A Danville man will be spending the rest of his life behind bars for molesting two children, one of whom was his step-grandchild.
61-year-old Travis VanNote Sr. entered into guilty pleas Thursday morning before Judge Charles Hall on two charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. Both were class X felony counts. The sentence of life without parole was imposed because there was more than one victim in the case.
Vermilion County State’s Attorney Jacqueline Lacy says the first incident occurred in 2012 and the other in 2014. Both victims were eight years old at the time that the abuse happened. VanNote was married to the grandmother of one of the victims at the time.
As part of his plea agreement, Lacy’s office agreed to dismiss eight other identical counts of predatory criminal sexual assault.
“Sexual predators in our community who prey on our most vulnerable children will be held accountable,” Lacy says. “(VanNote) was brought to justice with the cooperation of the brave victims and he now will never be able to hurt another child.”
The Danville Police Department investigated the case. VanNote has remained in custody since being arrested last November.
