A Madison man twice charged with assaulting women will be committed to the Illinois Department of Corrections after a Madison County judge granted a Sexually Dangerous Person Act petition filed against him.

Associate Judge Neil Schroeder found that David F. Brown, 58, has a mental illness and has demonstrated a propensity for sexual assault. The ruling means Brown will be a ward of the Illinois Department of Corrections and held indefinitely in a special unit inside a state prison.

“A Sexually Dangerous Person petition is a proceeding that is reserved for the most persistent offenders,” said Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine. “They are sex offenders who have demonstrated a propensity toward acts of sexual violence. David Brown is precisely the type of dangerous offender who needs to be removed from society under this law.”

Brown was convicted in 1997 of sexually assaulting an acquaintance in a car and two others in the basement of his home. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Less than a year after his release in 1999, three more females who knew Brown reported separately that he had assaulted them sexually. Along with the new charges, Haine filed the Sexually Dangerous Person Act petition, outlining sexual assaults committed by Brown against six different victims and all involving weapons or force.

During Brown’s bench trial, two psychologists who evaluated him testified that he fits the definition of a sexually dangerous person.

On Monday, Schroeder granted the petition determining that there is a “substantial probability” Brown will commit sex offenses in the future if not confined.

Haine commended the work of Assistant State’s Attorney Ali Foley and Assistant State’s Attorney Cara Tegel, along with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Granite City Police Department and other police agencies that assisted in investigations involving Brown.