FBI Chicago employee charged with sexual assault in NW Indiana

An employee of the FBI field office in Chicago has been charged with the sexual assault of a minor girl in northwest Indiana.

James Luttinen, 33, faces a level 3 felony count of rape, according to the Porter County sheriff’s office.

Luttinen is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female relative at his home in the 1900 block of Hidden Valley Drive in Lakes of the Four Seasons on July 18, 2015, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Porter County Superior Court. The victim was babysitting Luttinen’s children at the time.

He had picked the victim up earlier that evening to babysit while he and his wife went to a party, according to court documents. On the way to his home, he stopped to buy her a box of wine coolers and told her she could drink them once the kids had gone to bed.

The victim had enough of the drinks to feel drunk and was preparing to go to bed herself when Luttinen, his wife and some friends returned home, according to the affidavit. Luttinen convinced the victim to stay awake and go swimming with them, then gave her a gelatin shot, which she took while looking for her swimsuit.

She blacked out and when she woke up, Luttinen was having sex with her, according to the affidavit. He stopped when his wife walked into the room and began yelling at him. The wife then helped the girl contact authorities to report the incident.

Luttinen has been administratively suspended from his position, according to an FBI spokesman who declined further comment.

The sheriff’s office said the FBI was informed when an arrest warrant was issued Jan. 19 and the federal agency was “instrumental in Luttinen’s arrest, taking him into custody at their own office” on Jan. 21.

He is being held on a $100,000 cash bond at the Porter County Jail, where he has been since Tuesday, according to the sheriff’s office.

Lakes of the Four Seasons is a subdivision east of Crown Point on the Lake-Porter county line.

Contributing: Simone Alicea