Pioneer Center case manager charged with grooming, battery

A case manager at a McHenry nonprofit who worked with homeless and displaced children has been charged with grooming, battery and disorderly conduct, according to the nonprofit’s CEO and court records.

The charges against Mohammad Mohsin Khan, 35, of Gilberts, on Monday followed a five-month investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, which was notified of possible child abuse by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in September, according to a news release.

Several child victims were identified during the sheriff’s office investigation, and “all provided consistent allegations” about Khan’s contact and communication being sexual in nature, according to the release.

Khan was a case manager with McHenry-based Pioneer Center for Human Services, working primarily with homeless or displaced children, said Frank Samuel, the agency’s chief executive officer. He was hired in January 2022 and “immediately” suspended when the nonprofit learned of the allegations.

He was fired Thursday, Samuel said, adding that the agency’s policy is to initially suspend instead of terminate so that the allegations can be investigated.

Khan is accused of inappropriately touching a child on Sept. 4 and then telling her “nothing inappropriate happened,” according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint also alleges Khan placed his hand on the thigh of a child in both July and August and asked children “inappropriate questions about (their) sexual activity.”

Following the issuance of an arrest warrant, Khan surrendered himself to law enforcement “without issue,” the sheriff’s office said.

The children Pioneer Center works with are “vulnerable,” Samuel said, and so the agency requires all employees to undergo background checks before they’re hired and annual “rigorous” training about appropriate boundaries and behavior while employed.

This is the first time Samuel, who has been with Pioneer Center eight years, is aware of one of its case managers being arrested on such charges, he said.