COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A 52-year-old man has been charged with trying to abduct a 5-year-old girl in Grand Crossing last month.
The girl was outside in the 1200 block of East 73rd Street on Aug. 2 when Steven Birgans, 52, kneeled down and began to talk to her, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said during a bond hearing Thursday.
Birgans then grabbed the girl's arm and tried to drag her away, prosecutors said, but the girl's mother was nearby and intervened.
The mother snapped a photo of Birgans, according to an arrest report, and police arrested him about 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Birgans, of the 7800 block of South Champlain Avenue, is charged with attempted kidnapping.
According to Scaduto, he was previously convicted of unlawful restraint for grabbing a 12-year-old girl he thought was cute. Birgans was sentenced to probation, which he violated, garnering a 3-year prison term.
Birgans has additional prior convictions for battery for punching an 11-year-old in the face and criminal sexual abuse. Details of that case were not immediately available.
Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan on Thursday set bail at $500,000.
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