A judge on Wednesday sentenced a man to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl while the attack was livestreamed to a classroom of first and second graders during a remote learning class.
Catrell Walls, 21, pleaded guilty to one felony sexual assault charge for the Oct. 15, 2020 attack. Walls appeared in court at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, speaking softly while answering questions from Cook County Judge Sophia Atcherson. As part of the agreement, prosecutors dropped two other felony counts, as well as an unrelated weapons case.
The abuse, streamed online, happened during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as schools and workplaces adjusted to functioning in online spaces.
Walls was seen online by a teacher at a Bronzeville charter school and other classmates abusing the girl, prosecutors said. Several students were heard asking, “What’s going on, what’s happening?”
It happened during a break from class, in which the teacher asked students to mute themselves and turn off their cameras, prosecutors said. Though the girl had muted herself, prosecutors said, she did not turn off the camera. Other students also did not turn off their cameras.
When the teacher saw the attack, prosecutors said, she ordered the students to log off and told the girl to turn off her camera before calling the police and the principal. Walls at some point closed the girl’s laptop, prosecutors said.
Officers went to the girl’s home and arrested Walls.
When sentencing Walls, Atcherson said his attorneys presented “significant mitigation” during pretrial conferences.
Atcherson noted that Walls would also have to register as a sex offender.
mabuckley@chicagotribune.com
