By Mike Nolan
The Daily Southtown
TINLEY PARK, Ill. — A former longtime fire chief in Oak Forest has been charged with sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13 over a period of a few years, according to Oak Forest police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Charges of four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault against David W. Waite, 77, of the 16000 block of South Grove Avenue in Oak Forest, were approved by the state’s attorney’s office Feb. 23, Oak Forest Police Deputy Chief Tim Kristin said.
At hearing Feb. 25 at the Bridgeview courthouse, bond for Waite was set at $2 million and he is being held at Cook County Jail. He is scheduled to return to court March 24.
Kristin said that a “concerned party” contacted police about the allegations, and they began an investigation Feb. 17 and referred their findings to the state’s attorney’s office Feb. 23. He said the alleged assaults took place “over a three- or four-year period of time,” but declined to say where they took place, saying the case is still under investigation. Neither police nor the state’s attorney’s office would provide the gender of the alleged victim.
“Like any criminal investigation, it is ongoing until the day we go to trial,” Kristin said, adding that police were not releasing many details of the alleged crimes in order to safeguard the victim’s identity.
Waite was first appointed fire chief in January 1970 and served in that capacity until he was assigned to the position of captain with the department in May 1991, according to the city. Waite retired from the department at the end of 1991.
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