JOLIET – While attention was focused on the tragic death of Iowa jogger Mollie Tibbetts this week, an illegal alien that should have been deported six years ago was sentenced to 80 years for raping three Joliet area women joggers.
The attacker confessed to raping three women at various times between 2014 and 2015 as they ran alongside Joliet's I & M Canal. He tied up his victims, threatened using a knife on them, and then left the victims to the elements after the attacks.
Local news sources report the attacker identified himself as Miguel C. Luna, but had several other aliases, including Francisco, Pedro Flores and Enrique Zanchez. Luna’s attorney Marzell Richardson wasn't even sure of the man's name. He said he believed Luna’s name might be Miguel Luna Castaneda.
The uncertainty frustrated the Will County judge overseeing the sentencing.
The uncertainty of the attacker's identity posed a problem for Will County Judge Dave Carlson, since he pleaded guilty under the name Miguel C. Luna.
“I want to know who that person is. I want to know this person who pleaded guilty to this charge,” Carlson said.
Carlson noted that Luna was a fugitive wanted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and that he should have been deported from the U.S. in 2012. He read off Luna’s ICE fugitive number in court.
“Miguel Luna is in this country illegally. This ruthlessly violent sexual predator should never have had the opportunity to brutally prey upon these innocent young women,” Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in a news release.
Glasgow said Luna “terrorized our community by repeatedly committing the most vicious sexual assaults against unsuspecting women in an historic area that people from throughout the region safely enjoy for recreation.”
Fox News reported Glasgow's comments to Luna:
“You were free to do these acts…whether through misguided political correctness or people who do not believe in laws or borders,” Carlson said. “One thing I can do with the sentence is show that the laws we believe in here, maybe this won’t happen again, maybe that’s a little bit of closure.”
