Child abduction and sex abuse charges filed after missing teen found

A Chicago Heights man has been charged with abducting and sexually abusing a teenage girl who failed to return home from school Tuesday, Steger police said.

Jose Delacruz, 24, was arrested and booked into the Will County jail Thursday.

Delacruz was found with a missing 13-year-old girl, said Steger Deputy Police Chief Pete Fajman.

After the teen did not return home from a South Chicago Heights middle school, police reviewed school surveillance video that showed her getting into a black pickup truck, Fajman said.

The South Chicago Heights Police Department requested the assistance of the Steger police, Fajman said.

Officers determined the teen’s location by tracking her cellphone and found her at a Chicago Heights address with Delacruz, Fajman said.

Delacruz appeared in court Friday and his bond was set at $250,000, records show. He remains in custody at the county jail.