SYCAMORE – A DeKalb County judge ruled Thursday that a former Upward Bound tutor accused of criminal sex abuse of a child younger than 17 can post $5,000 to be released from jail.
Flavio C. Leanos-Macias, 25, of DeKalb, has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual assault and traveling to meet a minor child, and unlawful grooming. The most serious charge, aggravated criminal sex abuse, is typically punishable by four to 15 years in prison, followed by four years of parole.
Leanos-Macias was arrested Wednesday on a warrant with $100,000 attached. Reasoning that Leanos-Macias has no criminal history, Judge Philip Montgomery reduced bond to $50,000, and Leanos-Macias said he can post $5,000 bail with student loan funds. Montgomery ruled that Leanos-Macias will be fitted with an electronic home-monitoring bracelet, and that he have no contact with any minors.
Three women were in court in support of Leanos-Macias, including his roommate who said she’s working on hiring a lawyer. She declined to comment after the hearing.
According to a news release from DeKalb Police, a victim younger than 17 said Leanos-Macias had picked up the victim, who does not live in DeKalb and whom Leanos-Macias had met on the Grindr app, at his residence May 12 and brought him to his apartment in the 800 block of Edgebrook Drive, where the child said he was sexually assaulted and driven home by Leanos-Macias the next day.
During an interview with an investigator Tuesday, Leanos-Macias said he’d had inappropriate contact with more children, and that he’d mentored DeKalb High School students as part of the Kishwaukee College Upward Bound Program. According to the release, DeKalb School District 428 administrators have said Leanos-Macias is not currently mentoring students.
Another child, younger than 16, came forward Tuesday and told police he’d met Leanos-Macias on another app, Hornet, and that they’d had conversations over a 10-day span that included Leanos-Macias trying to convince the child to engage in sexual activity. Charging documents say he asked the child to come to his place for “cuddles, kissing and all else left to the imagination,” and that he was going to bite the child on his neck and body.
According to the Northern Illinois University directory, Leanos-Macias is a graduate teaching assistant in the sociology department, and is a student. Montgomery said the home monitoring bracelet will let Leanos-Macias go to work and classes, should he be allowed by NIU.
DeKalb police investigators have reason to believe that there may be more victims, according to a news release. If you have any information about this investigation or information about other potential victims, contact the DeKalb Police Department at 815-748-8400 or Crime Stoppers at 815-895-3272.