One case dismissed against Fenton man accused of assaulting a child

MORRISON – Two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse are dismissed against a Fenton man because the state failed to show probable cause he committed the crimes.

Charles R. VonHolten, 66, was charged Sept. 19 with fondling a girl who was 7 or 8. Whiteside County Associate Judge James F. Heuerman dismissed those charges at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

“This was not a finding that the state had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” his attorney, James Mertes of Sterling, said in a news release. “It was a finding that there was not even enough evidence to show probable cause to bring the charges in the first place.”

VonHolten still is charged in a previous case with three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, each of which is punishable by 6 to 60 years in prison, and three counts sexual assault of a child, which carries 4 to 15 years.

In that case, filed June 5, 2018, investigators say he raped a then-6-year-old girl between August and May 2017.

VonHolten posted $50,000 of his $500,000 bond on June 7, 2018; he remains free.

His next pretrial hearing is Dec. 18.