Convicted child sex offender found guilty, again, of molesting young boy, rules DeKalb County judge

SYCAMORE — A former Sycamore man who’s already spent time in jail for molesting a young boy was found guilty Monday by a DeKalb County judge of molesting another boy whom he met through a Genoa church they attended almost a decade ago.

Ronald J. Bieberitz Sr., of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, faces up to 30 years in prison after he was found guilty by Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and indecent solicitation of a child. The charges came from several incidents that two young boys testified last week occurred between Nov. 1, 2013, and July 31, 2014, when Bieberitz lived in Sycamore.

Bieberitz did not appear to show visible reaction as Buick issued her ruling Monday afternoon at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. He wore jeans and a black polo layered over long sleeves, a black face mask and black tennis shoes. His left wrist appeared to be encased in a brace. He was joined by his defense attorney, Brian Morgan.

In her ruling, Buick said the victims’ testimony, as well as that of two other of Bieberitz’s victims who were allowed to testify during the two-day bench trial last week, showed that Bieberitz had a “propensity to commit the type of sex offenses alleged by the state.”

Buick said Bieberitz found ways to get the boys alone, including through informal one-on-one guitar lessons, to molest them.

“The two additional witnesses testified credibly that the defendant, as the defendant did with [the victim], befriended them, built a relationship with them to the point that these boys trusted the defendant, and the defendant sexually abused them,” Buick said.

Bieberitz was taken into police custody following the ruling, and awaits sentencing set for 10 a.m. Dec. 8. He already was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle at the time, Morgan said. Bieberitz has been out of jail since posting $10,000 bail Jan. 31, 2019, on a $100,000 arrest warrant after his Jan. 17, 2019, arrest, court records show.

Two days of graphic and detailed testimony from Bieberitz’s alleged victims concluded Thursday. The boys, who were between the ages of 6 and 12 at the time, said Bieberitz molested them multiple times between 2012 and 2014 during one-on-one informal guitar lessons.

Buick said she found that Morgan’s attempts during the trial to claim that accusations against his client were fabricated were not credible. Morgan had argued that the boys and Ronald Perry, pastor of Faith Tabernacle church in Genoa, concocted the story in retaliation for Bieberitz having ended a construction and landscaping business relationship he’d once had with Perry. Bieberitz was banned from the church on Feb. 2, 2014, Perry testified.

Prosecutors, however, had argued that Bieberitz had a clear pattern of behavior that led to the abuse. And that the boys – now 17 and 20, who offered testimony last week – were too young to understand fully what happened. The boys also testified they’d been fearful and embarrassed, deciding not to come forward initially.

The 17-year-old boy testified that he fell off his bicycle when he was 6 and Bieberitz, who was visiting his home at the time, offered to check him over to make sure he was OK. Bieberitz instead took the boy up to his bedroom closet, shut them in with the lights off and sexually assaulted him, the teen testified last week.

The 20-year-old said Bieberitz came up to him while he was laying in front of a fireplace and stuck his hands down his pants while his parents were in the other room. He was about 12 at the time.

The boys reported Bieberitz to police in July 2018, testimony showed.

It’s not the first time Bieberitz, who declined to offer testimony in his own defense, will serve time in prison for child sexual abuse.

Bieberitz was sentenced June 18, 2015, to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty in front of a DeKalb County judge to molesting a boy younger than 13 in a Sycamore residence where he lived at the time, records show. That boy, now 21, testified Wednesday that Bieberitz molested him in July 2014 by offering to give him a body massage and then sexually abusing him. The boy reported it to police on Dec. 16, 2014. Prosecutors pointed to testimony last week that showed the July 2014 victim didn’t know Bieberitz’s other victims, never attended Faith Tabernacle and had no connection to the victims’ families.

After serving two years, Bieberitz was paroled June 27, 2017, and was projected to be discharged April 5, 2019, records state. He faces a minimum of six years in prison after the Monday guilty verdict.

Even as he awaits sentencing, Bieberitz still faces additional charges. Last week’s trial focused on the molestation of the older boy.

Bieberitz’s other charges, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involve the younger boy. That case is being tried separately. Both boys were able to testify during the trial, however, at Buick’s ruling because prosecutors said it would prove Bieberitz’s pattern of “victimizing young children.”