South Elgin man arrested for Internet solicitation

A 57-year-old South Elgin man faces a charge of indecent solicitation of a child after he was chatted online with and arranged to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

In reality, police said, Steven Ball of the 1100 block of Fairfax Lane, was talking to a detective from the Cook County Sheriff's Police child exploitation unit.

According to a sheriff's news release: Ball suggested that he and the girl meet for sex at a North Riverside shopping district.

When he arrived at the shopping district on Aug. 26, police were there to greet him instead and he was promptly arrested.

Police discovered computerized directions from South Elgin to the North Riverside mall on him, as well as a model number of a camera he talked about purchasing for the teenager, the release said.

Police said that in their online chat sessions, Ball asked the girl to take "sexy pics" of herself and to forward them to him.

Ball's arrest marks the third time this summer the unit has arrested an adult for using the Internet to solicit sex from a child, the news release said.

Sheriff Tom Dart reminds parents to keep an eye on their children's Internet activities.

"With the beginning of school, children may be spending more time ... conversing in chat rooms," Dart said in a written statement. "I strongly urge parents to talk to their children and stress to them they should not give out their full names and addresses, and to never agree to an in-person meeting with someone they have met over the Internet."

Ball is free on $50,000 bail and is due in court Sept. 15.