Lemont Man Running For Congress Has 1995 Sexual Assault Conviction

LEMONT, IL — Eric Carlson, a Republican candidate in the 1st Congressional District race, was convicted of criminal sexual assault in 1995, according to Circuit Court of Cook County records.

Carlson, of Lemont, was arrested in 1994 after he sexually assaulted a woman after the South Side Irish Parade, court records state. The two "engaged in small talk" at a bar, and eventually left the bar together to go to another. When the woman got in Carlson's car, he drove around the corner and put it in park, and assaulted her as she pleaded with him to stop, according to court filings.

The circuit court found Carlson guilty of three counts of sexual assault, and he was sentenced to three four-year sentences to run consecutively, for a total of 12 years. According to the Chicago Tribune, he served six years.

Carlson unsuccessfully appealed his conviction in 1996.

Carlson told Patch in a email Tuesday that he was "wrongly convicted" and that he has "been asking for media to look into this matter for decades.”

Carlson is one of four Republican candidates vying for the June 28 GOP primary nod in Illinois’ 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He’s joined by fellow Republicans Philanise White, Geno Young and Jeffery T. Regnier.

Should Carlson win the Republican primary, he would likely be facing long odds in the historically Democratic-controlled seat. Outgoing U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush has held the seat since 1993. Rush announced back in January his intention not to seek reelection, which opened the door for a crowded field of 17 people seeking the Democratic nomination.

The 1st Congressional District map was redrawn following the completion of the 2020 U.S. Census. It now covers an area stretching from Chicago in the north all the way down to Bourbonnais in the southern end of the District, including the Villages of Lemont, Homer Glen, Lockport, Romeoville, Mokena, Frankfort, New Lenox and Manhattan.

Editor's note: Patch does not identify victims of sexual assault.