Teacher, youth minister charged with traveling to meet child, grooming: cops

Charges of traveling to meet a child and grooming have been filed against a man who worked as a teacher and youth counselor for the Diocese of Joliet and founded the Joliet Weather Center.

Joliet police officials announced Thursday afternoon that a judge signed a warrant for the arrest of Jeremy Hylka.

Detectives investigated the case, and the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office reviewed the charges, Joliet police Sgt. Dwayne English said. The warrant for Hylka’s arrest carries a $100,000 bond.

The announcement comes after police officials said Wednesday that they were aware of a video “depicting an adult allegedly engaged in inappropriate communication with a minor.”

Video shared online purportedly showed Hylka attempting to rendezvous with who he thought was a 15-year-old boy at a Joliet McDonald’s on Tuesday night.

A man who answered Hylka’s cellphone Wednesday morning claimed to be Hylka’s brother and said Hylka was “unavailable.”

Screenshots of messages appear to show Hylka sending a photo of himself to someone, messaging about apparent sex acts and suggesting a meeting at the McDonald’s at Jefferson Street and Woodlawn Avenue. The person sending messages from the other account in the stream identifies himself as a 5-foot-10, 160-pound 15-year-old.

Video of the encounter shows two men sitting at a table when someone approaches the two and announces, “Hey, we’re a group that catches child predators online.”

Hylka flees, is followed and then strips off his shirt. The vigilantes give chase, shouting, “Hey, we got a pedophile! We got a pedophile running. He’s on the run! Pedophile on the run! Pedophile! Pedophile on the run! Oh, we gonna get you pedophile!”

In a statement released Wednesday, officials with the Diocese of Joliet said Hylka “will not be returning to his positions at St. Joseph Catholic School in Lockport, St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Joliet and the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet.”

“The Diocese of Joliet received information from various sources concerning alleged inappropriate communications with a purported minor,” according to the statement. “Civil authorities have been notified. The diocese, the school and the parishes remain committed to a safe environment for all children under our care.”

Hylka had taught theology at Joliet Catholic Academy until last school year. Hylka’s final year with the high school included a former student calling for his termination over a social media post Hylka liked.

The now-deleted Facebook post read, “If [expletive] hits the fan and you decide to start robbing people ... you might want to start with the houses that have Bernie/Biden 2020 signs. They don’t believe in guns. Those Trump supporters will blow your worthless head off.”

According to a June 3 news release from JCA, the school administration was aware of – and then denounced – a social media post that was “political in nature” and “invoking graphic violence.”

It said the post was contrary to the JCA community beliefs due to its disregard for human life.

In addition to teaching and youth pastoring, Hylka oversees the Joliet Weather Center on Facebook.

Hylka told the Herald-News in 2015 he was able to make a career out of his two passions: weather and his love of Jesus Christ. He said began teaching at Joliet Catholic Academy three weeks after receiving his theology degree.

“I fell in love with the classroom and teaching,” he said. “No amount of money is equal to seeing a teen fall in love with Jesus.”