9th District Candidate Is A Registered Sex Offender: Report

CHICAGO, IL ? A Republican running for congress in Illinois' 9th District was convicted of a sex crime against a minor over two decades ago, according to a report from the Daily Herald.

In 1998, Paul Friedman, now 55 and living in Chicago, was charged with misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct while living in Michigan. Sex offender registry records indicate that the crime occurred in Washtenaw County when Friedman was 27 and the victim was 13.

Friedman told the Daily Herald that the charge was filed after he greeted a young girl at a business he co-owned in Ann Arbor by kissing her cheek. The girl made other accusations as well, Friedman said.

He reportedly pleaded no contest, receiving two years of probation, and was required to register as a sex offender. The conviction was set aside by a Michigan judge in 2010.

However, Friedman is still on the sex offender registry in North Carolina, where he lived after his conviction.

Friedman is one of just four Republicans running to succeed Jan Schkowsky, who announced her retirement after 26 years this past spring, while there is a wide field of 17 Democratic candidates.

He told the Daily Herald that he expected his conviction would come up during his campaign, saying he thinks Republican voters will be more forgiving than Democratic voters, as they were with President Donald Trump's 34 felony convictions.

Read more from the Daily Herald: Ninth District congressional candidate was convicted of sex crime against a juvenile, records show