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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-coach09.html
Swim coach can't get DuPage judge to drop sexual abuse charges
April 9, 2004
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter
A former swim coach on trial in DuPage County for allegedly fondling two 13-year-old girls in 1997 lost a bid to have the charges dismissed Thursday.
Attorneys for Stephen Schafer, 33, sought the dismissal, arguing too much time had passed since the alleged abuse occurred to prosecute him. Schafer is accused of touching and fondling the Lisle girls in 1997, but he wasn't charged until 2002
after the statute of limitations on the offenses had lapsed, his attorneys contended.
DuPage County Judge Ann Jorgensen, who is hearing the case without a jury, rejected that argument after prosecut
ors
noted Schafer was charged within one year of his alleged victi
ms' 18th birthdays.
Schafer is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Neither of the girls was a member of the DuPage Central Swim Team, a private club Schafer coached in the late 1990s. But prosecutors Anne Celine-O'Halloran and Michael Pawl said three girls who were members of the swim team also were fondled by Schafer in 1997 while he gave them post-workout massages.
A former swim team member testified on Schafer's behalf Thursday, saying he sometimes received therapeutic massages from Schafer after rigorous swim practices. "Steve did the massages. His hands massaged my shoulders, my back and the front portion of my shoulders,'' said Kevin Olson, now 23, who was coached by Schafer in 1994 a
nd 1995.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-coach09.html
Swim coach can't get DuPage judge to drop sexual abuse charges
April 9, 2004
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter
A former swim coach on trial in DuPage County for allegedly fondling two 13-year-old girls in 1997 lost a bid to have the charges dismissed Thursday.
Attorneys for Stephen Schafer, 33, sought the dismissal, arguing too much time had passed since the alleged abuse occurred to prosecute him. Schafer is accused of touching and fondling the Lisle girls in 1997, but he wasn't charged until 2002
after the statute of limitations on the offenses had lapsed, his attorneys contended.
DuPage County Judge Ann Jorgensen, who is hearing the case without a jury, rejected that argument after prosecut
ors
noted Schafer was charged within one year of his alleged victi
ms' 18th birthdays.
Schafer is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Neither of the girls was a member of the DuPage Central Swim Team, a private club Schafer coached in the late 1990s. But prosecutors Anne Celine-O'Halloran and Michael Pawl said three girls who were members of the swim team also were fondled by Schafer in 1997 while he gave them post-workout massages.
A former swim team member testified on Schafer's behalf Thursday, saying he sometimes received therapeutic massages from Schafer after rigorous swim practices. "Steve did the massages. His hands massaged my shoulders, my back and the front portion of my shoulders,'' said Kevin Olson, now 23, who was coached by Schafer in 1994 a
nd 1995.