Man Sentenced To 160 Years For Child Sex Abuse Wins Appeal

BOLINGBROOK, IL — Five years after he entered a blind plea admitting to four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a 6-year-old child, a Bolingbrook man has won his fight to withdraw his guilty plea. William Freund, 38, was sentenced to 160 years in prison for the assaults, which prosecutors said he recorded in photos that were discovered by his wife.

Freund entered the guilty plea in October 2014 and has been fighting to withdraw it since March 2015. His motion to withdraw the plea was denied by a Will County judge in June 2018.

But in July, the 3rd District Appellate Court found he pleaded guilty "based on a misapprehension of law," according to Suburban Life. The appellate court found that during Freund's plea hearing, Will County Judge Ed Burmila "erroneously admonished" him that he could not be made to serve the sentences one after the other.

In February 2015, Burmila sentenced Freund to 160 years, 40 for each count of predatory criminal sexual assault. "We can rest assured that William Freund will never take another step as a free man because of the appalling crime he committed against an innocent young girl," State's Attorney James Glasgow said at the time.

On Friday, Freund was remanded back to the Will County jail. His bond is set at $3 million, meaning he would need to post $300,000 to be released, according to jail records.

He is due in court Sept. 5 and Sept. 9, jail records said.

Freund was arrested in September 2011 after prosecutors said his wife discovered photographs he'd taken of the sexual assaults on a camera memory card. The assaults took place in 2009, according to authorities.