Sex offender status doesn't fly in school

Gillermo Contreras is a registered sex offender who knew he wasn't supposed to visit a Round Lake Park school looking for his daughter, police said Friday.

Contreras even pointed that out to W.J. Murphy Elementary School Principal Jeffry Prickett, Round Lake Park Police Chief George Filenko said.

"Don't call police, I'm a sex offender," police reports quoted Contreras as telling Prickett. "I'm not supposed to be on school property."

Filenko said Prickett called Round Lake Park police about 4 p.m. Thursday. Contreras, who's scheduled for a bond hearing today, was charged with violating the state's sex offender registration act by being on school property.

Contreras, 45, of 408 Kenwood Drive, Round Lake Park, told officials he became concerned Thursday when a school bus didn't bring his daughter to a drop-off spot on time, police said. Filenko said the girl has a different last name and doesn't live with Contreras.

Filenko said Contreras then went to Murphy Elementary looking for his daughter, even though she attends another school in Round Lake Area Unit District 116. He said Contreras was charged in a similar incident in another Lake County town in 2006.

"He knows better," Filenko said Friday. "Why not pick up the phone and call? He knows what he's doing."

Filenko said Contreras was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child in 2001. The victim was between ages 13 and 16.

Contreras, who registered as a sex offender in Round Lake Park on Nov. 3, was held by authorities before today's bond hearing in Lake County circuit court in Waukegan. Police said Contreras works as a warehouse technician in Green Oaks.