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$1M Bond For Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting 4-Year-Old Girl

Chicago (CBS) -- Bond was set at $1 million for a west suburban man accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl in a Downer's Grove restroom in 2012 and peeking under bathroom stalls at two other young girls.

Matthew Schuten, 24, approached the four-year-old in June 2012 while she was washing her hands inside the women's bathroom at Whitlock Park, 4000 Fairview Ave. in Downers Grove, according to a statement from the DuPage County state's attorney's office.

He told the girl he was a doctor who wanted to give her a test and then proceeded to sexually assault her before running away, prosecutors said. The girl told a parent, who immediately called police.

schuten
Matthew Schuten | DuPage County sheriff's office

In July 2015, Schuten looked under a stall wall at an 8-year-old girl using the bathroom at Hummer Park, 4833 Fairview Ave. in Downers Grove, the state's attorney's office said. The girl told a nearby adult and Schuten ran away.

On Aug. 22t of this year, Downers Grove police officers saw Schuten enter the women's bathroom at Hummer Park, prosecutors said. They followed him inside and found him on his hands and knees inside a stall, watching a 7-year-old girl in the stall next to him.

They took Schuten into custody following "a brief altercation in which one officer was injured," according to the state's attorney's office. Schuten, who lives in Downers Grove, was charged with one felony count of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and two felony counts of attempted predatory criminal sexual assault of a child.

"The allegations against Mr. Schuten are just sickening and will be met with the full force of the law," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert B. Berlin said in the statement.

If convicted, he could face up to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, prosecutors said. He was ordered held at the DuPage County Jail on a $1 million bond, with 10 percent to apply.

If Schuten were to post bond, he would be prohibited from having any contact with the victims or any other minors, the state's attorney's office said. He would also be barred from entering any school property, park, playground, park district, forest preserve, day care or any other facility providing services for minors.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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