COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A boy was sexually assaulted by a man who recruited him to play on two soccer teams, prosecutors said.
Hector Morales, 30, helped a 14-year-old Chicago get signed up for two youth soccer teams, drove him to matches and even promised to get him on other traveling teams, Assistant State's Attorney Kingsley Sawyers said Monday.
Morales, who assisted the team's head coach, appeared to be a good mentor until Friday, when he was driving the boy home from a match, prosecutors said.
Sawyers said Morales stopped to buy some beer, which both he and the boy drank in the car in the 2500 block of West Cermak Road.
Morales started rubbing the boy's thigh, Sawyers said. The boy pushed his hand away, but Morales persisted, said Sawyers.
Morales assaulted the boy and then went to a nearby Wal-Mart to buy soda and candy, Sawyers said.
He told the teen what had happened was "their secret" and then drove him home, Sawyers said.
The teen immediately told a family member about the alleged assault, and Morales was arrested Saturday when he went to the teen's house to take him to another soccer match.
A Cook County judge ordered Morales held on $250,000 bail Monday.
