By Jim Hagerty
Reporter

ROCKFORD – A man serving 140 years at Stateville Correctional Center for sexually assaulting a boy and killing another has died from COVID-19.

Ronald Rice, 66, began a 60-year sentence at Stateville in 1982 after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy. He was given another 80 years in 2010 after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting and killing another boy nearly 30 years before his initial offense.

Rice was being treated at Morris Hospital, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Cook County continues to lead the state in covid cases. The county reported 14 new deaths Sunday including two men in their 40s, three women in their 50s, one man in his 50s, one woman in her 60s, two men in their 60s, two women in their 70s, two men in their 70s, four women in their 80s, one man in his 80s and one woman in her 90s.

In DuPage County, three women in their 70s and one woman in her 80s has died. A man in his 70s and two women in their 80s have died in Kane County. Kankakee County reported one death, a woman in her 80s.

A man in his 60s has died in Lake County while a man in his 50s, a man in his 90s and a man in his 60s have died in Montgomery, Peoria and Will counties, respectively.

Illinois’ COVID-19 death toll now stands at 274.

Statewide, 11,256 people have tested positive for COVID-19. The disease is now in 71 counties. Boone and Gallatin are now reporting cases.

For all personal protective equipment (PPE) donations, email PPE.donations@illinois.gov.  For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.