Former Chicago man sentenced to 40 years in prison for child molestation

A former Chicago man could die in prison after being sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

A jury convicted James K. Robinson Sr., 52, on March 27 of three counts of child molestation. His lawyer, Roseann Ivanovich, said he would appeal.

Assistant District Attorney Tara Villarreal read two letters – one from the victim and one from her mother.

Robinson “took (the child’s) innocence for himself,” the victim’s mother wrote. “It destroyed our lives.”

“I will continue to fight to get my daughter back,” she said. “She’s just a child.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to deal with this forever,” the victim wrote in her own letter.

The girl has had serious problems since the incident, lawyers said. Both the mother and the victim demanded life imprisonment.

Ivanovich told Judge Salvador Vasquez that Robinson had said he was innocent from the start. She asked for 20 years and said there were “potential problems in the appeal process.”

Villarreal said Robinson has eight felony convictions, including a murder conviction in 1995. Court records show he was convicted of sexual abuse in 1989.

“He probably would have committed more crimes if he hadn’t been in prison,” she said.

When Robinson testified at trial, he blamed the victim. He told his mother that he was “just playing.”

“If I touched her, I’m sorry,” Villarreal said Robinson told the mother.

He was a “manipulator” and told the mother he would pay for her drinks that night at a relative’s house to get her out of the house, Villarreal said. She asked for 50 years.

Robinson declined to speak in court.

Vasquez indicated the sentence would be life.

“This is it for you,” he said. It was something he did not “take lightly.”

“Something happened to the girl,” he said. The child “suffered” and “no one wanted to make up for it.”

According to court documents, the assault occurred on November 9, 2022, when the victim’s mother was out of the house for three hours from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m

The victim told Hammond police and an Indiana Department of Child Services caseworker that she watched Cocomelon as Robinson molested her on a sofa and then raped her.

“Help me,” she screamed and ran up the stairs.

He followed her upstairs, fondled her, wished her goodnight and then left her room.

Robinson was convicted only of Level 1 child abuse, the most serious charge. He has no credit time and is considered a “credit restricted” offender, which reduces his credit time in prison for good behavior. He was returned to the Danville Correctional Center in Illinois, where he is serving a seven-year sentence as a convicted felon for possessing a weapon.

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