A camp counselor with the Wauconda Park District was being held in Lake County Jail on Thursday on a $200,000 bond for allegedly molesting an 8-year-old girl during a summer camp program.
Joseph L. Sharp, 19, of unincorporated Wauconda Township, was arrested Aug. 21, the day after the young girl told her mother of the alleged abuse, said Steve Scheller, chief of felony review for the Lake County state’s attorney’s office.
According to Scheller, Sharp fondled the girl on several occasions between Aug. 17 and Aug. 20. He said Sharp had the girl sit on his lap, and then put his hands down her pants and rubbed her genitalia.
Sharp, a day-camp counselor for 3 1/2 years, was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and is awaiting a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 4 in Lake County Circuit Court.
He has no known past record involving criminal sexual misconduct, Scheller said.
Efforts to reach Park District officials were unsuccessful Thursday.
