Guilty Plea Or Trial For Elgin Social Worker In Assault Case

ELGIN, IL — A former Elgin Mental Health Center social worker accused of sexual assault will either plead guilty to felony charges Sept. 6, or will go to trial, court records reported, according to the Daily Herald. Christy L. Lenhardt, 55, of the 200 block of Paine Street, South Elgin, was in Kane County court last week, and is charged with more than two-dozen felony counts of sexual and official misconduct, stemming from accusations she sexually assaulted a man serving a sentence at the Elgin facility between November 2018 and January 2018, according to authorities, the news report added.

Right now Lenhardt is free on $9,000 bond, but if convicted, she could be sentenced to probation or anywhere up to five years in prison.

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The victim filed a lawsuit in November 2017 against Lenhardt and the mental health center, accusing Lenhardt of abusing him for over three years, in addition to accusing several medical staff members of covering up the abuse. Another lawsuit was filed against the same group in January 2018 by a second man who accuses Lenhardt of sexual assault, according to the Daily Herald. Those federal lawsuits are on hold until the Kane County court proceedings are finished, the news report added.

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