An illegal Mexican immigrant deported twice before being charged with sexual assault for allegedly attacking a woman in St. Charles five years ago will appear in Kane County Court Friday.

Carlos Martinez Lopez, 24, of Aurora, faces three class X felony charges — aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual-abuse — for allegedly attacking a 32-year-old woman with a gun and forcing her to have sex with him after she left work on Dec. 21, 2002.

“The violent use of force makes the charges serious,” said Pam Monaco, Kane County prosecutor. “He committed a forcible sex assault and had a gun.”

Lopez was identified as the assailant last year because of a DNA match that tied him to the crime, Monaco said. Illinois law required him to submit a DNA sample after he was convicted on felony burglary charges in 2005.

A law passed four years ago in the state requires all convicted felons to submit DNA samples, which are kept in a police database, said Clint Hull, first assistant state’s attorney.

“It stays in the system forever,” Hull said.

Lopez snuck into the U.S. illegally for the third time last year, and was arrested in Aurora after being pulled over for a traffic violation and giving police a fake name, Monaco said.

Prosecutors realized they found the suspect they were looking for in the sexual assault case after they noticed a tattoo on the man’s body that matched the description of a tattoo the suspect had.

“When we looked at the booking photo and saw his identifying tattoo on his neck, we knew we had the right guy,” Monaco said. “It was one of those cases where we were like ‘I hope we get him’ — I was so thrilled.”

The victim of the sexual assault, a young mother with several children, was contacted and told the suspect was caught, and was very relieved and thankful, Monaco said.

If convicted, Lopez, who is being represented by public defender Dave Kliement, could face between six and 30 years in prison for the aggravated criminal sexual assault charge, in addition to four to 15 more years for the criminal sexual assault charge.

Probation is possible for the third charge, aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Lopez will be arraigned in front of Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon Friday, and is being held on $1 million bail in the Kane County Jail.

Mandatory DNA testing for felons has led to the arrests of many criminals throughout the state, Hull said.

A murder that took place 25 years ago in southern Illinois was finally solved recently after a man in Kane County who was arrested for burglary submitted a DNA sample.

“His DNA matched evidence at the crime scene, and we could tie him to it,” Hull said. “(DNA testing) has definitely resulted in a lot of cases being tried.”