VANDALIA, IL — A January 18 jury trial was confirmed Monday in Fayette County Court for a 31-yearold former ISP trooper facing more than a dozen counts of criminal sexual assault or criminal sexual abuse. James Dierkes is charged in the two separate cases accusing him of incidents alleged to have occurred while he worked at Okaw Area Vocational Center in Vandalia in 2016.

Dierkes later left the employment of the Vandalia school district to join the Illinois State Police. Once he was charged, the State Police fired him. He was first arrested in December 2019 on two charges of Class 1 felony criminal sexual assault of a person between the ages of 13 and 17 who was under his supervision. Dierkes was then charged before his preliminary hearing in that case with an additional nine Class 1 felony sex offenses.

A telephone conference for attorneys in the cases and the judge is scheduled for next week to finalize preparation for the January 18 jury trial.