JEFFERSON COUNTY — A 28-year-old Mt. Vernon man was sentenced Thursday in Jefferson County Court to 75 years in prison after a jury found him guilty in June of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 and two counts possession of child pornography of a victim under the age of 13 – all three Class X felonies.

Cody Rector was arrested in May 2020 following an investigation by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office resulted in State’s Attorney Sean Featherstun initially filed four Class X felony charges against him – two for predatory criminal sexual assault and two for possession of child pornography.

Featherstun also filed five Class 3 felony counts of possessing child pornography and one for possessing a firearm with a revoked FOID against Rector, who was subsequently arrested a few days later and booked into the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $250,000.

Rector stayed in the county jail until July 2021 when he posed $25,000 cash bail. Then in June, jurors in June found Rector guilty of three of the 10 felony charges and Rector was taken back into custody.

On Thursday, Judge Jerry Crisel sentenced Rector to 40 years for the predatory criminal sexual assault charge of which at least 85 percent have to be served. He then handed down 20 and 15-year sentences on the two child pornography charges which require at least 50 percent of the sentence to be served.

Sheriff Jeff Bullard commends the work by Detective Captain Bobby Wallace, States Attorney Sean Featherstun, and First Assistant Julie Kozuszek who ultimately prosecuted the case.