Sex Assault At Louis Mall Defendant Faces Truck Forfeiture

JOLIET, IL — Two months after the arrest of 58-year-old Joliet resident Juan Castellanos-Ventura on charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault, the Will County State's Attorney's Office has filed a forfeiture complaint to declare the defendant's 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 a forfeited asset for the police.

Prosecutors maintain that Castellanos-Ventura used his truck in the commission of a sexual assault of a Plainfield Central High School student back in January. A police report was filed in the incident on Feb. 7. A social worker at Plainfield Central High School told police that the girl had been someone sexually assaulted by someone she knew in January.

The student had been picked up after school, with her mother's permission, by her uncle's friend named "Juan," court records show.

Juan then drove the high school student to the Louis Joliet Mall parking lot where the sexual assault happened, the forfeiture noted. The student told authorities that the suspect worked at the Blueberry Hill Cafe in Plainfield, and she provided his phone number.

On Feb. 17, a Joliet Police detective attended an interview of the high school student at the Will County Child Advocacy Center. During the interview, the girl advised that on a Thursday in January, Juan picked her up and drove to the Louis Joliet Mall where he parked in the lot and sexually assaulted her while inside a gray truck. That truck is the subject of this week's forfeiture complaint, court records reflect.

A court hearing on the forfeiture of the Joliet man's Dodge Ram truck is set for June 14.

Castellanos has remained free awaiting trial after posting 10 percent of his $25,000 bail on March 1. Joliet police took him into custody on Feb. 24.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Sexual Abuse In Louis Mall Parking Lot: Joliet Man, 58, Arrested