Braidwood man charged with soliciting to meet a child

A Braidwood man has been charged with traveling to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl at a forest preserve in Wilmington for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual conduct.

On Wednesday, Nathaniel Welch, 44, was charged with the felony offenses of traveling to meet a child and solicitation to meet a child Feb. 5 at the Forsythe Woods County Forest Preserve in Wilmington.

Although prosecutors sought to keep Welch detained in jail, Will County Judge Ken Zelazo ordered that Welch be released after a detention hearing Wednesday, court records show.

As a condition of his release, Welch must be under GPS monitoring, not use the internet and provide Will County pretrial services with his email and social media accounts.

Welch was investigated by Forest Preserve District of Will County police, according to a criminal complaint.

Officers first responded to the incident Feb. 5 after they were contacted by a member of an online group known as Predator Proof who told them that an “unknown individual” was going to be present within the forest preserve to meet a 15-year-old girl, according to a petition filed by prosecutors.

Officers made contact with a man later identified as Welch and detained him, prosecutors said.

Then, a member of Predator Proof provided text messages between himself and Welch in which the member pretended to be a minor, prosecutors said. The texts allegedly included explicit material sent by Welch, prosecutors said.

Welch made initial statements to officers that he believed the female who he was communicating with to be 18, prosecutors said.

Welch was placed into custody and taken to the police department, where he allegedly made admissions after he was read his Miranda rights of knowing the purported female was 15, prosecutors said.

Welch is due back in court Feb. 28.