Jeremy Hylka’s attorney seeks dismissal of charge in grooming case

An attorney for former Catholic school teacher Jeremy Hylka is seeking to dismiss one of the five charges leveled against his client.

Attorney JohnPaul Ivec argued in a motion on Friday that a solicitation to meet a child charge should be dismissed for failing to state an offense.

That charge alleged Hylka, 45, used an electronic device with the intent to meet whom he believed was a 15-year-old male but was actually the persona of Shane Divis at a McDonald’s in Joliet “without the knowledge of the child’s parent or guardian.”

Ivec’s motion said Divis is his own guardian and would have knowledge of any arranged meeting.

“That as a matter of law, there does not exist a set of facts by which the state can prove this element when an adult knowingly pretends to be a fictitious minor, in that the adult is his or her own guardian and would have knowledge of any arranged meeting,” Ivec’s motion said.

Divis was 19 when his group Save Our Siblings posted a video on April 29 of the incident that led to Hylka’s arrest.

A hearing on Ivec’s motion is scheduled for Dec. 21. Prosecutors have not yet responded to the motion. Will County State’s Attorney spokeswoman Carole Cheney said any response to the motion would be made in court.

The solicitation to meet a child charge is one of five that were part of an amended indictment filed on July 15. The other charges against Hylka include traveling to meet a child, grooming and two counts of indecent solicitation of a child.

That indictment was filed in response to Ivec’s previous motion requesting more details about the charges in the first indictment filed May 27.

“(The) indictment failed to specify the particulars of the offense sufficiently to enable the defendant to prepare his defense and to assure that the charged offenses may serve as a bar to subsequent prosecution arising out of the same conduct,” Ivec’s motion said.

The July 15 indictment clarified that the purported child was actually a persona used by Divis.

After the release of the April 29 Save Our Siblings video, Joliet police officials announced the next day that their investigation of the incident led to two felony charges against Hylka.

Hylka was a teacher at St. Joseph Catholic School in Lockport until he was fired in the wake of the Save Our Siblings video.