Arlington Hts. man charged with sexual assault of young teen

An Arlington Heights man is free on $350,000 bond after being charged with sexually assaulting a middle school girl he met through a social networking website, a Cook County Sheriff's Department news release said this morning.

Terrill Thomas, 26, of the 2600 block of North Waterman Avenue, is charged with one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department began investigating the case in late January after the girls' parents learned of the alleged assault earlier that month.

Thomas was arrested Friday. His parents posted the required 10 percent of his $350,000 bond after he appeared in court on Saturday, the news release said.

According to the sheriff's department, Thomas met the 13-year-old girl in early January after he saw her picture on the website myyearbook.com, a social networking site specifically targeted to teens.

Records show he sent numerous unsolicited messages to multiple girls registered on the website, asking if they would chat with him via text message instead of online.

The girl gave Thomas her phone number, so they talked both by telephone and online. At his request, she sent him pictures of herself through e-mail, the news release said.

Police said Thomas told the girl he was 20, and the girl initially claimed to being 18, although later she told him she was 14.

Over the next 10 days, police said, they communicated regularly and then made arrangements for him to visit her while her parents were at work.

While driving to her house, Thomas called to ask where he could buy condoms. She directed him to a nearby drugstore and surveillance footage from the store showed him purchasing items, police said.

Thomas then drove to her neighborhood, parked on the next block and walked to her home, where he repeatedly sexually assaulted her in her bedroom, police said.

Authorities said Thomas kept a used condom with him when he left the house, but semen on the victim's clothing ultimately providing investigators with a DNA match.

Sheriff's police said Thomas had taken steps to distance himself from the online activity with the girl, including using public computers, multiple e-mails and using a fake name to secure a phone number through a free online service, then having the calls forwarded to his phone.

The news release said the case was broken with extensive work by investigators and support from the Chicago Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory.

By request of the victim's family, the sheriff's office is not identifying the city where she lives.

Thomas also was charged in 2007 with aggravated criminal sexual abuse and battery, after Hoffman Estates police said they found him in a car having sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was ultimately convicted of battery and was sentenced to one year of probation.

In March 2009, Chicago police arrested Thomas for battery causing bodily injury. After that conviction, he was sentenced to one year of probation, which was set to expire in September.

His next court date for this charge is set for May 27 in Maywood.