Mundelein man charged with indecent solicitation of a 14-year-old girl

A Mundelein man is accused of asking a 14-year-old girl to engage in a sex act in a nearby unincorporated area.

Homero Sotero-Ocampo, 41, was charged Friday with indecent solicitation of a minor and is being held in Lake County jail awaiting an initial court appearance Saturday.

About 3 p.m. Friday, Lake County sheriff’s deputies responded to the 26300 block of North Diamond Lake Road near Mundelein for a report of child solicitation.

The deputies spoke to the victim who reported that she was standing near her home when a pickup truck driven by a man in his 40s stopped near her. She said the man asked her if she was 13 or 14 and then asked her to help him with something, the sheriff’s office said.

He asked the girl engage in a sex act with him, the sheriff’s office said.

The girl immediately walked away, went home and told her parents what had happened. Her parents then called police.

Sheriff’s deputies also talked to several neighbors. One showed them video doorbell footage in which a pickup truck matching the description of the offender’s vehicle could be seen. Another neighbor remembered possibly seeing the same vehicle on Shady Lane in Mundelein.

Deputies found the vehicle parked in front of a home in the 300 block of Shady Lane. Further investigation identified Sotero-Ocampo as the driver of the vehicle and the victim then identified him as the man who’d asked her to engage in a sex act, authorities said.

The Lake County state’s attorney’s office intends to file a petition to keep Sotero-Ocampo in custody while awaiting trial.