MORRISON – A Dixon man originally accused of molesting an 11-year-old girl pleaded guilty Friday in Whiteside County to a lesser, amended charge of stalking

Lloyd R. Hernandez Jr., 34, was charged July 16, 2020, with three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child younger than 13, which is punishable by three to seven years in prison, with no possibility of probation.

Those charges were amended Friday to include one count of stalking, also a felony, which is punishable by one to four years in prison and/or probation.

Per his plea agreement, Hernandez pleaded guilty to stalking; the other charges were dismissed.

He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years’ probation and 180 days in jail, with credit for time served.

He had been held in Whiteside County Jail on $100,000 bond since his arrest on Nov. 29, 2021. That’s 487 days, or one year, four months and two days of incarceration.

According to court records, Hernandez was accused of touching the child sexually three times, sometime between Feb. 4 and 5, 2020.

Hernandez also was convicted of three counts of burglary in 2008, and given four years probation; and of aggravated battery in 2011, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison. Both cases were in Whiteside County.