Ex-Park Forest, Illinois, cop sentenced to 12 years for sexually abusing girl: records

Mar. 27—A former Park Forest, Illinois, police officer was sentenced to 12 years on March 23 after admitting he sexually abused a girl over a 14-year period.

Harry Gillespie Nicholson IV, 49, of unincorporated Lake County near Lowell, signed a plea agreement filed Feb. 16, according to court records.

He was sentenced on sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 5 felony.

Court documents indicated the girl confided in staff at school, who called the police.

While talking with police, the Indiana victim asked a relative to leave the room, because she did not want to upset them with what she was about to tell detectives, the affidavit states.

The girl, then 18, told police on March 18, 2021 that Nicholson started molesting her since she was 4, then began raping her since she was 12, charges state.

She didn't tell her family about the abuse, because she didn't want to hurt them, according to charging documents.

The abuse happened in several Illinois suburbs and Indiana, the affidavit states. As a teen, Nicholson started paying her $50 to $100 each time, a criminal complaint states.

After the girl's family moved to Lowell in 2018, Nicholson had raped her twice a week, or "hundreds" of times, she said in court documents. She estimated he abused her at least "1,500 times", according to the affidavit.

Another person told police they were terrified of Nicholson, who was a "former Marine" and had "lots of guns," according to charging documents.

Nicholson was originally charged with rape, a Level 3 felony; sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 4 felony; child seduction, a Level 5 felony; sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 5 felony; child seduction, a Level 6 felony; and sexual battery, a Level 6 felony.

Nicholson was fired as a Park Forest police officer after he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor there, the affidavit alleges.

He was dismissed from the force at least 20 years ago, Tom Mick, village manager said in 2021. The officer had been brought up before the village's police and fire commission on a charge of official misconduct, but the charge was not of a sexual nature, Mick said.

The Daily Southtown contributed.

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