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child, and the case was continued for sentencing. At Graven’s hearing Feb. 23, the state argued the need for a penitentiary sentence of three years because of the risk to the public and the need for deterrence, Birkett said. But Judge Perry Thompson disagreed with the state’s argument, saying probation requires Graven to receive counseling and mandates he report his whereabouts. "We believe that this defendant poses a risk to the public and that a sentence to the penitentiary was necessary to deter others," Birkett said. "Unfortunately, in this case, the trial court did not agree ..." In June 2003, Graven was charged with indecent solicitation of a child. During Graven’s hearing in late February, evidence was presented that at about 10:30 p.m. on June 28, 2003, Graven contacted an undercover Villa Park police officer who was posing as a teenage boy in an Internet chat room. During the course of the chat, the topic of a meeting was brought up, with Graven agreeing to meet the boy in a drug store parking lot in Villa Park to engage in inappropriate sexual activities, Birkett said. Graven arrived at the location at approximately 1:30 a.m. on June 29 and was arrested by Villa Park police officers.
Herald and Review
March 4, 2005

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