Former CPS Security Guard James Wilson Jr. Charged With Sexually Assaulting Four Girls, Including His 11-Year-Old Niece
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A former Chicago Public Schools security guard has been charged with sexually assaulting at least four girls, including his own 11-year-old niece and another girl who was only 7 years old, in a string of attacks dating back to 2001.
Cook County prosecutors said in at least one of the cases James Wilson Jr. used his position at CPS to threaten to change his 11-year-old niece's grades if she would not have sex with him. In another case, he threatened the 7 year old, telling her he would kill her parents if she said anything about what he did.
That victim, who is now 12, spoke to CBS 2's Megan Hickey with the permission of her mother who stood by during the interview.
"When I wanted to tell my parents, he threatened me that he told me that if I told my mom and dad that he would kill them. "I didn't want them dead."
The victim's mother told CBS 2: "I didn't have my kid for him to just take from me like that, her innocence or her childhood. You only get one childhood and then it's gone forever."
James Wilson Jr. denied bail for charges of sexually assaulting three young girls. Prosecutors confirmed he was a former CPS security guard and supervisor of security @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/g18gXMUoqN
— Megan Hickey (@MeganHickeyTV) August 29, 2019
Wilson Jr., 67, was arrested Tuesday afternoon after he turned himself in at the Englewood District station. He has been charged with three felony counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and one felony count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
A Cook County judge ordered Wilson held without bail after prosecutors laid out a string of allegations against Wilson dating back nearly two decades.
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Videotaped Sexual Assault Of His Niece
In 2004, while working as a CPS security guard and supervisor of security, Wilson allegedly asked his 11-year-old niece – identified only as TH in court documents – to have sex with him and threatened to use his position to "alter her grades" if she wouldn't.
Prosecutors said Wilson's niece was finishing her homework at her house when he called her into his basement office, set up a video camera on a tripod, and told her to get naked, then recorded himself sexually assaulting her.
Also in 2004, Wilson pulled up to his niece as she was walking to school, took her back to his house, forced her to strip in front of a camera, and spin around naked. He then sexually assaulted her.
He later allegedly showed TH still images of the videos while in his office at the public school where he worked.
The victim told her cousin about the attacks earlier this year. She is now 25 years old.
Prosecutors said Wilson was the subject of CPS investigations in 2004 and 2009 for inappropriate sexual conversations with students. He resigned in 2009 and was placed on a "do not hire" list.
Wilson Repeatedly Groped A Girl Whose Mother He Was Dating
Prosecutors said in 2001 Wilson touched another girl's breasts and genitals on 15 to 20 occasions while he was dating her mother. Wilson allegedly had asked the girl – identified in court documents only as V1 – to call him "paw paw."
According to prosecutors, V1 fell asleep on a couch at Wilson's house and woke up to find herself in his bed wearing only her underwear. Wilson was wearing a robe, exposed his penis, and asked her to have sex with him. The girl put on her clothes and left the room, but Wilson allegedly followed her and asked her to have sex with him in exchange for money. Prosecutors said she refused.
On another occasion that year, Wilson allegedly called V1 into a room, locked the door behind her, forced her to strip, and sexually assaulted her.
The victim told her mother about the attacks when she turned 19 years old. That victim is now 28, according to prosecutors.
Alleged Sexual Assault On 7-Year-Old At A Party
Prosecutors said another victim – a 7-year-old girl identified only as V3 – was attending a party at Wilson's house with her parents in 2013 when he followed her into the basement when she went to the bathroom. He allegedly pushed her against a wall, pulled down her pants and underwear, and sexually assaulted her. He then grabbed her face and neck and kissed her while she tried to get away.
Wilson left the bathroom when he heard someone coming, according to prosecutors.
Later that year, the same girl attended another party with her parents at Wilson's house, and while she was there, he allegedly put cocoa butter on her genitals.
Prosecutors said the girl was afraid to use the bathroom alone while at the party and tried to convince her mom to go with her, but her mother told her to go alone. When she went to the bathroom in the basement, Wilson allegedly followed her again, and when she didn't return to the party, her mother went looking for her.
The girl's mother then saw Wilson standing in front of the girl in the basement, and the girl cried out. As the mother and the girl left, Wilson allegedly followed and tried to interrupt their conversation. Later that evening, the mother allegedly found cocoa butter in her daughter's underwear and on her genitals.
Then, sometime between 2014 and 2015, when the same girl was 8 or 9 years old, she was asked to get papers for her father from Wilson's basement office, and while there, Wilson locked the door, pulled her pants down, and sexually assaulted her.
On another occasion during the same time span, Wilson allegedly brought the girl into his office, propped his chair against the door, and forced her to watch pornography while he masturbated then sexually assaulted her.
Finally, in 2019, the same girl was in Wilson's garage when Wilson began masturbating and then aggressively groping V3, who was 12 years old at the time.
Alleged Abuse Of Girl He Babysat
Prosecutors said Wilson also sexually abused an 11-year-old girl, whose brother is Wilson's grandson. Wilson and his wife were babysitting the girl – identified in court documents as V4 – before and after the school she attended in 2016 down the street from her house.
On one occasion, the girl was at Wilson's house after school when she went to the bathroom in his basement, and he followed her inside where he touched and squeezed her breasts and told her they were getting bigger.
Another time while she was in his kitchen before school he grabbed her face and tried to kiss her on the mouth.
On another occasion before school, he approached her while wearing only a bathrobe and tried to grab her, but she ran and hid under his dining room table before eventually running out of the house.
Wilson allegedly told the girl not to tell anyone.
She reported the abuse to her mother when she was in 5th grade.
This past July, the mother of one of Wilson's grandchildren asked her daughter and V4 if Wilson had ever touched them. V4 told her about the abuse, and she contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, prosecutors said.
The same woman later learned that in 2015 Wilson forced her daughter – who was 11 years old at the time – to watch pornography in his basement office.