St. Charles Driving Instructor Sentenced to 30 Years

Paul Bocska, 60, was sentenced in Kane County after a jury found him guilty of 16 felony sex crimes. The charges stemmed from repeated assaults on a student during driving lessons in April and May 2021. Bocska owned the Drive Now driving school and had been hired to teach the student to drive.

Bocska failed to appear for his trial, and the jury convicted him in his absence in 2025. Investigators later determined he had left the United States. He was found and arrested in Hungary, then extradited to Illinois for sentencing. The search involved the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, federal agencies, diplomatic teams in Budapest and Amsterdam, and Hungarian law enforcement.

The sentence requires Bocska to serve at least 85% of the first 24 years before becoming eligible for parole. He may earn one day of sentence reduction for each day of good behavior during his final six years. He will also receive credit for 410 days already spent in custody, and Illinois law requires him to remain on the sex offender registry permanently. Matthew Rodgers, an assistant state’s attorney in Kane County, praised the victim and cooperating law enforcement agencies for helping bring the case to sentencing.