Wheeling man pleads guilty to battery; officials say he posed as officer, asked for sex

A Wheeling man who authorities say took a 20-year-old woman he encountered in a Niles shopping center parking lot to a Wheeling motel where he requested sex was sentenced to jail and two years probation, court records show.

Janusz Kordek, 27, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in exchange for the sentence, which included 142 days in Cook County jail and $774 in fines, court records show.

Kordek is prohibited from contacting the victim and he was ordered to submit to drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any treatment recommendations.

Prosecutors say Kordek met the woman in the store parking lot on April 3, 2018, after she took a candy bar without paying for it. They say Kordek told the woman he was an undercover officer and that she was wanted for shoplifting. Kordek also offered to "get her to safety," prosecutors said.

They say Kordek, who worked as a grocery store stock boy, showed her a badge, flashed a red identification card and pointed out police-style lights affixed to the roof inside his car.

Authorities say Kordek drove them around and wound up at a motel where the woman refused his request for sex and attempted to exit the vehicle. At that point, prosecutors said, Kordek attempted to assault her. The next day, he apologized to her on social media, prosecutors said.