A Bureau County Sex Offender has been ruled a ‘Sexually Violent Person’ and remanded to the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services. 39 year old Christopher Koch was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in 2014 for a crime he committed in 2010. Since 2018, after serving four years of an 18 year sentence, Koch has been held at the IDHS Rushville SVP Treatment and Detention Facility. The designation of Koch as a Sexually Violent Person allows the state to continue to hold Koch at the IDHS facility under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act. According to information provided by the office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, to be committed under the act, “a person must have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder. The Attorney General’s office must also prove that the offender is likely to commit future acts of sexual violence if released from custody. Once committed to IDHS, offenders are re-evaluated on a regular basis to determine if they continue to meet the criteria for commitment as a sexually violent person.” Koch was recently brought back before a Bureau County Jury to determine if he met the criteria to remain in the IDHS facility, and the jury ruled in favor of the State designation. Following that verdict, Attorney General Raoul released a statement: “I appreciate the jury’s work to find this offender to be a Sexually Violent Person,” Raoul said. “This offender’s violent criminal record proves he is a threat to others, so I am pleased the verdict prevents him from being able to harm any more innocent children.”
