CHICAGO — A former school janitor has been sentenced to 14 years for sexually assaulting a child and, separately, for trying to sexually assault a woman at a Bridgeport gas station while her young son was nearby.
But Andrew Arciniega, 41, is also receiving various credits that will have him walking out of prison in November 2026 after serving just over five years, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.
Arciniega, who was convicted of four gun-related felonies in the early 2000s, worked at a private school on the North Side in August 2021 when prosecutors charged him with the first crime.
‘I want the girl!’
Prosecutors said a 27-year-old woman was buckling her 2-year-old into a car seat when Arciniega approached her from behind, grabbed her by the neck, and forced her into the car at VP Racing Fuel, 659 West 31st Street, on August 23, 2021.
The force of the attack caused the woman’s son to fall to the floor of her car as Arciniega, who stood 6’2′′ tall and weighed 350 pounds, used his body weight to force himself onto the woman. Officials said that Arciniega grabbed the woman’s chest, pushed his face into her breasts, and rubbed her private areas.
“I want the girl!” Arciniega shouted repeatedly after intervening witnesses shuffled her into the attached convenience store to wait for the police.
Two months after he was charged, prosecutors accused him of sexually assaulting a relative’s daughter between 2015 and 2019.
Prosecutors said he would satisfy himself while ordering the girl to undress, threatening to kill her mother and sister if she did not comply. The child was between 11 and 15 years old at the time.
When the girl was 11, he twice forced her to perform oral sex, according to the state’s initial allegations.
Once, he pretended to fall on the girl, touching her inappropriately while on top of her. The child’s mother witnessed that incident and reported it to Chicago police. But the case stalled when investigators lost contact with the mother, according to prosecutors.
14 becomes 5
Last week, Arciniega pleaded guilty to attempted criminal sexual assault causing bodily harm and predatory sexual assault of a child under age 13. Judge Sophia Atcherson sentenced him to 7 years on each count, to be served consecutively, according to court files.
But, IDOC records show Ariniega is expected to be released in November 2026, a little over five years after the gas station incident.
Prosecutors dropped 58 felony charges in their plea deal with Arciniega.