While we have been chronicling the progress of the criminal case against former pinball designer John Trudeau since his arrest last August on charges of possessing child pornography, it appears he has now been charged with a series of new offences relating to the sexual abuse of a minor who was also a family member.
According to a report in the Herald-News – a daily newspaper covering the area south of Chicago – John Trudeau was arrested on the morning of Thursday 17th May, 2018 and charged on three counts – predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
The charges are believed to relate to a seven-year period from 3rd September, 1993 to 2nd September, 2000 and to a female family member who was below the age of thirteen at the start of the alleged abuse. The offences are alleged to have taken place at the girl’s home in Bolingbrook, a south-western suburb of Chicago.
Trudeau is believed to have been living with family in the city of Nevada in Ohio while on bail for the two on-going charges of possession of child pornography, and it was there that he was arrested on Thursday and taken to the city’s Story County Jail.
John Trudeau (picture: Story County Sheriff’s Office)
The police in Bolingbrrok received the complaint which led to these new charges on 1st December last year, but it has taken until mid-May before the charges were brought and John Trudeau was re-arrested. The complaint alleges Trudeau held a “position of trust, authority or supervision” in relation to the victim.
As with the previous charges, Pinball News will update this report with all the developments in the case.