ROCK FALLS – A 31-year-old registered sex offender from rural Rock Falls was sentenced to 2½ years of probation for bruising a 6-year-old boy

Cody T. Lopeman was arrested Feb. 2 and charged in Whiteside County court with aggravated battery of a child – for which he could have been sentenced to two to five years in prison – and with misdemeanor battery, which was dismissed March 20 per a plea agreement.

The boy was hit hard enough to bruise his buttocks, according to court records.

According to the Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registry, Lopeman also is known as Cody J. or Carly T. Lopeman, or Cody C. Ross.

When he was 18, Lopeman was convicted in Whiteside County of criminal sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to two years of probation and required to register as a sex offender.

He also was sentenced May 24, 2022, to four years of probation for burglary and July 8, 2022, to one year of conditional discharge for failure to register as a sex offender.