Sex Offender Visits Joliet West High School Campus: Prosecutors

JOLIET ? A 23-year-old sex offender who comes from Ottawa is now in the Will County Jail unable to regain his freedom after Joliet police obtained a warrant to arrest him. The criminal complaint charges Devin Gende with the crime of presence within a school zone by a child sex offender. It's a felony, and the incident in question happened at the Joliet West High School campus on Oct. 8.

According to court files, Gende is a convicted child sex offender out of Lee County and his crime happened in 2021. Then on Oct. 8, the Ottawa resident drove all the way to Joliet West High School at 401 N. Larkin Ave., "a school that persons under 18 attend," prosecutors noted.

The Illinois State Police website lists Gende as being a lifetime sexual offender registrant, and that website lists his crimes as child pornography and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16. His victim was 14, and he was 19 and his crimes happened in LaSalle County, according to the Illinois State Police site, not Lee County as the Will County criminal complaint listed.

The Will County Sheriff's Office took Gende into custody and he was denied his pretrial release by one of the judges. The court order indicates that Gende is to have no contact whatsoever with a certain underage teenager.