An Illinois teen got four years on sex offender probation Friday in a plea deal for a Griffith rape case.
The Chicago Heights teen, 17, pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to strangulation and domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, both Level 6 felonies.
The Post-Tribune is not naming him because he is a minor. He will turn 18 later this month.
During a brief court hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Arnold and defense lawyer Michael Campbell asked Judge Samuel Cappas to accept the plea.
“You understand if you violate your probation, you have four years in prison, right,” Cappas asked.
“Yes,” the teen replied.
“I don’t want to see you back in here again,” Cappas told him later.
The teen was originally charged with raping a girl inside an apartment complex’s fitness room’s bathroom. Police responded on March 9.
The girl said the teen asked her to work out with him. They met outside a nearby restaurant and walked to the complex’s gym room.
The teen touched her while working out. He started to choke her, forced her to the nearby bathroom and raped her, the affidavit alleges.
The girl repeatedly told him no and said she could barely breathe. She went to the hospital for a rape exam.
Video footage appeared to show the teen getting “aggressive” and trying to “wrestle” the girl, then take her toward the bathroom. He left the bathroom after 10 minutes. The girl is seen crying on camera afterward.
The teen told police he believed he was “flirting” and “wrestling” and had consensual sex.