Willow Creek Church Volunteer Charged with Abusing Boy

By George Houde and Robert McCoppin
Chicago Tribune
May 15, 2013

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/barrington_area/ct-met-willow-creek-church-fondling-charge-20130515,0,255295.story

Robert Sobczak has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

A volunteer at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington has been charged with sexually abusing a boy in a special needs class, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Robert Sobczak, 19, of Hoffman Estates, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse on allegations he touched the boy inappropriately, according to the felony criminal complaint.

Sobczak was volunteering in the church's Special Friends program on Feb. 17 when he allegedly led the boy to an isolated area at the large evangelical church and fondled him, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Sobczak has denied the allegations, church officials said. He was arrested Friday and released Saturday on $10,000 cash bond.

There were no other allegations of abuse, according to Heather Larson, director of family services for the church.

"We are deeply saddened by this news," Larson said. "We're very concerned for the child as well as the family. … We take rigorous steps to protect our children."

Like all church volunteers, Sobczak underwent a thorough background check, Larson said, including a check of sex offender registries, interviews and references, before he was allowed to start volunteering in August of last year.

He served as an aide helping children with disabilities and special needs on weekends while their parents attended church services, Larson said. On the day in question, Larson said, the boy had some unspecified difficulties, and Sobczak took him out of the class and was alone with him briefly.

After the service, the child told his mother something had happened, and she told church volunteers. They immediately notified the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which notified police, Larson said. Police responded that afternoon.

Sobczak was immediately denied any volunteer contact with children through the church, Larson said.

Church officials have revisited their standards for protecting children and followed up with Special Friends volunteers to make sure they were aware of a policy to never leave adults alone with children, Larson said. She said they also installed additional cameras to provide surveillance of all child care areas.

Sobczak had previously worked for another organization that cared for children, Larson said, though she did not immediately know what facility.

She said the church, which has six sites and more than 20,000 members, has never had such an allegation. In 2009, the Rev. Steve Wu of the Chicago campus resigned, admitting unspecified "sexual impurity," but Larson said that was for a moral impropriety, not any criminal act.

Contact: rmccoppin@tribune.com