Lake in the Hills man, former substitute teacher at an Algonquin high school pleads guilty to grooming charges

A 26-year-old Lake in the Hills man has pleaded guilty to charges alleging he sent a sexually explicit message to a female sophomore student he taught while working as a substitute teacher at Jacobs High School in Algonquin.

Brandon Memmini, of the 800 block of Noelle Bend, on Thursday entered into a negotiated guilty plea to one count of grooming. In exchange for his plea, additional charges of grooming, one charge of indecent solicitation of a child and distributing explicit material to a minor were dismissed.

Memmini is accused of sending sexually explicit videos and messages through Snapchat, a social media platform, to a 15-year-old girl, according to documents filed in the McHenry County courthouse. The girl was a student at Jacobs High School in Algonquin where he was working as a substitute teacher for about six weeks in 2019 and 2020, according to a relative of the girl.

The indictment states he “attempted to seduce, solicit, lure or entice” the teen on Dec. 27, 2019, and Jan. 8, 2020. He was accused of doing so “with the intention to commit aggravated sexual abuse and/or criminal sexual assault.”

On Thursday Judge Michael Coppedge accepted the guilty plea but did not impose sentencing.

When Memmini is back in court on July 25, he will be sentenced to 24 months of probation, 180 days in McHenry County Jail, required to be served at 50%, and he must register as a sex offender for 10 years, Assistant State’s Attorney Tyler Mikan said.

Memmini also will be required to obtain a sex offender evaluation.

Had the case gone to trial, which was scheduled to begin Monday, and Memmini was found guilty on the class 4 felony he pleaded to, he could have faced between one and three years in prison.

Calls and emails to Memmini’s attorney and Jacobs High School were not immediately returned Monday.