Jurors convicted a Chicago man Wednesday afternoon of molesting an underage teen girl in East Chicago.<\/p>\n
Hakeem Pittman, 30, was found guilty of three counts of Level 1 child molesting and one count of Level 5 felony sexual misconduct with a minor. He faces from 21 years to essentially life in prison.<\/p>\n
The sentencing hearing is Feb. 12.<\/p>\n
During closing arguments Wednesday, Deputy Prosecutor Jessica (Arnold) Woodward told jurors that Pittman and the victim bonded over XBox, anime and her trust in him.<\/p>\n
\u201c(He) used that relationship to commit the worst crime you can commit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Defense lawyer Roseann Ivanovich argued there was no DNA, medical documents, or \u201cgeo-tracking\u201d of Pittman\u2019s cell phone.<\/p>\n
Court documents alleged Pittman groomed the girl, starting with a \u201cTruth or Dare\u201d game that grew sexual, asking her to perform sex acts. Later, he texted her to start having sex.<\/p>\n
Over time, he told her to delete scores of texts over a dozen times, the prosecutor said. The victim later testified she kept a lot of them, later texting her mom screenshots to tell her what had been happening.<\/p>\n
According to the probable cause affidavit, the mother was crying, \u201chyperventilating\u201d and yelling for cops on April 26, 2024, at the East Chicago police station.<\/p>\n
Her daughter\u2019s behavior had been off in recent months, she said. When the girl said she needed to tell her something, the woman suggested she could write it in texts. Pittman had been touching her \u201cinappropriately,\u201d the girl told her.<\/p>\n
The texts Pittman sent the child appeared to imply he had sexual contact with her. The girl told police Pittman had molested her eight times over two years, starting as a preteen. He raped her two months earlier.<\/p>\n
Post-Tribune archives contributed.<\/p>\n