Rolling Meadows man arrested in second child sex abuse case

Hours after a Rolling Meadows man charged with sexually abusing a girl was released from Cook County jail on home monitoring Friday, he was arrested on similar charges in a separate case.

Bradley Pletz, 56, was ordered held without bail on charges of predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Gates said the new charges stem from an incident more than a year ago when the girl was ages 7 to 9.

According to prosecutors and court records, Pletz was arrested in November 2017 on charges he sexually assaulted a different girl who was about the same age. That case is pending in a Rolling Meadows courtroom.

If convicted in both cases of predatory criminal sexual assault, Pletz faces up to natural life in prison, Gates said.

Defense attorney James Busch asked Cook County Judge Steven J. Goebel to set an "umbrella bond" that would apply to both cases, saying prosecutors knew about the allegations from the second accuser during his client's initial bond hearing on Nov. 22.

Goebel denied his request, saying the court was aware of only one accuser at that time.

In denying bail, Goebel said, "the court finds this defendant to be a danger."