A 41-year-old man designated a “sexual predator” on the state’s sex offender registry is accused of sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl at a bus stop on the city’s South Side over the weekend.
James Spencer, of the Grand Crossing neighborhood, has been charged with one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 13 years old. A Cook County judge ordered Spencer held pending trial, court records show.
More Top Picks Best Japanese Knives
Before Judge John Hock at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Thursday, prosecutors alleged that Spencer inappropriately grabbed the young girl as she stood at a CTA bus stop in Chatham with her mother and 8-month-old brother Saturday night.
Just after 7:40 p.m., the girl was standing with her family when Spencer approached from behind, placed one hand over her skirt and squeezed her buttocks, prosecutors alleged. The girl’s mother witnessed Spencer getting closer, then pulled her daughter away and told Spencer not to touch her, per prosecutors. The bus arrived shortly after. At that point, prosecutors allege Spencer pretended to fall and started yelling. He then walked toward the bus and briefly entered, but abruptly turned around and fled the scene.
The girl, who was visibly shaken, boarded the bus with her mother and baby brother, prosecutors stated. Her mother asked what had just happened, and the girl related that Spencer had grabbed her. The mother took her children off the bus and spotted Spencer coming from the direction of a nearby store, prosecutors alleged. Though Spencer avoided the family, the mother got close enough to take a picture and then called her husband. The family went to a nearby police station to report the incident.
Police recovered surveillance video depicting the incident, which showed Spencer parking in a Food4Less lot in the 100 block of West 87th Street and walking toward where the girl and her family at the bus stop, prosecutors said. The footage shows Spencer bending down and getting close to the girl multiple times.
Police issued a community alert for Spencer on Sunday and arrested him three days later in the 6600 block of South Perry Avenue, where he lives. After he was arrested, Spencer admitted to being at the bus stop and being involved in the incident but denied that the interaction was sexual in nature, instead stating that any contact between him and the girl was a result of stumbling, prosecutors stated.
Cook County court records show Spencer pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault in 2009. Spencer is a registered sex offender, state police records online show.
Spencer is due in court next on July 15.