Schaumburg police seek leads on accused child photo-taker

Schaumburg police have issued a community alert to find others who might have had contact with a DeKalb man accused of taking photos of a 10-year-old boy at a local restaurant.

Cortez Alexander Lewis, 26, of 914 Ridge in DeKalb, was arrested July 17 and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and damage to property immediately after the incident.

Police have since obtained a warrant to search the contents of Lewis' backpack and cameras and said they found that other children had been similarly photographed at other public places in Schaumburg.

The newly recovered photos are mostly of boys, but are not explicit enough to warrant additional charges, Schaumburg police Sgt. John Nebl said.

The photos appear to have been taken at a number of places and are not confined to a particular area, he said.

Police are now releasing their arrest photo of Lewis to find out if anyone in the public recognizes him or believes they or their children may have had contact with him.

Anyone with possibly relevant information for police is asked to call the youth investigations section at (847) 882-3534.

On July 17, police responded to a call from a restaurant on the 600 block of North Martingale Road, where a man was reported to have cornered a 10-year-old boy on his way to the restroom.

The man reportedly persuaded the boy to sit on the floor with his legs spread and photographed him with a disposable camera. He is not alleged to have touched the boy.

The man reportedly left the restaurant before police arrived, but the mother of the boy provided a description that led to Lewis' arrest as he was walking at the intersection of Martingale Road and Kimberly Drive.

"We're just fortunate this child alerted his mother, who called police, because we don't have any other reports of this," Nebl said.

While being taken into custody, police said Lewis braced his legs against the squad car to try to hinder officers from placing him in the car and scratched the vehicle in the process.

Lewis was issued a $10,000 bond, but remained in Cook County jail Thursday.

His next scheduled court date is Aug. 8 in Rolling Meadows.