38 years for assaulting girl walking home

A federal judge handed a 38-year prison sentence Wednesday to an Indiana man who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl who had been walking home from school in Calumet City five days before Christmas in 2017.

Before she handed down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood praised the way law enforcement and members of the community came together to bring Bryan Protho, 42, to justice.

“What occurred is a nightmare of every parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle and anyone else who has ever loved a child,” Wood said.

Early in the hourslong sentencing hearing Wednesday, the victim spoke to the judge about her kidnapping. She said, “I thought I was going to die.” She said she later felt “afraid to go to sleep in fear of having nightmares” but also said, “Now, I’ve got my power back.”

Protho declined to make a statement before he was sentenced. But defense attorney Michael Leonard wrote in a court filing that even the mandatory minimum of 20 years faced by Protho was “extraordinarily draconian” and anything above that would be “unwarranted.”

Parente wrote that the victim had left the school around 3 p.m. Dec. 20, 2017. The girl noticed a red SUV following her, and she picked up the pace. But Parente said she then saw the SUV parked in front of her, and Protho blocking her way. Protho grabbed her “like a rag doll and dragged her into his car,” the prosecutor wrote. Parente said the girl got away after the sexual assault, and Protho was arrested a week later.