'Monster' Gets 90 Years For Brutal Rape
JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) -- A southwest suburban man who prosecutors called a "monster" was sentenced to 90 years in prison Wednesday for forcing his way into a woman's home and brutally raping her two years ago.
A jury in April found Russell Amos Jr., 46, of the 600 block of Whitley in Joliet guilty of one count of home invasion and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a release from the Will County State's Attorney's office said.
The three charges are all Class X felonies and Judge Carla Alessio Policandrioties handed down the maximum 30-year sentence on each, to be served consecutively, the release said.
The attack happened on April 15, 2009, when Amos struck up a conversation with the victim as she sat on her front porch, then followed her into her home and raped her, the release said.
During the rape, he took away a miniature baseball bat she had found to defend herself. She suffered serious internal injuries as a result of the attack, during which she was struck with the bat and choked, the release said.
Amos was convicted in 1988 for kidnapping a woman at gunpoint, served 10 years of his sentence and, after violating parole, was placed back behind bars for another three years, the release said.
He also was arrested in Will County in 1985 for holding a knife to a woman's throat and threatening to choke her, the release said.
"Russell Amos is an extraordinarily violent criminal who has proven over and over again that he is a threat to any defenseless woman in his path," State's Attorney James Glasgow said in the release.
"After hearing the facts of this horrific rape and home invasion ... Judge Policandriotes guaranteed that this monster will never again walk free to harm another woman," he said.
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