Nick Sauer (born October 11, 1982) is a Republican politician and former member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

, representing the 51st district which includes Deer Park, Forest Lake, Green Oaks, Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer, Lake Barrington,

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

, Libertyville, Long Grove, Mundelein and North Barrington. Before his election to the House, he was a director of the

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes refer ...

and a member of the Lake County Board.

Professional and political career

Sauer began his professional career in the

US Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econo ...

under President

George W Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. In 2009, he was victorious in his first campaign for elected office, to the

Barrington, Illinois Barrington is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Lake County, Illinois, Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 10,722 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A northwest suburb of Chicago, the area featu ...

Community School District 220 Board of Education. He successfully ran for the

Lake County, Illinois Lake County is a County (United States), county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Illinois, along the shores of Lake Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it has a population of 714,342, making it th ...

Board in 2012 and was elected as a State Representative in 2016. He is a partner in his family's business, called "Sauer Kitchen Solutions."

Sexual harassment allegations

On August 1, 2018, it was reported by

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

that an ex-girlfriend accused him of misappropriating nude photos she had sent to him privately, using them to establish an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account, where he would pretend to be a woman seeking online relationships with men. This allegedly involved graphic sexual discussions. "He came to my house & confessed to

catfishing Catfishing refers to the creation of a fictitious online persona, or fake identity (typically on social networking platforms), with the intent of deception, usually to mislead a victim into an online romantic relationship or to commit finan ...

men with my photos for 2 years to at least 8 men," she said, according to Politico. "He was unable to provide the names and begged that I let it go." He resigned from the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

the same day. Lake County Republican Party Chairman Mark Shaw appointed Helene Walsh, wife of former Congressman

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

, to the vacancy. On January 9, 2019, it was announced that Sauer was indicted on twelve counts of the offense of non-consensual Dissemination of Private Sexual Images involving two separate victims. As charged, each count is a Class 4 felony. In November 2023, Sauer entered into a plea agreement in which he pled guilty to one charge of attempted non-consensual dissemination of a private sexual image (a Class A misdemeanor) while the rest of the charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, two years probation and 120 hours of public service. https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2023/11/28/former-state-rep-nick-sauer-from-lake-barrington-sentenced-to-90-days-in-jail-for-posting-private-sexual-photos-online/

References

Living people Politicians from Peoria, Illinois Northwestern University alumni University of Denver alumni Illinois Republicans County board members in Illinois People from Lake County, Illinois 1982 births Illinois politicians convicted of crimes 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly {{Illinois-politician-stub