Plainfield Mom Fights to Close Loophole In Sex Offender Registry Act

Caption: Tina Estopare and her daughter, Stephanie, who was 15 when she was sexually abused by a trusted neighbor.

A Plainfield mom is lobbying state lawmakers to amend the Illinois Sex Offender Registry Act that would require abusers convicted of sexually motivated, misdemeanor battery offenses to register with the state as sex offenders.

Tina Estopare’s daughter, Stephanie, was 15 when a trusted neighbor sexually abused her in his basement in December 2011. She was allowed to leave three hours later only after the neighbor’s girlfriend called to let him know she was on her way home.

Immediately upon learning of the abuse the day on which it occurred, Stephanie’s parents called Plainfield police.

“The police went over there to talk to him, but he never came to the door,” Estopare recalled. “They asked his girlfriend and her parents to come down to the police station, but none of his family members would allow themselves to be interviewed.”

For the next seven months, the Estopares continued pressuring police to make an arrest. Finally in July 2012, the neighbor was arrested. Since there was no physical evidence, police could only charge him with misdemeanor battery and sexual exploitation of a child. The neighbor posted bail and was out of jail within an hour.

Conviction

Eventually the neighbor was convicted on two counts of misdemeanor battery in a bench trial before Will County Judge Bennett Braun. The neighbor, whose 2-year-son was allegedly in the room when the abuse occurred, was acquitted of the child sexual exploitation charge.

Upon the neighbor’s sentencing, Judge Braun called him “the luckiest man” in his courtroom and told him if he had been charged with a felony, “I would have found you guilty of that.”

The neighbor was sentenced to 364 days in the Will County Jail, but was released four months later before serving two years’ of supervised probation.

The Estopares were further stunned to learn that their daughter’s abuser would not have to register as a sex offender because battery was not an offense subject to sex offender registration.

“People who have children or provide child-related services, such as pre-schools, the YMCA, park districts, youth sports, they all need to know who the sex offenders are,” Estopare said. “This guy can get a job as a coach or walk into any school and be your child’s chaperone on a field trip. It’s frightening when you have sex offenders who aren’t registered because of legal manipulation.”

Putting her Life on Hold

Estopare put her successful business to the side and made her full-time job to change the law that allows abusers convicted of misdemeanor battery or those charged with felony sex crimes to plea down, in order to avoid the shame and embarrassment of being placed on the sex offender list.

The Plainfield mom soon caught the sympathetic ear of State Rep. Mark Batinick (97th District).

“Just the story itself about her daughter was upsetting to me,” Batinick said. “I have five kids and I coach. I know I wouldn’t want that guy coaching or being around my kids.”

Estopare easily convinced Batinick to sponsor a bill -- HB 2548 -- and from there it took off. The bill now has 20 co-sponsors in the Illinois House.

“The amended bill gives judges the discretion to put someone on the sex offender list if the court finds that the battery was sexually motivated,” Batinick said. “It matches the definition of a felony sex offense, but moves it to the misdemeanor side.”

California has a similar law on the books, but the law if currently being challenged in California courts for potential constitutional violations.

The Illinois version leaves the possibility of defendants charged with sexual motivated misdemeanor batteries of being added to the list after being found guilty in a court of law.

If passed, Illinois’s HB 2548 could serve as a model for other states. The bill is currently being reviewed by a House judiciary subcommittee. If it passes the Illinois House, State Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (49th District) has volunteered to run it through the state senate’s judiciary committee.

Support for Passage

Estopare has since garnered the support of 275 school superintendents across Illinois, as well the Will, DuPage, Kendall and Lake county state’s attorneys, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the Illinois State Board of Education, and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. All have urged the Illinois General Assembly to pass “Stephanie’s Law.”

Today, Stephanie Estopare is 19 years old and a college freshman. Her mother says she has blossomed into a beautiful young woman, but it took 2 ½ years of therapy and a lot of crying to get there.

“She’s on the dean’s list and majoring in criminal forensics because of what happened to her,” her mother said. “She’s a great human being.”

Sign the petition to amend the Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act on change.org.