Crime & Safety

Woman Feels 'Unsafe' After Man Acquitted in Sex Attack Trial

A woman who claimed her neighbor broke into her home and tried to rape her sought a protective order after he was found not guilty but was denied.

By Joseph Hosey

The day after a jury found a Joliet man innocent of charges he broke into a neighbor's home and tried to rape her, the woman sought a protective order but was denied by a Will County judge.

The woman, Lacoya Johnson, said neighbor Kenneth Williams made her "feel unsafe (now) that he is back living across the street from me and knowing where I live and work."

Williams, 34, is back across the street from Johnson after spending 10 months in jail on charges of home invasion, attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault, residential burglary and unlawful use of a weapon. A jury acquitted Williams of all charges Thursday.

On Friday, Johnson petitioned for a protective order.

In her petition, Johnson said she was home alone napping after her fiance and son left to return movies. The house alarm sounded, she said, and when she rose and looked down the stairs she saw Williams.

She said Williams threw her down on a bed, held a knife to her throat and pulled down her underwear, but after she told him she was pregnant and asked him not to kill her "he gets off me and goes downstairs."

Johnson said Williams left after she told him she would not call the police, and then she immediately called the police.

Johnson also pointed out that Williams is "a registered sex offender and wasn't even registered to the house he was living at."

Williams was, and still is, registered at an address in Dixmoor. According to Will County jail records, he lives near Johnson on Joliet's far west side.

Williams was placed on the state's sex offender registry in connection with a 2005 aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a teenager conviction out of Kane County.

Williams' attorney, Paul Napolski, said after the trial that fingerprints lifted from the door the woman said Williams used did not match the defendant. He also said DNA from three people was recovered from the woman's underwear but none of it belonged to Williams.

Napolski said the not guilty verdict was a "perfect example of the criminal justice system working exactly as it should."

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