Crime & Safety

Drifter Gets 30 Years For Sex Attack on 83-Year-Old Good Samaritan

A homeless drifter was sent to prison on a 30-year sentence for the brutal assault of a woman who fed him and tried to find him shelter.

A homeless drifter charged with sexually assaulting an 83-year-old woman who fed him and tried to find him shelter has a place to stay for the next 30 years.

Dennis Dodson, 36, pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to aggravated criminal sexual assault in exchange for prosecutors dropping 14 other charges relating to his September 2011 attack on a woman behind the Home Depot on 159th Street in Orland Park.

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

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Before Dodson took the plea, his attorney, Camille Bachli, and Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Clarissa Palermo agreed that a psychological evaluation conducted in March showed he was fit to stand trial. Dodson apparently agreed, telling Cook County Judge John Joseph Hynes, "I know what's going on."

Dodson also told the judge that he had taken a pair of psychiatric medications Monday before he was brought to the Bridgeview courthouse for his plea.

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Dodson was living in the woods behind the Home Depot when his elderly victim happened upon him while she was taking a shortcut home. The woman offered him crackers and $15, then set out to find him a homeless shelter.

The woman returned about 10:45 a.m. the next day to tell Dodson what she had learned and found him on the ground, surrounded by beer cans.

Dodson asked the woman to have sex with him, Palermo said, and when she declined he knocked her down, dragged her by the feet and kissed her.

The woman screamed and cried, Palermo said, and Dodson covered her mouth with his hand. He then stuck his hand down the front of her pants and penetrated her vagina with his fingers, Palermo said.

Dodson abruptly got off the woman and she ran home to call the police. She was taken to a hospital and subjected to sexual assault testing.

Within 12 hours of the attack, the police captured Dodson in Tinley Park.

Palermo said Dodson's past is littered with arrests for offenses such as theft, burglary, obstructing justice, disorderly conduct, possession of a stolen vehicle, driving under the influence, assault, unlawful use of a weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia, trespassing and shoplifting. He has been picked up by the law in Iowa, New York, Ohio, Washington, Florida and Nevada.

As part of the plea deal, additional counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, as well as charges of kidnapping, criminal sexual assault, unlawful restraint and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, were dismissed.

Dodson said Monday that he had no job or money at the time of his arrest, and that he was not drawing unemployment. He also said he was eligible for $2,000 a month in social security but did not receive any of it.

"I never made it to the social security office," he explained.

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