Haine Announces Ruling Taking ‘Sexually Dangerous Person’ Off Streets

EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas A. Haine announced Wednesday that a judge has approved his office’s petition to have a Madison man declared sexually dangerous and committed to the Illinois Department of Corrections. Following a bench trial, Associate Judge Neil Schroeder on Monday granted the Sexually Dangerous Person Act petition filed by the State’s Attorney’s Office against 58-year-old David F. Brown.

The judge found that Brown has a mental illness, has demonstrated a propensity toward offenses of sexual assault, and there is a substantial probability he will commit sex offenses in the future if not confined. The verdict means Brown will be a ward of the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections and will be held indefinitely in a special unit inside a state prison.

At the trial, two psychologists who evaluated Brown testified that he fits the definition of a Sexually Dangerous Person. Haine commended the work of Assistant State’s Attorney Ali Foley and Assistant State’s Attorney Cara Tegel, along with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Granite City Police Department and other police agencies that assisted in investigations involving Brown.

“A Sexually Dangerous Person petition is a proceeding that is reserved for the most persistent offenders,” Haine said. “They are sex offenders who have demonstrated a propensity toward acts of sexual violence. David Brown is precisely the type of dangerous offender who needs to be removed from society under this law.”

The petition outlined sexual assaults committed by Brown against six different victims. All of the assaults involved weapons or force. In 1996-97, Brown was charged with assaulting an acquaintance in a car, and later with assaulting two other acquaintances in the basement of his home.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, then released in 2019. In 2019 and 2020, three more females who were acquainted with Brown reported they were sexually assaulted by him in separate cases, resulting in additional charges filed against him.

After the filing of those new charges, Haine’s office filed the petition against Brown under the Sexually Dangerous Person Act.

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