Rochelle man found unfit to stand trial on solicitation of sex with minor charge

OREGON – A Rochelle man charged with indecent solicitation of a child and violating the Sex Offender Registration Act has been found unfit to stand trial after a mental health evaluation.

Timothy J. O’Dell, 28, of Rochelle, was remanded to the Ogle County Jail after the decision by Judge Anthony Peska on April 24.

O’Dell was arrested by Rochelle police after the department was contacted March 6 about a man trying to meet with a minor for sex in Rochelle. He was arrested after an investigation by the Rochelle Police Department Patrol Division.

During a March 12 hearing, O’Dell’s attorney requested that his client be evaluated by Jayne Braden, a forensic and clinical psychologist in Sycamore.

Ogle County Assistant Public Defender Michael O’Brien said he had a “bona fide doubt” as to O’Dell’s ability to help with his defense and asked Peska for the court-appointed evaluation.

During the April 24 hearing, O’Dell appeared in court with Chief Public Defender Kathleen Isley, who asked Peska to declare O’Dell unfit based on the results of the evaluation.

Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Leisten agreed with the evaluation. Peska found O’Dell unfit for trial and entered an order for treatment to be forwarded to the Ogle County sheriff.

A status fitness hearing is set for 1 p.m. May 28.

O’Dell, who already had a pending charge of violating the Sex Offender Registration Act in Ogle County, was sentenced in 2023 to probation for the same offense.

The Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office filed three felony charges against O’Dell on March 7: one count of violating the Sex Offender Registration Act and two counts of indecent solicitation of a child.

According to court documents, O’Dell failed to report to the Rochelle Police Department “any instant messaging identities, any internet communication identities” that he uses or planned to use, or other internet sites “to which he has uploaded any content or posted any messages or information.”

In the solicitation charges, he is accused of intending to commit aggravated criminal sexual abuse when he “knowingly solicited one whom he believed to be a child to perform an act of sexual penetration or sexual conduct,” discussing the meeting on the internet.

In October, Judge John Redington, who is now retired, found O’Dell fit to stand trial on a previous charge of violating the terms of his probation sentence when he allegedly failed to register as a sex offender with the Rochelle Police Department. That case still is pending.

In Illinois, individuals convicted of certain sex offenses must register as sex offenders with the local law enforcement agency in the community they reside.

O’Dell has been held in the Ogle County Jail since his arrest March 6.