A Lake County jury on Tuesday convicted 30-year-old Hakeem Pittman of sexually abusing a girl in East Chicago, Indiana, finding him guilty of three counts of Level 1 child molesting and one count of Level 5 sexual misconduct with a minor. Sentencing is set for Feb. 12 and the convictions leave him facing a potential prison term that could stretch for decades.
The verdict followed testimony about messages, screenshots and other digital evidence that the girl said she saved and later shared with her mother. The case moved forward after Pittman entered a not-guilty plea, according to the Chicago Tribune.
How prosecutors say he groomed the girl
Prosecutors told jurors the abuse started with a game of “Truth or Dare” that turned sexual and said Pittman first bonded with the girl over Xbox and anime before escalating his behavior. They said he asked her to perform sexual acts and later sent texts to initiate sex, according to Yahoo News. The victim testified she saved screenshots of those messages and eventually showed them to her mother, who, court papers say, went to the East Chicago police station in April 2024 in a distraught state.
Prosecutors’ closing: relationship as a cover
During closing arguments, Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Woodward told jurors that Pittman “used that relationship to commit the worst crime you can commit,” framing his bond with the girl as a cover for repeated abuse, according to the Chicago Tribune. Prosecutors also said he repeatedly urged the girl to delete their messages, but she preserved many of them and later turned them over to her mother.
Defense: lack of physical evidence
Defense attorney Roseann Ivanovich countered that there was no DNA, no medical documentation and no cell-phone geolocation data tying Pittman to the alleged assaults, and she pressed jurors to scrutinize the timing of the girl’s disclosure, according to Yahoo News. Court filings state the girl told police Pittman molested her multiple times over a two-year span and reported a rape that she said occurred about two months earlier.
What the charges could mean
Under Indiana law, certain Level 1 child-molesting offenses carry a fixed prison term of 20 to 50 years, which serves as the statutory baseline judges use when handing down sentences, according to the Indiana Code. Pittman’s formal sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12, 2026, in Lake County.
