A former Mercer County man denied in his efforts to gain additional post-conviction relief in two sex abuse cases. Judge Greg Chickris made that ruling Monday morning in Mercer County Circuit Court concerning 51-year-old Loren Jasper. Jasper was originally sentenced to 28-years in prison for Class X and Class 1 felonies in February of 2014, but the Third District Appellate Court deemed that punishment incorrect because Jasper did not hold a position of trust. The former Cable man was re-sentenced to 14 years in prison in June of 2017 on a Class 2 felony charge and then Judge Chickris reduced that to seven years the following month based on a motion he filed. In addition to the seven-year sentence, Jasper is also serving a consecutive six-year prison term in a separate Mercer County sex abuse case that was also part of the original 2014 sentencing. The two cases involved 15 and 13 year old girls. In his latest unsuccessful post-conviction petition, he was claiming ineffective counsel and was also asking for concurrent prison terms. Jasper also has a consecutive seven-year prison sentence out of Rock Island County stemming from a 2013 sex abuse case. He remains in custody at the Robinson Correctional Center.
