Florida man gets 20 years for luring disabled Frankfort girl into sex

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Jon Filipkowski

Updated: January 25, 2012 12:59PM

A Florida man who preyed on the insecurities of a disabled Frankfort 13-year-old, deceiving and manipulating her into a sexual encounter in June 2010, was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors told Will County Judge Daniel Rozak the case of 33-year-old Jon J. Filipkowski “screams” for prison time. Even after his conviction, Filipkowski told a court-appointed evaluator he and his victim would be together one day, prosecutors said.

The girl and her family, meanwhile, told the judge they’re still tormented by the ordeal he put them through.

“I have not been able to sleep without having nightmares at least four or five times a week,” the victim said. “Sometimes I just can’t sleep at all.”

It took a jury less than an hour in May to convict Filipkowski of pressuring the girl into having sex with him at a Mokena hotel. He’d driven there from Jensen Beach, Fla., where he pretended to be a 13-year-old boy in an Internet chat room, according to trial testimony.

The girl told jurors she fell in love with Filipkowski’s fake online persona, trading hundreds of messages a day with him. She felt sick and violated when he revealed his true identity, but their relationship continued.

“He pressed on and on and on,” Rozak said of Filipkowski.

Filipkowski offered an apology to Rozak earlier this month, pledging to avoid his victim’s family for the rest of his life.

“I should have shown better judgment,” Filipkowski told the judge.

Filipkowski’s family members also tried to help prevent a prison sentence. They described to Rozak a man who helps others and champions the underdog. Ron Filipkowski, a former Florida prosecutor, said his brother wouldn’t become a repeat offender.

“I think that this has been an eye-opening experience for him,” Ron Filipkowski said.

Their father, Joseph Filipkowski, said his son once comforted a man dying from injuries after a car accident outside their home.

“He’s always been compassionate and caring,” Joseph Filipkowski said. “Sometimes to a fault.”

But Rozak said Filipkowski knew “exactly who he was going to find” when he entered the online teen chat room where he met his victim. And he said Filipkowski preyed on the girl’s immaturity and developmental disability.

Filipkowski’s attorney, Neil Adams, said Wednesday he’d file a motion to reconsider the prison sentence.

Meanwhile, the victim told the judge she lost her best friend over Filipkowski. She’s lonely now, but she said she feels overwhelming pressure to act “fine.”

“I hate having to put on a fake smile every day so no one knows what’s really going on,” she said.