Downstate man guilty of sexually assaulting his twin 8-year-old cousins

A downstate man face up to 44 years in prison after a judge on Friday convicted him of repeatedly sexually abusing his twin 8-year-old cousins while visiting them in their west suburban home.

Following a 2-day bench trial, Judge George Bakalis found Donald Nuckles, 42, of Decatur, guilty of one count of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, and two counts of criminal sexual abuse, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

“Throughout the summer of 2011, Mr. Nuckles repeatedly sexually assaulted and abused his two young cousins in an attempt to satisfy his own nauseating sexual desires,” state’s attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. “His cousins knew him as a trusted family member and he betrayed that trust in the worst imaginable way.”

During that summer of 2011, Nuckles sexually assaulted the girls on multiple occasions in their home in DuPage County, prosecutors said. The incidents did not come to light until March 2013, when the twins told their mother that he had “inappropriately touched them on several occasions.”

Their mother called police department, which started an investigation led by the DuPage County Children’s Center. Nuckles remains in custody at the DuPage County Jail, where he has been held since October 2013 on a $250,000 bond.

His next court appearance is April 2 for return of a pre-sentence report, prosecutors said. He faces up to 44 years in prison.

“This has been a very difficult case for all those involved and I would like to commend these two extraordinary young girls for having the courage to disclose to their mother what Mr. Nuckles had done to them,” Berlin said.