Man dragged teen into Jefferson Park alley and groped her, police say

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police are searching for a man who sexually abused a teenage girl in the city's Jefferson Park neighborhood.

A 15-year-old girl told police she was grabbed from behind by a man in the 5500-block of W. Balmoral Avenue around 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 5.

The girl is not a student at Farnsworth Elementary, but she was walking right by the school when she says a man attacked her. She told police she was walking on the quiet residential block when a man placed his hand over mouth and forced her into the alley, where she said he groped her breasts and grabbed other parts of her body.

"I'm afraid, I'm a mom, I'm afraid," said Azisa Canales, a Jefferson Park parent.

Canales said the school alerted parents to the alleged attack in a letter home to parents. Now she's worried about letting her 11-year-old daughter walk alone.

"My daughter used to walk the dog a lot but since one week ago, I've been telling my daughter don't walk the dog because it's so quiet, there's nobody walking here," Canales said.

This is the third time this year a child has reported being approached or attacked by an adult in the Jefferson Park neighborhood.

In February, two girls reported a driver followed, then got out of his car and chased them.

At the end of April, an 11-year-old boy told police he was riding his bike when a man grabbed his arm and said "I thought you were my girlfriend." Several adults chased him away.

"Things are obviously changing throughout the city. I grew up in this neighborhood and something like that was unheard of 20-30 years ago," said Mike Calderisi, a Jefferson Park resident.

Police are looking for a light-skinned Hispanic or African-American man in his early 20s with a shoe horn-shaped scar over his right eyebrow.