CHICAGO – A Lakeview man on preliminary release from a case in which he is accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl has gone missing after removing his electronic monitoring bracelet. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that Jorge Wenceslao Mondragon-Bahena, 48, took off his ankle monitor in March 2023 and has not been seen since.
Mondragon-Bahena was working as a cook at a Wrigleyville establishment and living in the 3500 block of North Southport at the time of his arrest, according to court records.
On October 6, 2022, prosecutors charged Mondragon-Bahena with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in connection with a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in August 2015.
Mondragon-Bahena and the victim were together in a home when he pulled her onto a bed, removed her clothing and lowered his shorts, prosecutors said during Mondragon-Bahena’s initial bail hearing. He proceeded to perform a sex act on the girl but stopped when the child’s mother, who had been running errands, returned home earlier than expected, prosecutors alleged.
The woman allegedly entered the incident and found her daughter without pants and Mondragon-Bahena naked. She immediately kicked Mondragon-Bahena out, took her daughter to a hospital and filed a report with the Chicago police. Mondragon-Bahena is said to have repeatedly contacted the child’s mother to apologize and ask for forgiveness.
Prosecutors said DNA testing found male saliva on the girl’s underwear, and that the material would be further tested after investigators secured a sample of Mondragon-Bahena’s DNA. Mondragon-Bahena
Prosecutors said the case stalled because Mondragon-Bahena’s whereabouts had been unknown for years. Investigators arrested him in October 2022 after learning he worked as a cook at the Wrigleyville location.
Prosecutors did not ask Judge Susana Ortiz to hold Mondragon-Bahena without bail during his first court appearance. Judges in Illinois had no authority to hold suspects without bail under the bail system unless prosecutors first requested it. Instead, Ortiz ordered Mondragon-Bahena to post $10,000 cash bail and undergo electronic monitoring. Under those conditions, he was released within days.
About six months later, on March 11, 2203, the sheriff’s office received a “tamper alert” from Mondragon-Bahena’s ankle monitor, indicating someone may have tried to remove the device, court documents show. Officials declared him AWOL the next day after being unable to locate him.
The sheriff’s office said Friday it believes Mondragon-Bahena works at a restaurant in Chicago. According to the agency, he is known to use the aliases Oscar Flores and Wenceslao Mondragon.
Anyone who knows where he is can contact the sheriff’s office at 708-865-4700.
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