Man who raped two women in South Beloit sentenced to 4 years in prison

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Payton Hatch, 22, the man convicted of sexually assaulting two women in a home in South Beloit in 2020, has been sentenced to spend the next four and a half years in prison.

According to Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley, Hatch was investigated for the crimes after the women reported they had been raped in a home in the 5200 block of Hutchinson Drive in September of 2020.

Hatch was 19 at the time. In October 2020, he was listed as a fugitive from justice by the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department.

A jury convicted him on two counts of Criminal Sexual Assault in Winnebago County Court in April.

Criminal Sexual Assault is a Class 1 Felony in Illinois and comes with a mandatory 4 years to a maximum 15-year sentence.

Judge Debra Schafer sentenced Hatch to four years and six months. As part of his sentence, Hatch will be on mandatory supervised release for three years and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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