Pleasant Hill Man Receives 4 Natural Life Sentences on 19 Counts of Sex-Related Case

By Benjamin Cox on January 23, 2025 at 9:55am

A Pleasant Hill man will spend the rest of his natural life in the Illinois Department of Corrections after being sentenced on 19 sex-related felonies yesterday in Pike County Circuit Court.

Pike County Judge Charles H.W. Burch sentenced 31-year old Austin L. Rodhouse to 4 natural life sentences plus an additional 187 years on the charges yesterday after an hour-long sentencing hearing.

Muddy River News reports that Rodhouse was given the 4 life sentences for 4 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, 30 years for two counts of possession and/or production of child pornography, 15 years each for 4 aggravated criminal sexual assault, 15 years for a single county of aggravated battery involving torture, 7 years each on 3 aggravated domestic battery charges, 7 years each on 3 counts of indecent solicitation, and 5 years each on 2 counts of aggravated battery to a child. The 187 years will run concurrent with the 4 life sentences. Burch said while reading the sentence that the abuse towards Rodhouse’s wife, identified as C.C. And his two male children were “immeasurable.”

Rodhouse was found guilty of all 19 charges he faced by a jury after an 11-day trial that overlapped the end of October and beginning of November. Rodhouse was arrested in June by Illinois State Police on 48 separate charges. The prosecution dropped 2/3rds of the charges prior to the trial in order to streamline the case.

Over the 11 days, the prosecution painted Rodhouse as a sexual predator and abuser that began while he was a youth and then ramped up over time. Prosecutors called several women, some of them family members, that went into sordid detail which had to be censored before reports. Prosecutors showed that Rodhouse coerced his wife, identified as C.C. At the trial, into sexually abusing their children while enduring multiple instances of psychological and physical torture in a controlled environment that isolated its victims.

Rodhouse’s defense attorney Casey Schnack attempted to paint C.C. As a willful participant in a BDSM -style marriage that welcomed outside women and consented to the abuse.

It took the jury nearly 4 ½ hours to bring back the guilty verdict.

During yesterday’s sentencing, Erica Glass, with the Illinois State Police read C.C.’s victim impact statement which she said she could not endure to provide in front of the court.

Pike County Assistant State’s Attorney Leecia Carnes told WGEM that the case will stick with her for the rest of her life, and confirmed that the two boys at the center of the case were 3 and 4 years old at the time of the abuse. Carnes said no charges are pending in this case and C.C. Will not be prosecuted. . Carnes said C.C. is going through intensive treatment.

Moments before Judge Burch revealed the sentence, Rodhouse made a statement in allocution. Rodouse claimed the case was filled with misinformation and misdirection.

Jessica Fuller, a child welfare specialist with Chaddock, said C.C. and Rodhouse’s two sons are currently in foster care and are also currently receiving counseling under supervised visits with their mother.

The reports did not indicate whether Rodhouse has a planned appeal.