Reckless Driver Turns Out To Be Non-Compliant Sex Offender: Police

PALOS PARK, IL -- A Blue Island man was arrested for violating his sex offender registration after he was pulled over for reckless driving, police said. Frederick Lewis, 56, appeared before Cook County Judge Kerry Kennedy for failure to register as a sex offender. Lewis was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault of a 14-year-old victim when he was 32, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

Palos Park police were assisting Palos Heights police on a call of a reckless driver traveling eastbound on 127th Street from Harlem Avenue around 8:30 p.m. Aug. 21. A Palos Park police officer spotted a car driving erratically in the wrong lane going westbound on 123rd from LaGrange Road. When the officer tried to pull Lewis over, police said he took off westbound on 123rd Street to Will-Cook Road and then northbound. Palos Park officers cornered Lewis at 121st and and Will-Cook Road, police said.

Lewis was taken into custody. Police determined that Lewis was non-compliant with his sex offender registration, the prosecutor said. He was also found to allegedly be driving on a suspended driver’s license.

The prosecutor said that Lewis served a 20-year-sentence on the sex charge in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Lewis also received four-year sentences for registering false information and failure to report to police, the state’s sex offender registry said.

The assistant public defender told the judge that Lewis is married and lives in Blue Island.

Bail was set at $100,000. The judge also ordered Lewis to be on electronic home monitoring should he bond out. Lewis is due back in court Sept. 13 in Bridgeview.