ILLINOIS
Daily Herald
Barbara Vitello
Lawsuits against a prominent Elgin cleric seeking damages for sexual abuse his accusers say occurred decades ago will proceed, according to a Cook County judge.
Attorneys for Mohammad Abdullah Saleem had asked Judge James O’Hara to stay the civil cases until the conclusion of Saleem’s sole pending criminal case on charges he sexually abused a 23-year-old female office employee at the Institute of Islamic Education, an Elgin school that Saleem founded for children in sixth through 12th grades.
Saleem, 76, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, aggravated battery, criminal sexual assault and unlawful restraint after the woman claimed he hugged, touched and massaged her against her will starting in October 2013, a month after she began working for the school, and continuing through April 2014.
Saleem, a native of India and a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Gilberts, has pleaded not guilty.
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