WGN News Crew Helps Arrest Man Accused In Child Sex Assault

CHICAGO, IL — A WGN Channel 9 news crew became part of the story when they spotted a man they said looked like a suspect in a sexual assault they were reporting on.

Chicago police issued a community alert on Monday after a 7-year-old girl and 10-year-old girl were approached by an older man while sitting on the front porch of a home in Logan Square. Police said the man started talking to the young girls and then groped the 10-year-old before walking away.

While reporting on the community alert Wednesday morning, WGN reporter Erik Runge and photojournalist Mike Hudak saw a man who matched the description and image released. Both reporters followed the man, later identified as 34-year-old Maurice Rocquemore, for over half a mile before Runge asked him if he'd seen a couple of girls on Monday.

"Maybe," Rocquemore said, according to the reporters.

Runge asked if the man had touched either of them, and Rocquemore said he had not.

When Runge showed him the photo release by police and asked if the man in the image was him, Runge said Rocquemore replied, "Yeah, that's me."

Image provided by Chicago Police Department.

Runge and Hudak called police, continued to follow the man, and eventually directed officers to him. Rocquemore was arrested around 10:50 a.m. and charged with one felony count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 13 years old, according to prosecutors.

He is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.