Fugitive charged with Joliet sexual assault apprehended

A Joliet man charged with sexual assault was apprehended after prosecutors accused him of removing his electronic monitoring device about nine months after his release from jail.

Kevin Spencer, 31, was transferred from the jail in LaSalle County to the Will County jail Thursday, Will County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.

Spencer’s new bond was set at $600,000.

Spencer was last in jail April 25 but was released after posting 10% of his $400,000 bond. He initially had been taken to jail after a Joliet police investigation that led to prosecutors charging him with the sexual assault of two teens.

Spencer faces a new charge of escape after prosecutors charged him with removing his monitoring device on or about Jan. 13.

Shorewood Deputy Police Chief Jason Barten said Jan. 13 that officers were at the Home Depot in Shorewood on an unrelated call when staff at the store brought an electronic monitoring device to their attention.

Officers secured the device but had to contact the Will County probation department to learn who was supposed to be wearing it, Barten said.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Jeffrey Brown filed a motion to revoke Spencer’s bond Jan. 13.

Brown’s motion said Spencer was out of the state without permission of the court Sept. 10 and faces felony charges in Lake County, Indiana. Spencer was charged in that county with criminal confinement and domestic battery, Brown said.

Brown said Spencer “disregarded this court system and its rules not only in leaving the state of Illinois without permission but allegedly violating numerous criminal statutes.”

In the Joliet case, officers responded to AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center on June 16, 2020, after receiving a report of a sexual assault, Joliet police said. Officers and detectives determined Spencer befriended two girls through social media and eventually sexually assaulted both of them, police said.