Deven Brazier

EAST ALTON - An Alton man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to sexually assaulting an 8-year-old after he claimed the act was consensual.

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Deven Brazier, formerly of the 2300 block of LaSalle Drive told an officer that there was a “mutual relationship” with the 8-year-old girl. The East Alton “relationship” was between Nov. 25, 2016, and Nov. 25, 2017.

He also admitted to an attempted sexual act with an 11-month-old girl in Alton in May of 2021.

Brazier was sentenced to 37 years in prison for the predatory sexual assault of the 8-year-old girl in East Alton. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted criminal sexual assault of a child in relation to the crime committed in Alton.

Had he been convicted at trial, he could have been sentenced to natural life in prison. In exchange for his plea in the East Alton case, the state agreed to a sentence of 37 years in prison. He will have to serve at least 85 percent of that sentence.

The state also agreed to drop two other charges of predatory sexual assault of a child and aggravated criminal sexual abuse in the East Alton case.

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A court document states he spoke to an Alton officer after the May 2021 Alton incident in which the victim’s mother spotted Brazier in the midst of the attempted sex act with the toddler.

The Alton officer asked about the Alton incident, as well as the previous crime in East Alton.

Brazier told the Alton officer that the sex act in East Alton was consensual. He also admitted that the DNA from his saliva would appear on the toddler’s sex organ.

The document stated that the mother called the police and that, when Alton police arrived, Brazier immediately put his hands behind his back.

The plea was entered before Circuit Judge Kyle Napp, who said she was not aware of the alleged facts in the case and that she took no part in the plea negotiations. She bound herself to the agreement and pronounced the sentence.

Several family members of the victims appeared in court for the plea hearing.

“The victims are lucky they have you to fight for them,” the judge said to the relatives and friends.

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