Are Evidence of Prior Sexually Molestation Offence Admissible ?

In People v. Partin, 156 Ill. App. 3d 365, 509 N.E.2d 662, 109 Ill. Dec. 1 (1987), the defendant was charged with offenses relating to his sexual molestation of a teenage boy who worked for him. At trial, the State was allowed to introduce evidence that the defendant had sexually molested two other teenage boys who also worked for him. Noting similarities in the circumstances surrounding the incidents of molestation, the Partin court concluded that the testimony of the other two boys was properly admissible as evidence of modus operandi and as evidence of a common design or scheme "to hire male adolescents and to lure them to his room to engage in lewd acts." Partin, 156 Ill. App. 3d at 371.