Plainfield man charged with criminal sexual assault allowed pretrial jail release

A Will County judge allowed the jail release of a Plainfield man facing charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child after ruling there were conditions that could mitigate his danger to the alleged victims.

About 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Henry Phan, 60, was released from jail following the decision from Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak. She ordered Phan to submit to electronic monitoring but not home detention.

Bertani-Tomczak ordered Phan must have no direct or indirect contact with two alleged victims in the case and stay away from them, their immediate family and their addresses. Phan is also not allowed to leave Illinois without court-ordered permission.

Bertani-Tomczak assigned Judge Amy Christiansen to Phan’s case after granting his pretrial release on Tuesday.

Phan, who works for Van-Lang Food in Countryside, faces seven counts of predatory criminal sexual assault for offenses that allegedly occurred in 2017 and 2019.

The charges stemmed from the investigation of the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl reported on Feb. 6, 2023, according to prosecutors. The sexual assault took place five years beforehand, prosecutors said in a court filing.

The mother of the victim said the abuse came to her attention after her daughter was admitted to a behavioral hospital for self-harm, prosecutors said.

The investigation led to the discovery of another victim who alleged she was sexually assaulted by Phan, prosecutors said.

In Bertani-Tomczak’s pretrial release order, she cited “no recent allegations” against Phan as part of her reason for allowing his pretrial release.

A 2024 appellate decision was filed in Phan’s case. The decision led to the pretrial release of Trevor Crawford, 25, of Round Lake Park, who is charged in Will County with stalking.

The 3rd District Appellate Court of Ottawa ruled the stalking charge against Crawford had not been filed until more than seven months after the alleged offenses occurred.

The appellate court found there was no indication that Crawford continued to pose a threat to the alleged victim during that time.

“Had the state pursued charges against defendant earlier, the result may have been different. […] By the court’s comments, it appears that it considered defendant a threat to the community, which is an insufficient basis for pretrial detention of a stalking offense,” the appellate court ruled.

After Crawford was released, he failed to appear in court twice, which led to a warrant for his arrest, court records show. When Crawford was jailed on Oct. 29, 2024, he was released from jail again the next day.