Overview
- Edmund Rivers, 68, faces three counts of criminal sexual assault and two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, according to Cook County prosecutors.
- Investigators say the boys were 7 to 14 years old and reported abuse in patient rooms, a seclusion room, a cafeteria bathroom, and a gym equipment room.
- Prosecutors allege Rivers threatened to sedate children with a hypodermic needle to force compliance.
- Several survivors contacted police after learning of a civil lawsuit alleging a broader pattern of staff abuse at the Hartgrove facility.
- Rivers was employed at Hartgrove from 1993 to 2004, and a judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building ordered him detained after his initial hearing.