With about 15 observers in the courtroom and another 15 watching via Zoom, a former Wonder Lake ski team instructor and grocery store owner admitted Tuesday to sexually abusing a child in the mid-1990s.

Allan J. Mrowka, 71, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child, a class 2 felony.

He was sentenced to two years of sexual offender probation, 180 days in McHenry County jail and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Judge Mark Gerhardt said in accepting Mrowka’s guilty plea.

Mrowka was taken into custody immediately following the hearing. He is required to serve 100% of his jail time, but is receiving credit for 116 days already in custody following his arrest, leaving 64 more days to serve.

Assistant State’s Attorney William Bruce said that had the case gone to trial, evidence would have shown Mrowka, then in his early 40s, “grabbed and cupped the buttocks” of a child as he helped him off a boat. The child, a member of the ski team, was 11 or 12 at the time, Bruce said.

Via Zoom, the victim in the criminal case against Mrowka read a statement. He thanked all who supported him and this case. Although he is the only person “formally recognized as a victim,” because of the statute of limitations, “this designation does not reflect reality,” he said. “The harm extended far beyond a single individual [and] the absence of additional names does not negate the truth of their experiences.”

“The recognition of the truth is what matters … it does not erase the harm but affirms that it occurred,” the man said.

At Mrowka’s initial court appearance following his arrest, a prosecutor said the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department had received “10 different reports” from other people who alleged long-ago misconduct by Mrowka. [He] would have been charged but for the statute of limitations” on those alleged incidents, Assistant State’s Attorney Sophia Dinkel said.

All of the allegations, Dinkel said, came from people who are now adults in their 40s who had been involved with the Wonder Lake Water Ski Show Team in their youth.

The prosecutor said some of the allegations that did not result in charges because of the statute of limitations included claimed sexual contact with and buying alcohol for boys Mrowka knew through the water ski team.

One of the other accusers for whom Mrowka was not charged said in a phone call following Tuesday’s hearing that the day is not for celebration.

“It is about the truth being acknowledged and the silence ending,” he said.

The man said the state’s attorney’s office worked well with accusers and that he’s happy with the outcome and a trial was avoided.

Mrowka must now follow several strict conditions of the sex offender registry, including not contacting the victim, being alone with any children under the age of 18 and not going within 500 feet of any public park, school or school property. He is not allowed to be in any establishments that cater to younger children, nor to buy or sell sexually explicit materials or consume alcohol or any drugs, including marijuana, even if he has a marijuana medical card, Bruce said. Mrowka also is required to take a lie detector test, participate in sex offender-specific counseling and submit to tests for sexually transmitted diseases.

In 2023, almost 30 years after the alleged abuse, Mrowka, the former owner of Wonder Foods in Wonder Lake, was arrested in Florida, where he was building a home and wintering. His accuser went to the police decades after the alleged abuse, according to court records.

In 1984, Mrowka pleaded guilty to one count of contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor in McHenry County and received probation, prosecutors said.