Kane County ex-pastor gets 15 years in prison for sexually abusing 9-year-old who attended his church in Big Rock

A former lay pastor at a Big Rock church was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting and abusing a 9-year-old member of the church.

Kane County Judge John Barsanti, who convicted Mark Rivera in December, sentenced him to six years apiece on two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and three years on a charge of criminal sexual abuse.

Rivera will have to serve at least 11.7 years before being eligible for parole but will receive credit for the approximately three years he has spent in jail or on electronic home monitoring while he awaited trial and sentencing.

Multiple times between June 2018 and May 2019, Rivera assaulted the child, whose family attended the Christ Our Light Anglican Church in Big Rock, where Rivera was then a lay pastor. The attacks happened at Rivera’s home in Big Rock.

The victim’s family and Rivera had previously attended a church in Wheaton.

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