Man Gets 18 Years for Molesting Relative

A Hickory Hills man was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday after admitting he molested a close female relative on a weekly basis for almost a decade.

Craig Mrazek, 49, confessed to sexually abusing the child starting when she was seven years old, his attorney, Michael D. Ettinger, said after the hearing in Cook County Circuit Court in Bridgeview.

Mrazek kept molesting her until she was 16, Ettinger said.

The mother of the young woman found her diary, in which she had outlined what had happened to her between 1996 and 2004, said Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The child had been sexually assaulted on a weekly basis, Conklin said.

Mother and daughter went to the Hickory Hills police department, he said. Mrazek later gave a handwritten statement admitting the sexual abuse, Conklin said.

In court Tuesday, the young woman and her mother read statements to Judge Colleen Ann Hyland. Mrazek did not speak, Ettinger said.

Mrazek, of the 9200 block of South 85th Court, pleaded guilty to three of his 15 felony charges as part of a plea agreement, Ettinger said.

He was given the minimum sentence -- six years  -- for each count of predatory criminal sexual assault, but has to serve the sentences back to back, he said.

Conklin said if Mrazek is ever granted parole, he’ll face another 15 years on supervised release. Should he violate any of the terms of his parole, he’d be sent back to prison.

Then he’ll have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Conklin said.

Public records show that Mrazek’s wife divorced him after charges were filed. He has three young children, the oldest of whom is 12.