Elwood Sexual Assault Defendant Returned To Community After Judge Pavich Rejects SAFE-T-Act Petition

ELWOOD, IL —Alec Hill, a 30-year-old Elwood man who has served two different terms at the Illinois Department of Corrections for prior drug-dealing crimes involving cocaine and marijuana, will not be kept in the Will County Jail following the Will County State's Attorney's Office's filing of a criminal sexual assault charge against him.

Will County Judge John Pavich, who is running in the March 17 Illinois primary for Democrat justice on the Third District appellate court, rejected the petition to deny pretrial release for Hill, who is charged with 10 crimes including aggravated domestic battery and domestic battery.

The criminal complaint indicates that Hill, by the use of threat of force and for sexual gratification or arousal of the defendant or victim, placed his finger into the body of his female victim back on Sept. 8. According to the prosecution's petition to deny pretrial release, Officer Wellen of Elwood Police Department met with the victim and her mother back at 8:43 a.m. on Sept. 8 in reference an incident that happened overnight, with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Hill.

Elwood police officers did respond to the overnight incident, but no arrests were made at the time.

Then, seven hours later, in the presence of her mother, the victim told Elwood police that Hill burst into her friend's house without permission and took her cell phone out of her purse, court files show.

Once back at their shared residence, Hill pinned her down in gravel and ripped her phone out of her hand, bending back her pinky finger and her left hand. Hill then smashed her phone and yelled, "I hope I hurt you. I hope it's broken," prosecutors relayed.

Elwood police noted that the victim suffered abrasions on both elbows, skin torn off at the right elbow, redness and swelling above her right eyebrow and left cheek area.

During the interview at the police station, the victim spoke up and revealed, "there's one more thing I didn't tell you because it's just really f***** up." The victim revealed that later in the night, Hill pulled her pants down and "shoved his fingers up me to see if someone else, if I was with this person,'" she revealed, according to court documents.

The victim explained that the sexual assault happened after Elwood police responded to the house and told the parties to separate, court documents show. The victim relayed after the officer left, the victim was in her bed using her son's iPad, because her cell phone was now smashed, and that's when Hill began to question her saying, "What do you got under there?' What do you have in your bag" which was near the bed.

Hill then ripped off the bed covers stating, "What have you been f****** doing, huh? Let me see! then ripped down my pants and shoved at least two fingers up inside me," the victim told Elwood police, according to prosecutors. The victim said this happened two different times, the first time as she was trying to kick Hill off her and go to sleep, court documents show.

The victim maintained she was sexually assaulted around 3 a.m. and "(Alec) comes over again and does the same thing." Following the police interview, the victim was taken to Silver Cross Hospital, and she was diagnosed with a fracture to one of her fingers which ultimately required surgery.

"She also had significant pain in the elbow, ribs and back following trauma," prosecutors noted.

As for Hill's criminal history, Elwood's police officers are very familiar with him. He drew a two-year prison term in 2018 out of Will County for manufacture and delivery of marijuana, 30 to 500 grams. He had a similar conviction in 2016 out of Grundy County that resulted in a 30-month special conditional discharge sentence. He received one year at the Department of Corrections for a 2017 Cook County conviction involving possession of controlled substances, cocaine, and he received 24 months probation from Will County in 2015 for manufacture and delivery of controlled substances, which was cocaine.

At the time of his 2018 discharge from the Illinois Department of Corrections, court officials were notified Hill would return to Elwood to live with his father in the 100 block of West Park.

According to last week's ruling, Judge Pavich indicated that although the Illinois SAFE-T-Act gave him authority to keep a criminal sexual assault defendant detained, "the court denied the state's petition to detain for the following reasons 'no violation of the order of protection.'"

Court records show the victim obtained a Will County order of protection against Hill last fall. The contents of the order of protection were sealed by a different Will County judge last year.

Additionally, Judge Pavich determined that Hill does not need to placed under any type of electronic monitoring as he awaits his eventual trial on his 10 charges.

Instead, the judge ordered him to have no contact with the victim, and he must stay away from her address in Coal City "until further order of the court."

The judge ordered Hill to report to the Elwood Police Department "for processing.

Elwood police officials informed Joliet Patch that Hill did show up at the police station, however, because Judge Pavich already quashed the arrest warrant, police did not obtain a mugshot.

According to his campaign website Pavich for Justice, "On the Illinois Appellate Court, Judge John Pavich will work tirelessly to protect our rights, many of which are under threat from the federal government. The Illinois Constitution protects a woman's right to make decisions about her own body, the right to love who you love, and even the fundamental right to due process in our legal system. That is what's at stake here. Good judges are increasingly becoming our last defense of these rights and the rule of law itself. Please vote Democrat Judge John Pavich for the Illinois Appellate Court - 3rd District on March 17, 2026!"

As for the original arrest warrant, Alec Hill lives in the 100 block of West Gardner Street in Elwood. He is white, 6-foot-tall, 175 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. Judge Pavich instructed him to return to the Will County Courthouse on March 12 at 9 a.m. for his next pretrial hearing, set for Courtroom 405 of Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak. Hill is represented by private counsel, Coal City criminal defense attorney Jordan Kielian.