Spanish TV Personality Charged With Sexually Assaulting Girl
(STMW) -- The producer of a "very popular" Spanish language music cable television show molested a little girl and took topless pictures of her, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.
Juan Contreras inappropriately touched the now 11-year-old girl while giving her voice lessons at his office in the 2000 block of North Cicero Avenue, assistant state's attorney Heather Kent said.
And as recent as April 26, Contreras took topless pictures of the girl, Kent said. He also allegedly took a photo of the victim wearing a bikini, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Contreras, of the 2300 block of North Kostner Avenue, met the girl last year when she was ten and had been giving her voice lessons twice a week since then, Kent said.
Contreras, 53, has been video editing for the "El Show De Juan Contreras" or the Juan Contreras Show for the last two decades, according to court testimony. The show, which features local musical talent, is "very popular," Kent said.
Contreras, a married father of three, allegedly gave a hand-written statement to police, Kent said.
In court Thursday Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. asked Contreras why "a man in his position" would need an assistant public defender.
"I don't have any money," Contreras said in Spanish.
"I gave it all away [to charity]."
The judge wasn't impressed.
"Nobody gives away all their money," the judge said before ordering Contreras held in lieu of $500,000 bond for predatory criminal sexual assault.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
