Former McHenry man once deemed ‘sexually violent’ released from mental health facility

A former McHenry man, once deemed “sexually violent” after serving prison time for sexually abusing a 6-year-old in 1993, was granted conditional release Thursday, freeing him from a mental health facility.

Howard McGee Jr., 57, who had been in custody since 2002 at the Illinois Department of Human Services Treatment and Detention Facility in Rushville, appeared Thursday on video in the McHenry County courtroom of Judge Tiffany Davis.

Assistant Attorney General Judy Shammo was in court representing the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and tendered a conditional release plan to the judge outlining a plan to monitor McGee.

Should he violate the treatment plan, which McGee initialed and signed, his conditional release would be revoked and he would be returned to the custody of IDHS, Davis said.

McGee is in “full agreement with conditions and is aware of the admonishments,” Shammo said.

In a previous hearing held before Davis in June, Shammo said McGee had been evaluated by two doctors who wrote reports that were “in agreement” that he no longer is considered a “sexually violent” person and is eligible for conditional release.

He needs to be in a situation where he can’t escape treatment.”

—  Phil Reibda, a psychologist who examined Howard McGee before a 2003 hearing over whether he was a sexually violent person

Davis wished McGee luck Thursday and said, “I hope you are able to comply with everything.”

On Oct. 19, 1993, a judge found McGee guilty but mentally ill when he sexually abused a McHenry girl after luring her away from her friends while they were riding bikes. He took her into a storage unit where he sexually abused her, according to court records and Northwest Herald articles from 1993 and 2003.

Doctors at the time diagnosed McGee as “mildly retarded,” according to the earlier stories.

The 2003 article covered the hearing debating whether McGee should be confined as a sexually violent person after he served nine of his 18-year prison sentence.

At the time, McGee was the second man state and local prosecutors had attempted to commit in McHenry County under the 1998 Illinois Sexually Violent Person’s Commitment Act, according to the article.

Phil Reibda, a psychologist who examined McGee before the 2003 hearing, testified that McGee was “a pedophile with a high risk to offend again.”

Prior to being convicted for abusing the 6-year-old McHenry child, McGee had been charged four times “for sexual attacks on children,” a doctor said, according to the 2003 story.

“He needs to be in a situation where he can’t escape treatment,” Reibda said.

McGee was granted conditional release after both an IDHS evaluator and a state-retained evaluator determined he had made sufficient progress in treatment to be safely managed on conditional release, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office spokesman.

While on conditional release, McGee will have housing provided by the state and he will be assigned a conditional release agent to supervise the conditions he must meet, according to the attorney general’s office.

The first condition of a once “sexually violent” person released from IDHS is that the local municipal police department as well as county sheriff where he will be living will be notified, unless the departments waive that requirement, according to the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act.

The law also states that the person shall not reside at the same street address as another sex offender who is under any manner of supervision. He also may not violate any criminal statute, possess firearms or any dangerous weapons, or leave the state without consent of the courts.

He must attend and fully participate in treatment and behavior monitoring, including medical, psychological, psychiatric treatments specific to sexual offenses, as well as drug abuse or alcoholism treatment, according to the act.

According to the Illinois State Police Sex Offender website, McGee is living in Bloomington.