Elgin man charged with child solicitation, battery

A 24-year-old Elgin man is accused of soliciting a teenage boy outside a shopping mall in Hoffman Estates, police said. Jeffrey A. Herold is charged with one count of solicitation to meet a child and one count of battery, both Class A misdemeanors, police said. Around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, July 9, a Hoffman Estates police officer found Herold with a 15-year-old boy from Michigan in a vehicle in the parking lot of Barrington Square Mall, 2350 W. Higgins Road, police said. Herold met the boy online and the two met in person just before the officer discovered them, police said. Herold’s bond was set at $1,500, of which he posted 10 percent, $150, to be released. His next court appearance is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 28 at the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows.