Buffalo Grove sex offender charged with soliciting child

A 29-year-old registered sex offender from Buffalo Grove has been accused of

soliciting to meet a child near an elementary school, police said.

Gregory Gentles, of the 200 block of Bernard Drive, remains in custody in the Cook County Jail after a judge at the courthouse in Rolling Meadows set his bail at $200,000.

Buffalo Grove police said officers saw Gentles at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, at Kilmer Elementary School on Golfview Terrace, a prohibited location for a child sex offender.

Police said further investigation revealed that Gentles had communicated electronically with a juvenile under the age of 17 to meet him at the school. The meeting was without the knowledge of the child’s parents and for an unlawful purpose, police said.

Gentles was charged with solicitation to meet a child and unlawful presence within a school zone. The penalty for each of the two felony counts is 1 to 3 years in prison and a fine up to $25,000.

Gentles is due back in court Friday, Oct. 12, in Rolling Meadows.

According to state records and Daily Herald archives, Gentles was previously convicted in Cook County of sexual exploitation of a child and public indecency/exposure. In 2010, police said Gentles was already a registered sex offender when he exposed himself while two victims, ages 11 and 12, walked home from school.