Arlington Heights man charged with molesting two girls

An Arlington Heights man charged with sexually abusing two sisters was ordered held on $500,000 bail Wednesday.

Baltazar Solorzano, 52, was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a class 2 felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Solorzano is a parishioner at the same Wheeling church the girls attended, authorities said. According to one of the girls, now 13, Solorzano took her to his car "for a surprise" after Sunday services while her parents talked with the pastor or other church members, said Cook County assistant state's attorney Maureen McGee. Inside the car, Solorzano put the girl on his lap and touched her inappropriately, McGee said.

The girl said this went on from the time she was 7 or 8 until she was about 10 years old. She said Solorzano told her not to tell anyone because "there was nothing wrong with what he was doing to her," McGee said.

McGee said the girl's younger sister, now 11, said two years ago Solorzano did the same thing to her. In July, McGee said, Solorzano also forcibly kissed her.

The girls discussed telling their parents but did not do so until July 2016, after which their mother confronted the defendant and broke off contact with him, McGee said.

Last month, the younger sister told a teacher, McGee said. The teacher alerted a social worker who contacted authorities. Both girls identified Solorzano as the man who abused them.

He next appears in court on Nov. 28.