CHICAGO - Attorney General Kwame Raoul today announced a Madison County jury has found a registered sex offender is a Sexually Violent Person (SVP).
Following the verdict, Madison County Circuit Court Judge Janet Heflin ordered Ricky Deering, 62, of Bethalto, Illinois, to be remanded back to the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). Deering returned to the Illinois Department of Human Services Treatment and Detention Facility in Rushville, where he has been since 2016.
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“I appreciate the jury’s work to find this offender to be a Sexually Violent Person,” Raoul said. “His criminal record shows a disturbing pattern of harming children, and now this verdict prevents him from being able to harm any more innocent children.”
In 1985, Deering was convicted of sexual abuse in Missouri and was sentenced to two years of probation. In 1990, he was convicted of attempting to commit sodomy and sexual abuse in Missouri and was sentenced to eight years in prison. In 1999, he was convicted of two counts of criminal sexual assault in Macoupin County, Illinois, and was sentenced to four years in prison. Most recently, in 2004, he was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault in Madison County and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. All but one of Deering’s victims in these cases were minors.
Under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, Raoul's office prosecutes cases seeking to commit offenders to the custody of IDHS. To be committed under the act, a person must have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder. Prosecutors must also prove that the offender is substantially likely to commit future acts of sexual violence if released from custody. Once committed to IDHS, 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 Agnes Bugaj and Megan Lintker handled the case for Raoul's Sexually Violent Persons Bureau.
