A Pittsfield man arrested while still a teenager for charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and predatory criminal sexual assault was sentenced to prison on Thursday in Pike County Circuit Court.
Now-20 year old Dylan C. Guthrie of Pittsfield pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a family member under the age of 18 today before Pike County Judge Jerry Hooker.
Guthrie was arrested after an investigation by the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, DCFS, and the Children’s Advocacy Network into a sexual assault in rural Pittsfield that is alleged to have occurred in April 2022. Guthrie was arrested the following month by Pike County Sheriff’s Deputies.
Guthrie was charged with 3 Class X felonies of predatory criminal sexual assault involving someone under age 13. Guthrie faced between 6-30 years on each of the charges. All 3 Class X felonies were dropped per the plea agreement on Thursday.
The case has gone through multiple pretrial motions, including a motion for a 402 Conference by Guthrie’s previous attorney John Leonard. Leonard withdrew counsel in June of last year and a public defender was appointed. The following month a special prosecutor was assigned to the case. The defense counsel was also granted leave to hire a DNA expert in the case.
This past December, Guthrie was again granted leave to hire private counsel and scuttled the public defender. Attorney Michael Hankins was hired and a mental fitness evaluation was ordered for Guthrie in March. Dr. Joshua Camins returned a report on Guthrie’s mental fitness to the court on June 4th and determined that Guthrie is fit to stand trial.
Guthrie was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, up to 18 months of mandatory supervised release, he was ordered to pay a county fine, and must register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life. He was given credit for 889 days served in the Pike County Jail.