Mohammed Abdullah Saleem sentenced to 2 years of probation as a sex offender.
A nationally renowned Islamic leader in the suburbs of Chicago, Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, 77, has pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing a girl who attended his Elgin school for more than two years.
Saleem pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse during a hearing last Thursday, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He will be required to serve two years of probation as a sex offender and must register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life, reported CBS.
He has also been ordered to have no contact with the school or have any contact with unrelated females younger than 18 without another adult present, prosecutors said. Saleem is also banned from possessing or watching pornography.
The victim began attending the Institute of Islamic Education in August 2001 when she was 14, according to prosecutors. Saleem founded the school in 1989 as a full-time residential educational institution for students in 6-12.
About one month later, Saleem requested the girl visit him in his office once a week, prosecutors said. During the visits, Saleem would force the girl to sit on his lap, touch and fondle her in a sexual manner, and give her gifts, including a gold necklace and cash.
The abuse continued until September 2003, when the victim moved out of state to finish high school, prosecutors said. In December 2014 the victim disclosed details of the abuse to a witness, who contacted Elgin police, who were already investigating Saleem for similar crimes.
Judge Joseph Cataldo set bond at $1 million Wednesday at a hearing in Rolling Meadows. He is next scheduled to appear in court Oct. 29.
In February, Saleem was charged with criminal sexual abuse after a 23-year-old woman accused him of sexual misconduct while they worked together at the school, as a manager.
Later in February, the same woman and three former female students of the institute filed a civil lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused by Saleem as children.
Saleem turned himself in to Elgin police in October 2015, authorities said.
The Chicago Tribune reported the arrest of the conservative scholar on sex abuse charges was especially shocking given Saleem’s stature in his community made up largely of Islamic immigrants from India and Pakistan. He is said to espouse a code of separation between genders and discourages even hand-shaking. The institute, which provides boarding to some students, runs separate programs for girls and boys.
Beginning in late 2013, Lantz said, Saleem began to request to his office manager that she not wear her veil, and then began removing it himself. Lantz said Saleem repeatedly locked the door in his office while the woman was there and touched her breasts and buttocks, tried to massage her ankles and tried to force her to massage his ankles, despite her resistance. In April 2014, the imam forced the woman to sit on his lap. After she was able to free herself, the woman noticed a spot on her pants that was later found to match Saleem’s DNA profile, Lantz said.
After that, the woman quit her job and alerted a family member to what had happened. The imam told her he would not touch her again if she returned to work, but the woman refused and moved out of state, Lantz said.
Four women have also filed a civil suit claiming sex abuse by the imam. In some cases the claims date back decades, reported the Tribune.
Saleem, in a wheelchair and in religious garb, did not speak during the hearing except to tell the judge, “I plead guilty” and to acknowledge that he understood what he was pleading to, which was two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. After the hearing, he was taken for his first appointment with a probation officer in Cook County court’s Rolling Meadows branch.
Afsar Ali, a Muslim who attended the hearing but is not affiliated with the institute’s mosque, said he was “happy for the victims and hope this will provide some sort of closure for them.”
Ali said the women set a good example in the Muslim community by coming forward with their allegations.
“I wish our community was more open to talking about this so that if our children are violated in any way, they can come forward without fear,” he said.