Judge sentences Joliet man to life in prison for predatory criminal sexual assault

A Joliet man will serve life in prison after he was convicted of the predatory criminal sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in 2017.

On Wednesday, Will County Judge Sarah Jones sentenced Vincent Winters, 58, to life in prison following a trial last year where Winters was found guilty of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Winters received the life sentence as a result of his previous aggravated criminal sexual assault conviction from 1993, according to a statement from Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Office.

“Winters is a repulsive and depraved predator who used a mother’s need for help as his opportunity to sexually prey on a little girl in her own home while her mother was hard at work at a new job trying to take care of her children,” Glasgow said in a statement.

Glasgow called Winters a “deviant degenerate individual” who will spend his life “locked away from society so that he cannot harm another innocent child.”

Glasgow thanked Will County Assistant State’s Attorneys Jeffrey Brown and Amanda Tasker for their prosecution of the case.

He also thanked his victim witness advocate, Emma Rannells, legal secretary Jean O’Donnell, information technology specialist Bob Valiska, Joliet police officer Daniel Willis, and retired Joliet police detective Shawn Filipiak.

Glasgow said he also commended the work of Jaclyn Lundquist, a forensic interviewer for the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center.

Glasgow established the center in 1995 to offer services and advocacy to children who are victims of physical and sexual abuse.

Winters decided to represent himself in the case after it was filed Aug. 10, 2022. He filed motions that were denied by Jones, such as motion to suppress evidence and the appointment of a special prosecutor.