A South Elgin man admitted Thursday that he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old Harvard girl and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Luis Velazquez-Pacheco, 40, pleaded guilty to predatory criminal sexual assault of a child younger than 13, a Class X felony, according to a judgment order signed by Judge Tiffany Davis in McHenry County court.

During Velazquez-Pacheco’s first court appearance in July 2024, Assistant State’s Attorney Anthony Marin said the defendant first assaulted the girl in 2020 when she was 10. Velazquez-Pacheco admitted to assaulting her at least three more times, Marin said in arguing Velazquez-Pacheco be detained pretrial, which was denied.

Marin said Velazquez-Pacheco would sometimes give the victim Benadryl or she would wake to find him assaulting her, and that Velazquez-Pacheco admitted to police that he committed the acts. The child, who reported the assaults to her grandmother, has said that she “hated her life,” Marin said.

Velazquez-Pacheco is required to serve 85% of his prison time, followed by three years to life of mandatory supervised release. He was immediately taken into custody Thursday, jail records show.