A 35-year-old Wood Dale man was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman he knew at an Aurora hotel in August 2022; a hotel lobby worker spotted the victim signaling for help and called 911. Alexi Benitez Jacinto, of the 400 block of Foster Avenue, was convicted of three counts of criminal sexual assault following a bench trial.
Kane County Circuit Judge Bianca Camargo handed down the sentence, according to the Daily Herald, which reported that Benitez Jacinto will receive credit for roughly four years already spent on electronic home monitoring or in jail while awaiting trial and sentencing. That credit means his actual remaining time behind bars will fall well short of the full 12-year term. Judge Camargo found him guilty on Oct. 30, 2025, after presiding over a bench trial, a proceeding in which a judge alone weighs the evidence and renders the verdict instead of a jury, as detailed by Shaw Local.
A Signal for Help Caught in the Lobby
According to prosecutors, Benitez Jacinto threatened the woman with a knife when she refused his advances, and a hotel lobby worker overheard him threaten to beat her. That same employee saw the woman signal for help and immediately called 911, prompting Aurora police to respond to the hotel. The woman ran out of the hotel room asking for help as officers arrived, per the same account.
Benitez Jacinto initially denied the assault, according to the state's attorney's office, but a warrant search of his phone revealed that he had filmed the Aug. 12, 2022, attack, prosecutors said.
Sentence Falls Near Statutory Maximum
Criminal sexual assault is classified as a Class 1 felony under Illinois statute 720 ILCS 5/11-1.20, carrying a standard sentencing range of four to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, according to the Law Office of Clyde Guilamo. Benitez Jacinto faced up to 15 years, meaning his 12-year sentence lands close to that statutory ceiling.
Illinois' Truth-in-Sentencing statute, 730 ILCS 5/3-6-3, requires that he serve at least 85 percent of his court-imposed sentence before becoming eligible for parole, a limitation that eliminates day-for-day good-conduct credit for serious sexual offenses, per Illinois Courts. He will also be required to register as a sex offender in Illinois, a mandatory lifetime obligation for felony sexual assault convictions under the Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act, according to the Law Offices of Andrew M. Weisberg.
Prosecutors Credit Quick Thinking
Assistant State's Attorneys Amanda Busljeta and Nicholas Sciarrino prosecuted the case for the Kane County State's Attorney's Office, led by Kane County State's Attorney Jamie L. Mosser. Busljeta said sexual assault is a violent and dehumanizing act, and she commended both the victim's quick thinking and the hotel employee's prompt call to 911 for helping stop the attack. Prosecutors also thanked law enforcement for intervening to stop an assault in progress.
Busljeta said she hoped the victim could move forward from the experience. Aurora police responded to the scene the night of the assault.
