Sex offender charged with illegally visiting Quarry Beach

A Warrenville man, labeled by the state as a sexual predator, was arrested Thursday on a charge he was in a public park.

Daniel A. Modaff, 42, of the 29W500 block of Country Ridge Drive, was arrested at 1:56 p.m. at Harold Hall Quarry Beach, 400 S. Water St., Batavia. A park district employee recognized him from a sex offender registry, and Quarry management called police.

Modaff posted $150 bond and was released from custody.

Sexual predators are prohibited by state law from being in public parks and forest preserves.

Modaff pleaded guilty in 2009 to aggravated criminal sexual abuse; the victim was a 13-year-old Aurora boy. He was sentenced to four years in prison, and must register as a sex offender for life.

Modaff, who lived in Marseilles at the time, met the boy in an Internet chat room. He found the boy's cellphone number on the boy's MySpace page, and exchanged sexually explicit text messages with him. In January 2009, he drove to the boy's house, and inappropriately touched him as the two sat in Modaff's car.

The boy's mother found the text messages on the boy's phone and called police. Modaff continued to text the boy, who allowed police to set up another encounter. A DuPage County prosecutor said Modaff confessed to police he intended to take the boy back to Marseilles and have sex with him.