A Chicago Public Schools security guard at Benito Juarez high school in the Pilsen neighborhood has been charged with criminal sexual assault after having sex for months with a 17-year-old girl he knew from the school, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Ellis Davis, 21, was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 bail Wednesday by Cook County Judge John Lyke Jr., after being charged with criminal sexual assault by a person in a position of trust or authority, according to court records.
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Davis, who records show made about $28,000 a year as a guard at Benito Juarez Community Academy, “has been removed from his position,” a spokeswoman for the Chicago Board of Education said in an email. He has been suspended pending CPS disciplinary proceedings, she said.
“Student well-being is our top priority, and we took immediate action after learning of these very serious allegations,” according to a statement released by the spokeswoman.
Davis met the girl at Juarez high school and they became friendly in October, when she was still 16, prosecutors said. They started smoking marijuana together after school, either in Davis’ car or at a nearby park, and kept in touch using Snapchat, Facebook and text messages.
After the girl turned 17, the two started having sex several times a week, prosecutors said. Davis also raised the possibility of giving the girl marijuana to sell inside Juarez, prosecutors said.
The two last had sex last week, and on Monday, the girl’s mother found messages from Davis on the girl’s phone, prosecutors said. When her mother confronted the girl, the girl confirmed they were having sex and that Davis was a guard at Juarez high school.
Davis, of the 4500 block of South Indiana Avenue, was arrested at 10:05 a.m. Tuesday in the 1500 block of West Cermak Road, in the same block as Juarez high school, according to a police spokeswoman. It wasn’t clear if he was arrested at the school.
After his arrest, Davis admitted that he knew that he should not have started spending time with the girl because he worked for the Chicago Public Schools, that he knew the girl’s age and that he had sex with the girl, prosecutors said.
Davis, who according to records was not being held in Cook County Jail, was scheduled to appear again in court on Feb. 7.