New Lenox man pleads guilty to 2003 Frankfort sexual assault
June 12
JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced that a New Lenox man who sexually assaulted a woman at gunpoint at her Frankfort place of business in 2003 pleaded guilty on Tuesday (June 12).
David Baller, 44, of 1201 S. Spencer Road, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault shortly before he was to stand trial. He faces up to 30 years in prison with no option for probation when he is sentenced before Circuit Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak on Aug. 23.
Baller entered the victim’s place of business at about 8 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2003 wearing a mask and a camouflage jacket. He forced the woman into a back office at gunpoint where he sexually assaulted her.
The victim was treated at a local hospital. Semen samples retrieved from the victim’s clothes enabled investigators to develop a DNA profile the assailant. However, there were no matches at the time for the profile in the national database.
Baller remained at large until 2005, when Flossmoor police questioned him in connection with a string of indecent exposures in their community. Baller also was connected at that time to a sexual assault in Orland Park in Cook County.
DNA evidence collected during the Orland Park investigation matched the profile in the Frankfort case. The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office immediately filed felony sexual assault charges against Baller.
He was convicted in the Orland Park case in 2006 and sentenced to 58 years in prison. The sentence he receives in the Frankfort case will run consecutive to the Cook County sentence. He must serve 85 percent of both sentences.
“David Baller crept up in the dark wearing a mask and armed with a gun when he committed this brutal act of sexual violence in Frankfort,” Glasgow said. “The sentencing guidelines for this crime ensure that this gutless sexual predator will never be free to harm another woman on our streets.”
Assistant State’s Attorneys Lea Norbut, criminal division chief, and Michael Fitzgerald worked with Frankfort police to build the case against Baller. A jury already had been selected when Baller pleaded guilty.