100 Year Sentence For Man Convicted Of 1999 Rape

LISLE, IL - A man who authorities say repeatedly entered the United States illegally from Mexico and whose DNA matched evidence from the sexual assault of a Lisle woman in 1999 has been sentenced to 100 years in prison. DuPage County Judge Robert Miller levied the sentence against Roberto Noyola-Espinal, 41, formerly of Texas. Noyola-Espinal must serve 85 percent of his sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections before he is eligible for parole, according to DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin.

A 63-year-old victim was at home in Lisle on Feb. 7, 1999 when a man knocked on the patio door to her apartment and forced himself inside after the victim opened it, originally thinking it was someone she knew. Once inside, the man physically and sexually assaulted the victim. DNA taken from Noyola-Espinal after he was arrested for illegally entering the United States in Houston in 2013 found him to be the perpetrator of the assault.

Authorities have said that Noyola-Espinal fled to Mexico after the assault and settled there.

In 2014, he was extradited from Texas to DuPage County and earlier this year was found guilty of home invasion and aggravated criminal sexual assault. An investigation by the Lisle Police Department found that Noyola-Espinal was deported from the United States and re-entered illegally before the sexual assault in 1998.

"Justice caught up with Mr. Noyola-Espinal to the tune of 100 years," Berlin said the day of the sentencing. "While justice may have been a long time coming, today Mr. Noyola-Espinal learned that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the atrocious acts he committed so many years ago."

Berlin thanked both police in Lisle and Downers Grove, "particularly Officer Javier Guzman," for their work in the more-than-decade-long investigation.

Photo via DuPage County State's Attorney's Office