A nearly 80-year-old Chicago man was convicted Wednesday of rape and other sex-related felonies for having sex with a female relative in Laguna Niguel during annual family visits, starting when she was 7 years old and continuing into her teenage years.
John Gunn was convicted of 17 felony counts stemming from the assaults on the girl, which ended when she was about 15 and asked her father to take her to a hospital for a rape exam, according to a trial brief filed by Deputy District Attorney Heidi Garrel.
Messages left with Garrel and the defendant's attorney, Aaron McAllister, were not immediately returned.
Gunn, whose birthday is on Dec. 8, was arrested in August 2015, while waiting to catch a flight home, according to Garrel.
Gunn would sexually assault the girl while on annual vacations to the victim's home, Garrel said. The victim told investigators she had sex with the defendant about 40 to 50 times over the years, the prosecutor said. Gunn would threaten to "harm" her younger siblings, and he gave her money as his "favorite," to convince her not to tell anyone, Garrel said.
Gunn would also send the girl lurid letters, including one she left out for her mother to find. But when her mother confronted her about the missive, she denied what happened out of embarrassment and fear, Garrel said. The defendant then said they would have to be more "careful" in the future and began sending her tawdry messages via text messages and emails, Garrel said.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 18.
