Judge Finds Man Who Assaulted, Tried To Kidnap Amish Teen Girl “Not Guilty” – By Reason Of Insanity

The shocking story of an “Amish wannabe” living in the Arthur, Illinois community who attacked and tried to kidnap a 16-year-old Amish girl has come to a conclusion of sorts.

In the February 2025 incident – which happened in the early morning at a local coffee shop – Lester M. Raymind, 21, first assaulted, and then tried to carry away the girl.

He was stopped by the brave actions of a 20-year-old Amish woman – who chased him and got him to release the teen. The girl was described by the Arthur police chief as having suffered “great bodily harm”.

Raymind was known in the community for dressing in Amish clothing, and wanting to become Amish. In fact, according to at least one source, Raymind “reportedly believed himself to be Amish”.

Raymind was supposed to go to trial on November 10th. However, that is not going to happen.

That’s because a week earlier, he was ruled insane and found not guilty by a judge in a “stipulated bench trial” (a trial “where both prosecution and defense agree on the basic facts in a criminal case.”). More from the Mattoon Journal-Gazette & Times-Courier:

ARTHUR — A man who badly injured a 16-year-old Amish girl in an attempted kidnapping in Arthur has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The case of Lester M. Raymind, 21, was headed for a jury trial Nov. 10 but the defendant made a surprise appearance on Nov. 4 in Douglas County Circuit Court.

An agreement between Douglas County State’s Attorney Robert Kosic and defense attorney Kevin Nolan led to the not guilty verdict on a charge of attempted aggravated kidnapping.

The defendant also was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a separate case of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm involving a different victim.

That’s another detail to this story – Raymind had previously assaulted another (non-Amish) victim.

Just 10 days earlier, he had been charged and released under Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, a criminal justice reform statute dating to 2021. He had undergone a mental health evaluation at that time.

If he’s being judged to be insane now, I’m not sure why that first evaluation did not identify him as “insane”, or worthy of holding for observation at least, at the time.

Did the people who administered that earlier evaluation do a poor job? Did Raymind’s performance on that evaluation perhaps “raise eyebrows” – but not quite cross the threshold for outside action to be taken?

Is it possible Raymind gamed a later mental health evaluation following the assault on the Amish girl, to make himself appear insane and avoid prison?

We the public do not know the answers to those questions, though perhaps someone does. But if he had been identified as mentally unfit at the time of the first evaluation, perhaps this Amish teenager would not have had to go through what she did.

So is Raymind getting off the hook?

Does this judgment mean that Raymind will escape punishment? I suppose it depends on how you look at it.

He has been judged insane, and thus not responsible for his actions in the way a sane person would be. The facility he has been assigned to is a secure one, which I take it to mean Raymind will not be permitted to leave on his own accord.

And in theory, he could be held there a long time:

Answering questions from the Herald & Review, Kosic said Raymind could be held in a secure mental health facility for up to the same amount of time he would have been kept in prison if found guilty.

That works out at 15 years in this case to be served at 85%, so the effective incarceration time would be just under 13 years.

So he could be held at this facility for quite some time. However, there is a possibility for early release, which “would most likely have to come back to court for the judge’s approval.”

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