Yolanda Dipert Gets Life in Prison - Updated

[Scroll down for previous reports]

(Lake County, Illinois) Last week, Circuit Court Judge Fred Foreman sentenced 46-year-old Yolanda Dipert to mandatory life in prison. Nevertheless, Dipert asked for leniency from the court, stating she was forced into sexually assaulting the children by her ex-brother-in-law.

"It's astounding to me that she still refuses to take responsibility for her own actions," said Assistant State's Attorney Eric Kalata. "She is not the victim here, she is the offender. She is a sexual predator."

Foreman agreed with Kalata, saying, "You were a willing and active participant in this... and now, you are going to be given considerable time to re-examine what your role was in this offense."

Judge Foreman also gave Dipert 10 years in prison for child pornography which would seem to apply only if she is reincarnated or the molestation verdict is overturned on appeal.


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Illinois Child Molestation Case - Yolanda Dipert
[Previous 4/10/08 entry bumped]
(Lake County, Illinois) Last year in a directly-related prosecution, 52-year-old Lee E. Dipert pleaded guilty to two counts of predatory sexual assault and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

This week, 46-year-old Yolanda Dipert is on trial for multiple counts of predatory sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal sexual assault and child pornography.

Yesterday, Yolanda Dipert testified in her own defense and said that her ex-brother-in-law, Lee Dipert, threatened her if she did not participate in the sex acts with the 13-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy.

She said the romantic relationship with her ex-brother-in-law, Lee Dipert, turned sick when Lee Dipert demanded she have sex with the children and said he would kill her if she refused. [ ... ]

She so feared the man that she continued to molest the children even after Lee Dipert moved to Valparaiso, Ind. She e-mailed him photographic evidence the acts were still going on.

Under cross-examination, Yolanda indicated that she never mentioned any threats during investigation of the case nor in a written statement she provided to the detectives.

And, although she left the house everyday when Lee Dipert lived there between 2002 and 2005 to go to work, Yolanda Dipert said she never contacted police.

"I did not know how to call the police," she said. "I was afraid that if I went to the police, me and the children would wind up statistics."

The trial continues today. If Circuit Judge Fred Forman finds Yolanda guilty, she'll face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.


[Update 04/12/08]

For hundreds of acts of molestation over a four-year period, Yolanda Dipert was found guilty by Circuit Judge Fred Foreman (Forman?).

"I do not find her testimony to be credible, I believe it was incredible," Foreman said in finding Dipert guilty. "I find she was a willing and active participant."

Having been found guilty of multiple counts of predatory sexual assault of a child, Dipert, 46, will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison when she returns to court May 12.

Heh.


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[09/04/06 entry]

(Lake County, Illinois) A woman and her former brother-in-law have been accused of sexually assaulting children on multiple occasions. According to Lake County Circuit Court Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak, each faces a possible life term in prison.

From SuburbanChicagonews.com:

Yolanda Dipert, 45, and Lee E. Dipert, 50, of Valparaiso, Ind., both entered not-guilty pleas when arraigned on the charges. He is facing 34 counts, she 22 counts.

Because there are so many alleged incidents extending over a four-year period, the sentences, upon conviction, could be consecutive, Potkonjak said.

Many of the counts are Class X offenses, which each carry, upon conviction, a sentence of six to 30 years in prison, with probation not an option.

Both allegedly engaged in sexual acts with the children and photographed each other while doing so, according to the Grand Jury indictments. Charges include possession of child pornography.

Defense attorney Peter Boyles said his client, Lee Dipert, may also "be charged in another jurisdiction." Some of the alleged evidence was found by Valparaiso police in a search of his computer in his home there. Yolanda Dipert is being represented by Assistant Public Defender Jennifer Snyder.

The victims of the alleged assaults are a boy, now 15, and a girl, now 12. The assaults allegedly occurred from the summer of 2002 until this summer. The children are family members.

Frankly, in my opinion this case could not be more disgusting. They allegedly photographed each other having sex with children in the family (relationship unknown) for four years! Absolutely sick!

Both Diperts are in the Lake County Jail with bond set at $1 million each. Judge Potkonjak scheduled a December trial date for both. As an aside, does anybody else think that Judge Potkonjak shouldn't be speaking so freely about a case he's presumably going to adjudicate?