Date: Nov 6, 2007 2:55 PM
Subject: child molester arrested 9 boys,perhaps more!
Body: kim
Alleged ringleader kept boys quiet, compliant with money and gifts
November 6, 2007
BY MARC JENKINS mjenkins@scn1.com
VERNON HILLS -- No one knew.
That was the problem for nine boys -- and maybe more -- who were lured to an apartment here over the course of at least six years to fuel the perverted sexual desires of a man prosecutors call "someone who sends chills up the spine."
The boys' ordeal ended Friday with the arrest of 50-year-old Michael C. Rebecca in an investigation Sheriff Mark Curran dubbed "the largest child sex-offender case ever in Lake County."
Rebecca, of 750 Court of Birch, Apt. 1, was charged Monday with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child (a Class X offense) and two counts of criminal sexual assault (Class 2 offense), based on the accusations of one of his victims, a 17-year-old boy Rebecca had known since birth.
Seven of the boys are from northern Cook County and two are from Twin Lakes, Wis.
Rebecca is in Lake County Jail, where he was taken after bond was denied Monday.
If convicted on all current charges, Rebecca faces a sentence ranging from 60 years to life in prison.
Rebecca's accuser, Curran said, was used by Rebecca since 2005 to lure others into his "boys club" where he allegedly played sex games with the boys, who ranged in age from 11 to 17, and kept them silent and compliant with gifts of money, cell phones, iPods and Xbox games.
As the investigation continues, additional charges -- perhaps "dozens and dozens" according to Lake County prosecutor Steven Scheller -- are expected to be filed, based on more than 200 sexual incidents (all of alleged oral sex) and the eight other victims.
Cycle of abuse
"Plain and simple, he's one of the most narcissistic, manipulative individuals I've ever seen," Curran said.
Rebecca started with one boy and used him to recruit others, Curran said.
The sexual assaults of the 17-year-old boy began when he was 11, the sheriff said. Then Rebecca began to use the boy to lure others.
He would bring boys to his apartment and perform an initiation ceremony of sorts that ended with Rebecca having the victim place his penis on a board then lightly tap it with a gavel.
And so began a cycle of sexual abuse that allegedly included twisted games like "hide-and-seek" and "whore-and-seek."
Those 'games' would have the naked boys -- as many four or five at a time -- hide throughout his darkened two-bedroom apartment. The first one found would have to engage in oral sex or masturbation with Rebecca and sometimes the 17-year-old boy as well.
At other times, Rebecca would light a black light to indicate when he wanted "predominately masturbation and oral sex," Curran said.
But throughout the years involving the other boys, in virtually all sexual encounters, Curran said Rebecca implied "no threat of force," at any time.
Coming forward
It ended Thursday when the 17-year-old boy told sheriff's deputies that Rebecca, who worked as a computer programmer for Chicago-based insurance company Warranty Group, had been abusing him for four years.
An investigation by sheriffs' deputies, the Lake County state attorney's office, Vernon Hills police, the Northern Illinois Police Crime Lab and the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center resulted in Rebecca's arrest Friday afternoon and a warrant search of his home. Seized were numerous computers that are being analyzed to determine if they contain child pornography.
Rebecca gave and received oral sex with the boys -- both in pairs and in groups -- at his home and admitted more than 200 incidents with the boys, including the 17-year-old, Scheller said.
"We've looked at the law and believe that, if convicted, he is looking at natural life in prison because of the seriousness of the crimes and the number of victims," Scheller said, adding that Rebecca completed a videotaped confession.
Neighbor: 'I just assumed they were his sons'
Three of Michael Rebecca's immediate neighbors said they neither heard nor detected anything suspicious in the time he lived in the apartment at 750 Court of Birch.
Not until Monday when one neighbor was asked about the 17-year-old boy who accused Rebecca.
"It was strange. I saw him all the time. As much, if not more as I saw any of my other neighbors.
"When I first moved in, I thought he was his kid. There were actually two boys I saw a lot," the neighbor said, who asked to remain anonymous. "I just assumed they were his sons because they were always there."
But one incident aroused the neighbor's skepticism about a month ago.
"I came home one night, and there he was standing inside the window in nothing but boxer briefs," he said. "He was just opening and closing the blinds as I was walking in."
But the neighbor said he thought nothing of it because, after all, he was his child, right?
Sheriff Mark Curran said that's exactly how Rebecca remained unnoticed.
"He was a trusted caregiver. The children were left (at his home) for long weekends," he said.