CHICAGO — A Lakeview man who cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared in 2023 while awaiting trial on allegations that he sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl is back in custody.
Sporting a full beard, buzzed hair, and glasses, Jorge Mondragon-Bahena looks quite different from a mugshot the Cook County Sheriff’s Office released earlier this year when it asked the public for help tracking him down.
On October 6, 2022, prosecutors charged Mondragon-Bahena with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in connection with an assault that allegedly occurred in August 2015.
Prosecutors said he and the victim were living in the same residence when he pulled her onto a bed, removed her clothing, and lowered his shorts. He proceeded to perform a sex act on the girl but stopped when the child’s mother returned home earlier than expected, according to the allegations. She found Mondragon-Bahena naked with her daughter, who was not wearing pants.
The woman immediately kicked Mondragon-Bahena out, took her daughter to a hospital, and filed a report with Chicago police. Mondragon-Bahena allegedly contacted the child’s mother repeatedly to apologize and ask for forgiveness.
Prosecutors said DNA testing found male saliva on the girl’s undergarment, and the material was sent out for further testing.
Officials said prosecution of the 2015 case stalled because they didn’t know where Mondragon-Bahena was for several years. Police eventually arrested him in October 2022 after learning that he was working as a cook at a Wrigleyville restaurant.
Prosecutors did not ask Judge Susana Ortiz to hold Mondragon-Bahena without bail during his initial court appearance, a necessary first step under the old cash bail system. So, Ortiz ordered him to pay a $10,000 bail deposit and go on electronic monitoring.
About six months later, he slipped away from his home in the 3500 block of North Southport, cut off his ankle monitor, and roamed free until the long arm of the law caught up with him again on Friday.
The sheriff’s office said its investigators learned Mondragon-Bahena has been working at restaurants across Chicago under various aliases. Last week, a U.S. Marshals Task Force arrested him in the 4500 block of South Talman, where he had been living.
Mondragon-Bahena, 48, is now facing a felony escape charge in addition to the pending sexual assault allegations.
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