Ex-Dixmoor Cop Faces New Round Of Child Sexual Abuse, Solicitation Charges

CHICAGO—A former south suburban cop already out on bond for a 2023 child pornography case is facing new child sex charges following a Cook County Sheriff’s Police investigation.

Last Friday, sheriff's investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about 40-year-old Tory Bridgeforth having a sexual relationship with a juvenile, police said.

During the investigation, police said that Bridgeforth, of Chicago, requested and received nude videos of the juvenile and also had sexual contact. Bridgeforth was taken into custody on Tuesday by the sheriff’s police.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges for criminal sexual assault and solicitation of child sexual abuse material. At the time of his arrest, Bridgeforth was out on a $500,000 cash bond for a pending possession of child pornography case that had resulted from another sheriff’s police arrest in 2023. His bench trial for that case was supposed to have started Thursday, but Bridgeforth could not make court because he was in custody for the new charges, police said.

Bridgeforth was terminated from the Dixmoor Police Department in 2022 and formerly worked for the Robbins Police Department in 2019. He was ordered detained in Cook County Jail following a pre-detention hearing Friday at the Markham Courthouse.