A Thornton, Illinois man is facing felony charges after taking an underage teen to have sex in his long-term hotel room in Cedar Lake, court documents allege.
Susano Avila, 47, was charged Monday in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point with three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
He was arrested Monday and is being held on an $80,000, or $8,000 cash surety, bond.
Lowell Police responded at 12:30 a.m. June 1 after a relative reported the girl missing. She got back home at 5:41 a.m. The victim told officers that Avila picked her up in a nearby parking lot and took her to his Cedar Lake hotel room to have sex, the affidavit states. He gave her booze and ecstasy, she said.
The girl was taken to the hospital for an evaluation.
Officers found Avila at the Economy Inn. He said he met the girl on an unspecified app weeks before. He said she claimed she was 19. He admitted going to pick her up for sex on May 19 and June 1. In the later incident, he gave her an ecstasy pill, vodka and orange juice.
The victim’s mother told investigators the girl was “intellectually slow” and wouldn’t pass for 19. Officers noted she looked “much younger.”
Cops found a cigar tin with yellow pills in his car.
Investigators had not completed a forensic interview with the girl when charges were filed.
An unrelated case against Avila for criminal sexual assault against a family member and aggravated sexual abuse was dropped in Will County, Illinois in 2011, according to the affidavit.
mcolias@post-trib.com
