Lawyer for Wonder Lake man accused of abusing child in ’90s says alleged victim’s statements too vague

A Wonder Lake man accused of sexually abusing a child three decades ago has asked prosecutors to better “define and present” details surrounding the allegations.

Alan J. Mrowka, 70, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child younger than 13, a Class 2 felony, according to McHenry County court documents.

At least a dozen people regularly attend Mrowka’s court hearings in support of the person he’s accused of abusing. At a recent pretrial hearing, Judge Mark Gerhardt noted their presence and told attorneys that the supporters had an interest in the case progressing.

Mrowka was arrested in Florida, where he was building a home and wintering. At his initial court appearance in McHenry County in late 2023, prosecutors said that in 1996, the former Wonder Lake grocery store owner “grabbed the buttocks” of the minor while helping him out of a boat. At the time, Mrowka was an instructor with the Wonder Lake Ski Team, according to court documents. The accuser named in the case was on the ski team, according to court records.

His accuser went to police decades after the alleged abuse, which occurred in the 1990s, according to a motion filed by Mrowka’s attorneys seeking more specifics on the claim against him.

“The accusation is that Mr. Mrowka grabbed and cupped the buttocks area” of the accuser as Mrowka was helping him out of a boat. His accuser ”contacted the police to describe an event that allegedly occurred some three decades prior when he was around 10 years old,“ according to the motion.

Prosecutors said that the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office received 10 different reports from other people on the ski team of sexual abuse by Mrowka, but he has not been charged in connection with those claims because of the statute of limitations, prosecutors have said.

The sheriff’s office began investigating Mrowka in March 2023 and interviewed several witnesses, but the state’s attorney’s office declined to pursue charges because of “a lack of evidence, witness statements and jurisdiction,” according to court records, and the case was closed in September 2023.

However, only a couple months later, on Nov. 29, 2023, Mrowka was charged in the current case involving the single accuser, documents show.

Mrowka’s attorneys said that the accuser knew Mrowka was under investigation, but it “is unclear how [he] knew ... or what information he learned that spurred him to make this accusation so close in time to that of others,” according to the defense motion.

Among the issues that defense attorneys raised is the vague timeframe of the alleged abuse the accuser provided during a police interview over FaceTime. That interview was presented to the grand jury in January 2024, leading to Mrowka’s indictment.

The accuser said that the alleged incident occurred when he was about 10 and guessed it was 1995, but it could have been 1996, according to the defense motion, which included transcripts of the FaceTime interview.

Mrowka “was around quite a bit,” the accuser said, according to the transcript. When the alleged abuse happened, Mrowka was at a ski practice and noticed the accuser was having trouble with a ski maneuver, so he “pulled me aside and asked me if I wanted additional help,” the man said.

After the practice, Mrowka took the boy by boat past the child’s house and to his own house, according to the transcript. The accuser said: “I believe as I was getting out of the boat, I think it was that time or if I was leaving afterward, the way he, quote-unquote, helped me out of the boat, the way I showed my wife, she agreed that the best term would be cupping.”

He went on to say that Mrowka “grabbed my right, uh, butt cheek with some firm, started lifting, adjusted two or three times as he would help me out. So, it was definitely, looking back, it was more than just him helping me out of the boat.”

In 1984, Mrowka pleaded guilty to one count of contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor in McHenry County and received probation, prosecutors said.

A hearing to argue the motion is set for Aug. 12.