Chicago man accused of sexually assaulting resident at Marklund in Geneva
A Chicago man has been charged with felony sexual assault after a resident of Marklund in Geneva gave birth, officials announced Saturday.
Isaiah Fields, 22, a former employee of Marklund, was charged on Friday after a DNA test linked him to the Marklund resident’s child, according to a news release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Fields is facing three counts of felony aggravated criminal sexual assault, one count of felony criminal sexual assault and one count of felony aggravated battery, the release said.
Fields is accused of sexually assaulting the woman, a resident of Marklund in Geneva, who he knew had a severe or profound intellectual disability and was unable to give consent, in August or early September in 2023, according to the release.
Marklund, which has locations in Bloomingdale, Elgin and Geneva, is a nonprofit organization that cares for people of all ages who have serious developmental disabilities or other special needs. A resident of Marklund is someone who lives on site and needs full-time care all day, every day.
Fields is a former employee of Marklund, according to a recent statement by Marklund President and CEO Gil Fonger.
Marklund’s administration first learned about the sexual abuse case on April 9, about a week before the resident gave birth, officials have said. Marklund officials previously said that an internal investigation was launched to determine how her pregnancy symptoms went unnoticed for so long.
It’s possible that the symptoms of the resident’s disability might have masked the appearance of pregnancy, officials said at the time.
Fonger has said that Marklund is “going to do everything possible to make sure that something like this never happens again.” It was already Marklund policy to do yearly background checks on its staff members, he previously said.
After the resident gave birth to the child at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, her family chose to send her back to Marklund, according to officials. In his recent statement, Fonger said the organization cannot comment on the health status of any resident per federal law.
Fields is currently being held in the Kane County jail while his case is pending, according to the release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
