Former Aurora Elementary Teacher Gets 18 Years For Sexual Assault: SA

AURORA, IL — A former Aurora elementary school teacher was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday after he had been convicted of sexually assaulting a child between 2016 and 2017, the Kane County State’s Attorney announced.

Juan C. Avendano, 68, Aurora, was sentenced after he was convicted last year of three counts of felony criminal sexual assault of a child and three counts of felony aggravated criminal sexual assault, State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser announced.

Prosecutors alleged that between 2016 and 2017, Avendano made sexual contact with a victim who was younger than 13 years of age at the time. Avendano was a teacher at Bardwell Elementary School in East Aurora School District 131 and was the victim’s teacher at the time of the contact, Mosser said in a news release.

“Mr. Avendano took advantage of a relationship built on the trust of a vulnerable child. Fortunately, this child realized that Mr. Avendano was unworthy of trust and spoke up about his criminal acts,” Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Rodgers said in a statement released on Tuesday.

“Because of this child’s bravery, Mr. Avendano probably will spend most of the rest of his life in prison, preventing other children from being victimized.”

Illinois law stipulates that Avendano must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence. He has been credited with 276 days in the Kane County Jail. In addition to his prison sentence, Avendano is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.