A Stillman Valley man has pleaded not guilty to the predatory criminal sexual assault of a child.

Joseph G. Dreesen, 25, entered his not-guilty plea Wednesday, Dec. 3 and asked for a jury trial when he appeared with his attorney, Assistant Ogle County Public Defender Eric Morrow, for a preliminary hearing.

Dreesen was arrested Feb. 26 by Ogle County Sheriff’s Office detectives and the FBI after a search warrant was executed at a rural Stillman Valley home.

He was charged Feb. 27 with the Class X felony and is accused of knowingly committing “an act of contact, however slight” with a 6-year-old boy between Feb. 19, 2024, and Feb. 19, 2025.

Dreesen is accused of touching the boy for his own “sexual gratification or arousal,” according to court records.

Wednesday’s preliminary hearing was held seven months after Dreesen was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial following an evaluation by a court-appointed psychologist.

At that hearing, Associate Judge Anthony Peska rejected Dreesen’s attorney’s argument to release him from custody until he was deemed to be fit again. Instead, Peska ruled that Dreesen would remain in custody.

Dreesen was determined to be fit again in November.

During Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, Kevin Most, a former detective for the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office and now a detective/sergeant for the Oregon Police Department, testified that the sheriff’s department began investigating Dreesen following a complaint by a relative.

Most said the boy told his father that Dreesen had touched him inappropriately several times and would not stop when he asked him to.

During a Shining Star Children’s Advocacy Center interview, Most testified the boy said the contact occurred when Dreesen was watching him after he returned home from school.

“He [the boy] would tell him to stop, but he [Dreesen] would continue,” Most testified.

During a Feb. 26 interview at the sheriff’s department in Oregon, Most said he and an FBI officer asked Dreesen about the allegations.

“When I asked him if he knew why he was being interviewed he said because we had found out he was messing with [the boy],” Most testified.

Most said Dreesen acknowledged several times that the boy did not want to “do it”, but he continued because it made him [Dreesen] happy despite knowing he was “ruining” the juvenile’s life.

Most said an FBI officer took part in the interview because Dreesen was being investigated by that agency for allegedly possessing images of child sexual abuse. Dreesen is not charged in Ogle County for that offense.

During a preliminary hearing, a judge determines if there is enough probable cause to determine if the case should continue. Prosecutors can call witnesses and police officers to the stand to testify and defense attorneys can ask them questions during cross examination.

Peska ruled that Assistant State’s Attorney Melissa Voss had met the burden of probable cause to continue the case to trial.

Morrow entered Dreesen’s not guilty plea and demanded a jury trial. He requested the next hearing be set for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 5.

Class X felonies are punishable by six to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, with three years to natural life of mandatory supervised release. Defendants must serve 85% of their sentence and must register as a sex offender upon their release.