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	Preacher Imprisoned By Jo McCord The Daily Journal [Kankakee IL] September 28, 2006 http://www.daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=379340 Former youth minister Timothy Rademacher, 27, of rural Kankakee, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for predatory sexual assault and criminal sexual assault against boys. He pleaded guilty earlier to offenses against two boys, ages 12 and 16, whom he apparently seduced when he was youth minister at Ashkum United Methodist Church. The sentence was handed down by Judge Gordon Lustfeldt. He said Rademacher's crime was all the worse because it happened on church property, the parsonage, and because he used his authority as a spiritual leader to take advantage of the youths and their families. Rademacher, dressed in a rumpled suit and having used most of a box of Kleenex during his 30 minutes of tearful apologies to the judge and his victims, hung his head as the sentence was spoken. The courtroom was packed and tears and sobs were frequent during the four-hour hearing. "I think perversion is your true religion and you are its high priest and young men are your sacrifices on the altar," Lustfeldt said. "... You thought of no one but yourself. ... There's nobody worse than a desecrator or betrayer." One of the victims was in the courtroom. His mother said after the sentencing that Rademacher had worked at the Ashkum church for a couple of years when he started "wanting my son over all the time. He got angry when I didn't let him come." She said the family plans to sue the church on their son's behalf. She said no one suspected the molestation until about a year after Rademacher had left Ashkum to become youth director at the Manteno United Methodist Church. Rademacher was arrested for pornography charges in June 2005. State's Attorney Jim Devine said Rademacher had posted pictures of himself naked on the Internet through the church's computer. He was arrested in Cook County on his way to meet a 15-year-old he had met on the Internet. After the hearing, a victim's relative said she was satisfied with the sentence; however, she would have preferred hanging. The possible sentence range was 12 to 35 years in prison. Lustfeldt sentenced him to 20 years on the predatory sexual assault and 10 years on the sexual assault for a total of 30 years. However, Illinois law requires him to serve at least 85 percent of his time, which would be 25 years, Devine said. Rademacher's attorney, Leonard Sacks of Kankakee, asked for the minimum sentence of 12 years. A victim's mother read testimony in court. She said when her family heard about the pornography charges her son put his head in her lap and said: "Mommy, he forced me to have sex with him." She said her son kept hanging out with Rademacher in hopes of changing him. She said the ordeal has greatly hurt the family. Her son has violent outbursts and talks of suicide. The emotional toll has been huge. Her son's passion for sports is gone. Rademacher was like a second son to her and her husband, she said. Now they feel as if he has destroyed their family. She and her husband are on the verge of a divorce. The other victim's mother wrote a letter that Devine read in court. It describes how the boy has been bleeding from his rectum. Her husband did not come to court because he feared the anger he would feel. As character witnesses, Sacks called pastors who had gone to school with Rademacher at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston. One of them, Laura Crites, is pastor at United Methodist Church in DeKalb. She had served at Woodland and Crescent City when Rademacher was at Ashkum. Like his other friends, she said she knew that he had questions about his sexuality but was never comfortable with saying: It's become obvious to me I'm gay. Devine questioned her about examples of his lack of maturity, which she had mentioned as one of his problems. She said he was above average intelligence, a lovable goofball, charismatic and bright, but that he wouldn't get his papers done and wouldn't have accomplished the reading assignment. She cried over the fact that she did not know the details of Rademacher's crimes until the hearing. "Those victim impact statements are the first I've known what happened. I only knew there were children and pornography," she said. "It saddened me desperately and angered me. My trust was betrayed and I still love him as I love anyone who's ill. I love him and I believe he will do anything to make his life count in a positive manner." In his address to the court Rademacher apologized to the youths and their families, his family and friends and everyone in the county. jmccord@daily-journal.com 815-432-3685
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