'Lovely Young Man' Indicted in Sex Assault Case

A Cook County grand jury has indicted a former Glenbard West football player on "multiple counts" of criminal sexual assault of a teen girl, prosecutors said today.

Demarco Whitley remains free on bond and is scheduled to be arraigned during a March 17 hearing. He did not comment as he walked to the pre-trial services office at the Rolling Meadows district court with a large group of supporters who filled nearly half of the courtroom gallery.

His attorney, Donna Rotunno, said she had not seen the indictments, but expected a "stack of counts" because of how a single incident can be charged several ways. Whitley will plead not guilty at arraignment, she added.

"I think he's a lovely young man," Rotunno offered. "He seems to have done everything right in his life."

Rotunno suggested that consent might be an issue in the case, as well as whether there's any evidence that Whitley knew the girl's age. Prosecutors have said the victim was a 15-year-old girl. Rotunno did not comment on whether Whitley knew the girl before that night.

Whitley and former teammate Pierre Washington-Steele have been linked to the January 2010 assault that occurred in Rolling Meadows shortly before a crash that killed Steele and injured Whitley, according to authorities.

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office previously said DNA evidence ties Whitley to the assault, from which a used condom and ripped nylons were recovered as evidence.