COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — An Albany Park man has been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy he met on Scruff, a dating app geared toward gay men.
After John Hendershott, 52, was arrested this week, he told police that he was HIV-positive, didn't wear a condom during the encounter and didn't disclose his status to the boy, Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Keating said during a bond hearing Friday.
"If these facts turn out to be true, then he is dangerous, and he is a predator," Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said Friday before setting bail at $5 million.
According to Keating, Hendershott chatted with the boy for two or three weeks — occasionally calling him "kiddo" — before bringing the boy to his home in late July.
The pair had oral and anal sex, and Hendershott left a hickey on the boy's neck, prosecutors said. When the teen's mother noticed the hickey, he allegedly told her what happened, and she called police.
Through a search warrant, police were able to get records of Hendershott's Scruff conversations with the boy, prosecutors said. The victim told police where Hendershott lived and identified him in a photo array, she added.
Hendershott, of the 4300 block of North Richmond Street, was arrested at home about 11:40 a.m. Thursday and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, court records show.
Hendershott's defense attorney said his client works at Jiffy Lube and attends Lake View Presbyterian Church, 716 W. Addison St.
Judge Bourgeois said Hendershott is not allowed to use social media or have contact with minors.
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