Sheriff Tom Dart gave unfettered access to chaplain Gordon McLean now accused of sexually abusing numerous boys he mentored

Sheriff Tom Dart gave unfettered access to chaplain now accused of sexually abusing numerous boys he mentored. Despite a 2008 arrest for soliciting sex from a young man he counseled, evangelist Gordon McLean was given access to Sheriff Dart's Boot Camp until 2011.

 A prominent evangelist who built a following ministering to gang members in Chicago and around the United States, who had unprecedented access to inmates, and who is credited with helping hundreds, if not thousands of youths change their lives, also allegedly had a secret life in which he preyed upon some of the same youths he vowed to help.

6 Plaintiffs  are part of a civil lawsuit against McLean filed in 2013 alleging the author of 18 books sexually abused them in exchange for money.

For roughly a decade, the Cook County Sheriff�s Office allowed McLean access to inmates in the jail�s "Boot Camp" � now called the Vocational Rehabilitation Impact Center. As a chaplain, McLean accompanied inmates to court, met with their attorneys, and visited them behind bars.

In 2008 McLean was arrested in west-suburban River Forest, accused of soliciting sex from someone he had previously counseled through the ministry. The arrest was eventually expunged, but soon after he left Metro Chicago Youth for Christ. The circumstances under which he left are unclear.

McLean continued to work with the Cook County Sheriff�s Office for three more years. A spokesman said the office knew nothing about McLean�s arrest for solicitation until 2011. That�s when they finally revoked his access to inmates.


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