Man, Relative Charged After Girl's Disappearance
UPDATED 03/08/11 1:21 p.m.
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (CBS/WBBM) -- A 27-year-old Chicago man and a relative of a runaway from Schaumburg are now charged with sex crimes and obstructing a police investigation.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Julie Mann reports, the 16-year-old girl disappeared for several days without contact with family, leading to an investigation by Schaumburg police.
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On Monday, the girl was located in a hotel in the 7700 block of South Cicero Avenue with a 27-year-old man.
On Sunday, police said there was "absolutely no evidence" the girl was the victim of foul play, and indications are she left home on her own initiative.
But what happened afterward was enough to get the man, Jose Alberto Quiroz, charged with several serious crimes.
Quiroz, of the 7700 block of South Kilpatrick Avenue, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, child pornography, and harboring a runaway, police said.
The girl's cousin, Felicia Michelle Chavez, 18, was charged with obstruction of justice in the case.
Police say Quiroz met the girl through a telephone chat room, and developed a relationship that included sexual contact in two locations in Schaumburg and Chicago in January and February.
The victim left a note for her mother in a school locker, saying she was leaving home, police said.
On March 2, Chavez dropped the victim and Quiroz off at the Schaumburg train station so they could go off to Chicago, police said.
During the investigation, Chavez repeatedly lied to detectives about the victim and Quiroz, police said. But on Monday, they were found at the motel, and police learned of additional sexual contact between them in the past week.
Detectives also recovered photos of an unidentified juvenile on Quiroz's cell phone, leading to the child pornography charge.
At a hearing at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse Tuesday, Quiroz was ordered held on $40,000 bond, while bond was set at $10,000 for Chavez, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Both will appear for preliminary hearings at the courthouse on March 28.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
