Testimony begins in Ogle County sexual assault, abuse case

OREGON – Attorneys for a Hillcrest man charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child told jurors Wednesday morning that they intend to prove their client, Jody Willis, 47, has been “wrongly accused” and is the victim of “made up stories.”

“A full investigation did not happen,” Russell Crull, one of Willis’ attorneys, said. “All the evidence will be is that somebody said something happened.”

Willis was charged with assaulting a girl younger than 13 between 2006 and 2008. He was arrested in March 2021 after an August 2020 Ogle County Sheriff’s Department investigation. He has been free on $250,000 bond since his arrest.

Willis, who was a Rochelle firefighter at the time of his arrest, also was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, which prosecutors allege occurred in 2007-2008 and 2013-2014.

Crull and Eric Arnquist of Rochelle are Willis’ defense attorneys and Assistant State’s Attorneys Matthew Leisten and Heather Kruse are the prosecutors. Judge John “Ben” Roe is presiding over the trial at the Ogle County Judicial Center.

The alleged assault victim testified Wednesday morning that the allegations stem from an incident she said happened when she was in elementary school and was alone with Willis at his Hillcrest home.

She described in graphic detail a game she said he had her take part in that preceded the alleged sexual assault. The alleged victim also testified that he sexually abused her when she was older.

Under cross examination by Arnquist, the alleged victim said she did not try to call out to her mother or tell her about the incident until 2020.

“You didn’t scream out ‘stop, he’s touching me?’” asked Arnquist. “No,” she replied.

Arnquist questioned why as an adult she invited him to a Christmas celebration and went on a vacation to the Northwoods of Wisconsin with him.

He also pointed out social media posts the alleged victim posted in 2019, which included the statement, “You are the best example of a great man. I thank God you crossed paths with me.”

Arnquist asked: “And you tagged Jody Willis?”

The alleged victim replied, “Yeah.”

Arnquist then began a line of questioning where he accused the alleged victim of fabricating the allegations against Willis, which she denied.

The alleged victim’s mother also testified and said she had never played the game with her daughter that Willis was accused of initiating.

Ogle County Lt. Brian Ketter testified he interviewed Willis after the mother contacted the sheriff’s department and made the allegations.

The jury heard a 17-minute video of that interview with some portions redacted through pretrial rulings by Roe.

In the video, Willis denied all the accusations. He said they did play a game but denied there was any sexual assault.

Testimony is slated to continue at 9 a.m. Thursday.