Man Gets 20 Years For Rape Of 12-Year-Old Girl, Has 6 Cases Pending
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A Chicago man accused in seven rapes was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday for his youngest victim, a 12-year-old girl.
James Hampton, was sentenced after being convicted of one count of predatory criminal sexual assault in June, Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said. Hampton must serve 85 percent of the sentence and after his release from prison, the judge ordered 20 years of mandatory supervised release, or parole, she said.
But Hampton will be up for a status hearing on another sexual assault case on Dec. 15.
In total, he is accused of seven rapes, including the one he was sentenced for on Monday, with the victim being a 12-year-old girl, authorities said.
Hampton, 32, allegedly attacked women and girls -- ranging from age 32 to age 12 -- between 1999 and 2005.
The Illinois State Police crime lab started linking DNA evidence collected from victims to one unknown offender -- known only as No. 231 -- in 2002. Detectives were able to track him down through vehicle registrations and cell records based on witness reports from the last attack in August 2005, Chief of Detectives Maria Maher said after Hampton was charged in 2007.
Wentworth Area Detective Arlen Pietrowski was assigned the case in August 2005 after the 12-year-old girl was raped. Pietrowski got good witness descriptions of the car Hampton was driving when he allegedly persuaded the 12-year-old girl to come with him so he could buy her new shoes, Maher said.
Hampton allegedly first took the girl to a house where he got his hair braided and then to a hotel in the 400 block of east Pershing Road, where he assaulted her for several hours.
Armed with the car description, Pietrowski checked logs at the hotel and came up with a list of vehicles. He then had to track down vehicle owners.
He finally found a woman in southern Illinois who knew Hampton and who led police to Hampton's cell phone. Eventually, detectives tracked Hampton through his cell phone to a restaurant in the 700 block of West 54th Street on Feb. 7 and arrested him there, Maher said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
