The sentence came down Thursday in Lake Superior Court: 40 years, then 30 more, then eight, stacked end to end. The man it belongs to wasn't in the room to hear it.

Jorge Alberto Patino, 33, of Hammond, was ordered to serve 78 years in the Indiana Department of Correction for child molesting, Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter announced on Oct. 15. The release ends with a single sentence that should bother every parent in the Region: "Patino is not in custody at this time."

He was arrested in 2024, posted bond, and a warrant for his arrest remains outstanding, according to the court docket, the Post-Tribune reported Friday. He did not show up for his own trial in September, either. A jury convicted him without him, according to the Post-Tribune's Sept. 17 court roundup.

What the jury decided

Jurors found Patino guilty of 14 felonies: six counts of Level 1 child molesting, two counts of Level 3 rape, two counts of Level 4 child molesting, one count of Level 4 criminal confinement, two counts of Level 6 intimidation and one count of Level 6 dissemination of matter harmful to minors, the prosecutor's office said after the verdict. They acquitted him on one count, child molesting resulting in the transmission of a serious sexually transmitted disease.

At sentencing the court imposed 40 years on one Level 1 count, 30 years on a second Level 1 count and eight years on a Level 4 count, and ordered all three served consecutively. The remaining verdicts were vacated, according to court records cited by the Post-Tribune.

Hammond police wrote that the abuse happened between Jan. 1, 2022, and June 10, 2024, and the probable cause affidavit says the girl was between 6 and 8 years old at the time. The affidavit describes threats used to frighten her into silence. The Hoosier Enquirer is not publishing details that could identify her.

Fifteen felonies, $6,000 cash

When Patino was jailed in August 2024, he faced 15 felonies, including seven counts of Level 1 child molesting, and a theoretical exposure of more than 350 years. At an Aug. 6, 2024, bail hearing his bond was reset to $60,000, or $6,000 cash surety, the Post-Tribune reported at the time.

Level 1 is the most serious felony class in Indiana's criminal code, the tier reserved for the worst offenses short of murder. A cash option of $6,000 on a stack of them is the kind of number Hoosiers deserve an explanation for. The public reporting doesn't say which form of bond Patino posted, who argued what at that hearing, or whether the amount changed later. Those are fair questions, and the answers belong on the record.

What Lake County still hasn't said

• Did prosecutors ask for a higher bond, or for no bond, in 2024?

• When did Patino stop appearing in court, and when was the warrant issued?

• Has the bond been forfeited, and who posted it?

• Who is actively hunting for him: Hammond police, the Lake County Sheriff's Department, or federal fugitive investigators?

None of the published accounts answers them. A 78-year sentence is only as strong as the system's ability to carry it out, and right now that system has a conviction, a sentence and an empty chair.

The people who did their jobs

Hammond Police Detective Christopher Matonovich and Officer Arthur Latiker built the case, and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tara Villarreal tried it, according to the prosecutor's office, which also thanked Dunebrook Children's Advocacy Center, Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center and the Indiana State Police Laboratory. "This verdict represents accountability for extremely serious crimes committed against a child," Carter said after the jury came back.

A little girl told investigators what happened to her, and a jury believed her. She did her part. The verdict is real and the sentence is real. What isn't real yet is a cell door closing behind the man who earned it.

Anyone who knows where Jorge Alberto Patino is should call 911 or the Hammond Police Department and let officers handle the arrest.

Photo credit: Old Lake County Courthouse, Crown Point, Indiana, by T. Tolbert, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.