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"                      <p class=\"imgtitle\">Lakin</p>           A special prosecutor investigating child sexual assault allegations against Tom Lakin said the case is still on-going.<br /><br />Charles Coburn, one of five special prosecutors from the Illinois Attorney Appellate Prosecutor's Agency, said today he was still going through evidence in the case.<br /><br />Coburn said he didn't want to give a \"set date\" as to when the state would file a case against Lakin or drop its investigation.<br /><br />\"It's fair to contact me in a month,\" he said.<br /><br />Lakin was sentenced to six years in federal prison in October 2008 after pleading guilty to drug charges. In exchange for pleading guilty to possessing and distributing cocaine to a person under 21 and maintaining a drug-involved premises, federal prosecutors dropped sex charges involving minors that carried a sentence of life in prison.<br /><br />Coburn was appointed special prosecutor in June 2006, after Madison County State's Attorney Bill Mudge asked for outside assistance because he perceived a conflict of interest if the state were to bring charges against Lakin, founder of the Lakin Law Firm in Wood River.<br /><br />The firm has since been renamed LakinChapman. <br /><br />Mudge had indicated that his former law firm had represented Lakin in the past. Mudge is running for circuit judge and faces no opposition in the November general election. <br /><br />Lakin also is the subject of a pending civil sexual assault complaint in St. Clair County alleging he had sex with an underage male. The case was originally filed in Madison County in May 2006.<br /><br />East Alton attorney Ed Unsell, who represents victims in that suit, said the case has been on hold pending the state's investigation. <br /><br />Unsell said Tuesday that his clients have not been interviewed by the special prosecutor since the conclusion of Lakin's federal case.<br /><br />\"It's not that difficult of a case,\" Unsell said. \"He either sexually abused a 15 year old boy or he did not.\"<br /><br />Coburn has said that there is no statute of limitations concern because of the age of an alleged victim in the investigation.<br /><br />Lakin is serving his sentence at FCI Forrest City, a low security facility for male offenders in eastern Arkansas. He is scheduled to be released Nov. 30, 2013.<br />"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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