Sex Offender From Shorewood Must Remain Detained: Raoul

SHOREWOOD, IL — Attorney General Kwame Raoul issued a press release announcing that Will County Judge Ken Zelazo found Timothy Piper, a Channahon resident and registered sex offender who committed his crimes in Shorewood, to be a Sexually Violent Person.

The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s office.

Judge Zelazo ordered that Piper, now 52, be committed to the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services. Piper had been detained in the IDHS Treatment and Detention Facility awaiting his trial.

According to court records, the Channahon man was released from the Illinois Department of Corrections in the summer of 2018 and was being sent to Rushville, where the DHS has a treatment and detention facility.

“This repeat offender’s criminal history proves he is a danger to this community, but the judge’s decision prevents him from harming anyone else,” Raoul declared this week. “I am committed to protecting Illinois families and communities from those who prey on innocent children.”

According to Raoul, Piper pleaded guilty in 1995 in Will County to public indecency against a 13-year-old girl and a 10-year-old girl, then sentenced to one-year of conditional discharge. He was also convicted in Will County of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against an 11-year-old girl, then sentenced to 30 years in prison.

In 2018, Patch reported that Piper was familiar with the children, ages 10 and 11, that he victimized in 2003. "The victim told her mother that Mr. Piper touched her three times. When the Shorewood Police Department contacted the Channahon Police Department, the Channahon police informed them that Mr. Piper had been involved in an incident in a tanning salon where he was caught peeking over a partition and looking at someone tanning in the nude," court filings show.

On July 20, 2023, Piper was involved in an incident at Rushville that resulted in his placement on temporary special management status, Will County court files show. Piper had caused a disturbance and was being escorted back to his unit when he refused several orders to go to his room. He kept pushing his door open and blocking it so it could not be secured, court documents note. Piper then pushed two Rushville employees attempting to get away from them. He shoved his wheelchair into staff and moved a dietary cart into the staff.

Once Piper was secured into his room, Piper took the lid off his hot coffee and told staff, "Come on, you're going to get it," according to court files.

Under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, a person must have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder. The Attorney General’s office must also prove that the offender is likely to commit future acts of sexual violence if released from custody. Once committed to DHS, offenders are re-evaluated on a regular basis to determine if they continue to meet the criteria for commitment as a sexually violent person.

Assistant Attorneys General James Orescanin and Jennifer Zyznar handled the case for Raoul’s Sexually Violent Persons Bureau.