EVANSTON — An Evanston man appeared in Third District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 10, changing his plea to guilty to a charge of sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree. Andres Aguilar, who was 32 years old at the time, was originally charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree in addition to the third-degree charge stemming from an incident that occurred in 2018 involving a female victim who was between the ages of 13 and 15 at the time. 

An affidavit filed at the time of arrest by Evanston Police Detective Scott Faddis indicates Faddis was called to Evanston Regional Hospital on June 25, 2018, to meet with the victim and her mother. The victim said she had been babysitting at the home of a family friend when Aguilar came to the home and sexually assaulted her. The victim also told detectives it was not the first time Aguilar had sexual contact with her and described an incident that had occurred about a month prior when he had touched her over her clothing. 

According to court documents, officers viewed text message conversations between the victim and the family friend discussing the assault, as well as between the family friend and Aguilar himself. 

With the three counts, Aguilar was initially facing up to 55 years in prison and $30,000 in fines; however, through a plea agreement he was sentenced to 18 to 48 months, all suspended other than the 186 days he had been in custody at the Uinta County Jail, and three years of supervised probation. 

Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson-Kallas spoke in favor of the plea agreement, noting that taking sexual assault cases to trial is extremely difficult for victims, which she said would be even more difficult in this case because the victim had also been victimized by others throughout her young life. Howieson-Kallas said the plea agreement would secure the conviction on Aguilar’s record, would require that he register as a sex offender and would provide finality for the victim. 

Aguilar’s public defender Dean Stout also spoke in favor of the agreement and said he and Aguilar had discussed the possibility of maintaining the not guilty plea and letting the case proceed to trial and attempting to discredit the victim because of “inconsistencies” in her story. However, he said Aguilar recognized how “harsh” a trial would be for the victim and did not want to subject her to that. Stout said Aguilar was remorseful over what had happened and that “embarrassed is too light of a word” for how Aguilar feels over the incident. 

“There will be no future victims. He’s grown quite a bit,” said Stout. 

When Aguilar spoke on his own behalf, he offered an apology to the victim and to his own family. He said he was ashamed and knew what he had done was wrong. “I have to live with it for the rest of my life,” said Aguilar, who further said his problem with alcohol was a contributing factor for which he would like to get help. 

Judge Joseph Bluemel said he has seen what it does to victims when they have to testify in court and said Aguilar’s decision to plead guilty, accept responsibility and not make the victim testify weighed favorably on his sentence. 

Bluemel also ordered Aguilar to complete a high-intensity residential treatment program as part of his probation requirements.