Stalker In Shorewood Captured, Teenage Girl, Mom Safe: Police

SHOREWOOD — Shorewood police chief Phil Arnold announced that a 49-year-old man from Merrillville, Indiana, claiming to be homeless, has been put in the Will County Jail in connection with allegations of stalking an underage girl in Shorewood.

According to Arnold's news release, at approximately 11:05 a.m. Monday, Shorewood Police responded to the parking lot of 950 Brookforest Ave., for a report of a man making unwanted and disturbing comments to a girl and her mother as they attempted to enter a business.

Police said the man, later identified by Shorewood Police as 49-year-old Jeffery J. Hergert, made inappropriate comments on the appearance of the juvenile and offered her a potential job despite currently being unemployed.

After being told approximately four times by the girl's mother that his advances were unwanted, Hergert left the area in his vehicle, police said.

Shorewood police found Hergert in his vehicle on Route 59 a half-mile from the original scene. After acknowledging the conversations with the mother and daughter in the Brookforest Avenue parking lot, Hergert was placed under arrest, police said.

Officers learned that Hergert had recent contact with law enforcement in northwest Indiana, where his behavior rose to the level that authorities were contacted, but no criminal charges were filed. Police said they also learned that Hergert has previous arrests in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Texas, Idaho, Arizona and Nevada for similar incidents involving unsolicited and inappropriate contact with minors, including several stalking charges.

Officers also learned that Hergert has an active arrest warrant in Clearwater County, Idaho, for eluding an officer and also violating conditions of his release relative to a charge of Enticing Children.

Hergert was charged with felony stalking and was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility pending his pre-trial release hearing in compliance with the Illinois SAFE-T Act.