Park District worker accused of sending naked photos to minor girl

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Mario Mendoza / photo from Chicago Police

Updated: November 3, 2011 10:33AM

A Southwest Side man who worked with children as a Chicago Park District recreational leader has been charged with sending naked photos of himself to a 12-year-old girl in one of his park programs.

Mario Mendoza, 24, of the 4100 block of West 70th Street, was charged Wednesday with manufacturing harmful material, a Class 4 felony, according to Officer John Mirabelli, a police spokesman.

Judge Donald Panarese ordered Mendoza held on $50,000 bond Thursday, according to Tandra Simonton, a Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman.

Mendoza was camp coordinator at Harriet Vittum Park in the 5000 block of West 50th Street, where he met the victim, a 12-year-old girl who attended the camp, according to prosecutors.

He got her cell phone number and started sending her text messages, Simonton said. On July 25, he allegedly sent images from his cell phone to hers, showing himself unclothed.

Mendoza “worked as a seasonal recreational leader in the past and became a recreational leader in November 2006,” Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said.

Mendoza’s “separation date’’ from the district was Aug. 8, Maxey-Faulkner said, though she would not say if he was fired or resigned.