WAUKEGAN, Ill. (August 10, 2021) – A teacher’s aide for the Special Education District of Lake County (SEDOL) has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a mentally disabled adult student on multiple occasions over the course of two years.
In December of 2019, 50-year-old Israel Suaste-Gonzalez was arrested and charged with multiple counts of felony aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse after “Jane Doe” told a family member she was sexually abused on multiple occasions by Suaste-Gonzalez, whom she referred to as “her teacher.” The family member alerted Jane’s parents, who then contacted police, prompting a criminal investigation.
Gonzalez initially denied the allegations during police questioning, but later admitted to abusing Jane on at least five occasions between 2016 and 2018 in a conference room attached to Jane’s classroom.
On Thursday, August 5, 2021, Suaste-Gonzalez entered into a plea deal with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual assault in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the other charges. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 14.
A civil lawsuit filed by Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard against SEDOL in March of 2020 is still pending in Lake County Circuit Court. The lawsuit claims SEDOL recklessly failed to enforce its policy that male teachers should never be alone with female students for any amount of time, recklessly failed to have a sufficient number of personnel on staff, failed to adequately train staff about the prevention of sexual abuse, and improperly allowed a male to supervise a female student change her clothes. As a result of SEDOL’s reckless conduct, Jane was subjected to repeated sexual abuse.
“Jane Doe’s family and our legal team are satisfied that Mr. Suaste-Gonzalez pled guilty. We believe this helps us establish our case that SEDOL allowed these repeated assaults to occur on their watch,” Plaintiff’s attorney Tara R. Devine said.
“On several occasions, Jane Doe’s teacher asked where Jane and Mr. Gonzalez had been when they were late for the bus. Based on this and other suspicious behavior, SEDOL should have suspected Mr. Gonzalez was sexually abusing our client and done their due diligence. Instead, they recklessly continued to allow our client to be alone with Mr. Gonzalez for prolonged periods of time,” Plaintiff’s attorney Patrick A. Salvi said.
Please contact Marcie Mangan at mmangan@salvilaw.com or (312) 372-1227 for more information or to set up an interview with the family’s attorneys.
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[MR. AND MRS. DOE, as Co-Guardians of JANE DOE, a disabled adult, Plaintiffs, vs. SPECIAL EDUCATION DISTRICT OF LAKE COUNTY, a Local Public School District, SHARON HEFLER, Individually, ISRAEL SUASTE-GONZALEZ, Individually, Defendants.]
