Just a month after his bond was consolidated and reduced, bond conditions for a former teacher and Illinois State Police trooper charged with sexual assault was awarded a change in his bond conditions. 29-year old James Dierkes appeared in Fayette County Court on Wednesday morning for a pretrial hearing. During the hearing, a request to modify the original bond conditions that stated he have no contact with anyone under the age of 18 was granted by Judge Kevin Parker. The modification will allow Dierkes to have supervised video visitation with his two minor children. Also during the hearing, a new pretrial date was set as Dierkes will make his next appearance in court on March 31. Dierkes does currently remain in the Fayette County Jail on $1 million bond.
In total, Dierkes is charged with ten counts of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving two victims. The alleged crimes in the two cases he is charged in are alleged to have taken place between August 2016 and September 2019. Dierkes is a former art teacher who taught at the Okaw Area Vocational Center from 2012 to 2018 before leaving the school to become an Illinois State Police Officer, a position he held for a year after graduating from the ISP Academy and completing field training this past Spring.
