PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — DeMarquis Turner of Peoria has pleaded not guilty to three counts of criminal sexual assault, a class 1 felony.
The dates of the alleged incidents are Sept. 28, 2004, March 18, 2010, and Nov. 1, 2016. The March 2010 incident allegedly involved sexual penetration by the use of or threat of force on a victim under the age of 18.
Sentencing ranges from 4-15 years for each offense.
He was assigned a public defender and will be back in court on Oct. 6 at 1 p.m.
Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos said there are other assaults believed to be connected to Turner, and her office will file a motion to enter pattern evidence.
“We really think there’s other victims out there that we don’t know of, that maybe didn’t report this for whatever reason, they were afraid, they were scared or felt no one was going to believe them, or maybe time passed and they never said anything. We want those individuals to know that we’re here, we’re listening,” Hoos said.
Turner was identified through DNA evidence and the work of Peoria Police Detective Christina Chavez and Peoria County Assistant States Attorney Deb Shelby.
“The scary part is this guy has been roaming the streets with us for years now, basically invincible but thankfully because of the DNA and technology and some advancements we’ve had, the world sees him now,” Hoos said.
Turner is currently being held on $1.25 million bond.
