Chicago man charged with sexually abusing 2 girls at Dearborn Park playground
A man was charged after he allegedly sexually abused two young girls at a playground in the Dearborn Park neighborhood earlier this month.
Lodell Burnett, 69, was charged with one felony count of criminal sexual abuse of a victim younger than 13 and one felony count of violation of sex offender registration.
Burnett appeared at a detention hearing on June 15, where prosecutors said on the evening of June 11, Chicago police officers responded to Jones Park, in the 1200 block of South Plymouth Court, located next to South Loop Elementary School, where they spoke with the victim's mother.
Prosecutors said the mother told officers that her 9-year-old daughter ran home and told her that a man, who prosecutors say was Burnett, touched her inappropriately while she was at the playground with her 6-year-old cousin. The mother took her to Comer Children's Hospital to be checked out.
Prosecutors said Burnett was holding a small infant's denim jacket that police found on the bench where the incident occurred.
Prosecutors also said police were able to get surveillance video that showed him near the park and leaving north through a pedestrian tunnel.
The victim told detectives that Burnett approached her and asked her how much she wanted for her basketball before touching her over her shorts, prosecutors said. She told officers he followed them for a short time as they tried to leave.
The 6-year-old also told detectives that he grabbed her foot while she was on a bridge in the playground.
Two days after the incident, a person matching his description was spotted near the Harold Washington Library on Van Buren Street, about a mile from where the incident occurred. He was still wearing the same black shirt with white bones pictured in the alert.
He was taken into questioning, where he admitted to the crime and said "it felt good," prosecutors said. He was then charged on June 14.
Burnett's history of sexual offenses
Prosecutors said Burnett has an extensive history of sexual offenses dating back to 1991, when he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and unlawful restraint of a 6-year-old girl. He served 27 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on that charge.
Between 2007 and 2019, he served prison time for failing to register as a sex offender. In 2022, he was sentenced to six years for sexually abusing a 4-year-old in Maywood, prosecutors said.
NOTE: The video above is from a previous report.
