Man Who I.M.'d Girl Charged With Sexual Abuse
By Colleen Mastony, Tribune staff reporter
Originally published in the Chicago Tribune, July 25, 2002
A Rolling Meadows man who allegedly used Internet instant messaging to lure a 13-year-old girl from the Rolling Meadows Public Library to a nearby park has been charged with aggravated sexual abuse, a felony, police said.
Christopher Mundschenk, 19, of the 3400 block of Peacock Lane, is being held in lieu of $50,000 bond in Cook County Jail, authorities said.
He was arrested Wednesday in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred about two weeks ago. Police said they were not notified until Monday, when the girl saw Mundschenk at the library again and asked a friend to call 911.
"We're concerned that there may possibly be more victims," said Rolling Meadows Police Det. Tom Gadomski.
The day of the alleged attack, the girl was with friends in the children's section of the library when they began communicating with Mundschenk through an instant messaging program, police said.
"He asked them what they looked like—height, weight, bra size," Gadomski said.
Mundschenk had been messaging from the adult section of the library, one floor up from the children's section, and eventually came downstairs to talk to the girls. Later, he messaged one of them to meet him at Kimball Hill Park, where he allegedly groped her.
David Ruff, the library director, called the incident "a rare occurrence."
"This is a very bad thing," Ruff said. "But I'm not certain how the library could do anything differently … Children need to know not to go off with strangers."
