Guilty plea in sex scheme at assisted-living facility brings 14 years

Dean Goble

URBANA — A former Vermilion County man who pleaded guilty earlier this year to being involved in a sexual assault scheme that preyed upon dementia patients at a local assisted-living facility has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Dean Goble, 22, was sentenced Friday morning on the single count of attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault of an 88-year-old woman living at the Bickford of Champaign Senior Living and Memory Care, 1002 S. Staley Road, C.

Goble was one of four men arrested in 2015 in connection with a scheme to sexually assault women with dementia and videotape the activity.

Goble is already serving a seven-year prison sentence for a Vermilion County burglary conviction, which he received in 2015, and he also was convicted of possession of a stolen vehicle in 2012.

Goble's attorney, Katie Jessup, said her client is young and came from an early life in foster homes.

Testifying on his own behalf, Goble said he was the one who brought the Bickford Senior Living acts to light by disclosing them to Vermilion County authorities in August 2015.

Assistant State's Attorney Matt Banach sought the 14-year sentence.

Champaign County Judge Heidi Ladd acknowledged Goble was relatively young and had a less than ideal childhood, which included adjudication as a delinquent minor in 2006, being made a ward of the state in 2010, early alcohol use, then mental health issues.

However, she also called his crime despicable and deplorable, and said the gravity was enhanced, if possible, by the fact that he was paid to do it.

"It is conduct that crosses every line of decency in a civilized society," Ladd said.

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Guilty plea in sex scheme at assisted-living facility brings 14 years