DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph E. Birkett announced that Bradley Graven, 40 (d.o.b. 8/25/64) of RR 2-1 Hedgewood in Sullivan, Illinois was sentenced today to forty (40) days in the DuPage County Jail in Wheaton for Indecent Solicitation of a Child, a Class 3 felony. Graven had pleaded guilty to this charge in October of 2004. At that time, the State dismissed one count of Attempted Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Child, and the case was continued for sentencing. At today’s hearing, the State argued the need for a penitentiary sentence of three years due to the risk to the public and the need for deterrence. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Perry Thompson sentenced Graven to 24 months sex offender probation and forty (40) days in the DuPage County Jail.

In late June of 2003, Graven was charged with Indecent Solicitation of a Child involving a Villa Park Officer who was posing as a young boy in an Internet chat room. During today’s hearing it was learned that at approximately 10:30 p.m. on June 28, 2003, Graven contacted an undercover Villa Park police officer posing as a teenage boy in an Internet chat room. During the course of the chat, the topic of meeting was brought up, with Graven agreeing to meet the "boy" in a drug store parking lot in Villa Park to engage in inappropriate sexual activities. Graven arrived at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, June 29th at the location agreed upon with the "boy". He was arrested shortly thereafter by Villa Park Police Officers and taken into custody.

"The Villa Park Police Department did an excellent job in identifying this defendant as he was trolling the internet for a child victim," State’s Attorney Birkett commented. "We believe that this defendant poses a risk to the public and that a sentence to the penitentiary was necessary to deter others. Unfortunately, in this case the trial court did not agree and imposed a sentence of probation and 40 days in the DuPage County Jail."

Judge Thompson ordered the sentence to be stayed until March 4th.