A long-time felon has been sent back to prison for indecent exposure after an acquaintance of his latest victim trolled through Illinois’ sex offender registry to find the man who targeted her daughter.
Stephen Durr, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of public indecency with three or more previous convictions in exchange for a one-year prison term, according to court records. Judge Kenneth Wadas handed down the sentence. Authorities set Durr’s parole date for July 11.
A Lakeview woman was followed into her apartment building on the 400 block of West Oakdale on the evening of July 3, 2021, by a man who tried to make small talk with her, prosecutors said. She ignored the man.
When she opened her door again about ten minutes later, the man was sitting on the floor with his underwear and pants down. You know what he was doing. He ran away when she screamed. The cops came and took a report.
Then the mother of the victim’s roommate got involved. She started looking through the Illinois sex offender registry. And she found a sex offender who lived in the same building as her daughter and the victim, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said. It was Stephen Durr.
Armed with that information, police compared Durr’s old mugshots to surveillance images of the man who followed the woman into her apartment building. It was a match.
Coincidentally, Durr has been to prison repeatedly for failing to keep his home address current in Florida and Illinois sex offender databases. So, he probably kicked himself for finally coming into compliance last year.
In fact, Durr has been sent to prison four times, for a total of 13 years, simply because he didn’t keep his state sex offender registrations current. Murphy said his other convictions include public indecency, burglary, and theft.
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