Call from parents leads to lewd exposure charge

Criminal charges have been lodged against a man who Gurnee police say performed a lewd act in front of four teenage girls in a business parking lot.

Police Chief Kevin Woodside said authorities were led to the man because of good information provided by the victims and the mother of one girl who was nearby in another car.

Police announced Monday that Julio Gabino Serrano-Tovar, 38, of Waukegan, was charged with felony sexual exploitation of a child and public indecency/lewd exposure, a misdemeanor. Serrano-Tovar has been in the Lake County jail on a $250,000 bond since Friday.

Cmdr. Jay Patrick said authorities received a report at 9:17 p.m. May 4 about a man apparently performing a lewd act inside his 2003 silver Nissan Altima while in the lot on the 4800 block of Grand Avenue. Three 14-year-old girls and another girl who is 13 noticed the man’s actions and became upset.

One of the girls informed her mother, who was in a car in the same lot, police said. Patrick said the woman approached the vehicle and saw the man pulling up his pants.

After returning to her car and driving home, the woman informed her husband about what happened in the parking lot, authorities said. The couple then called Gurnee police, who didn’t find the suspect’s vehicle after checking the area.

But Patrick said police received enough of a description of the suspect and his car to allow detectives to identify him. Detectives contacted Serrano-Tovar at an auto-body shop where he works in Waukegan and he later made statements regarding his actions in the parking lot May 4, according to police.

.