Cheerleading coach adds ID theft, forgery charges to accusations of sexually assaulting teenage girls
If I were Bradley S. Abrahams, I’d be tempted to steal someone else’s identity, too. I’m not saying I’d use someone else’s information to cash stolen checks or take out credit cards like the Naperville, Illinois police say he’s done; if I were Bradley S. Abrahams, I’d be ashamed to use my own name.
Abrahams, 32, used to own Illinois Cheer Extreme Athletics—a cheer and dance training center in Naperville–with his partner, Jason Shapiro. That’s where he had easy access to teenage girls and his partner’s identifying information, and police say Abrahams took advantage of both.
The most recent charges against him are related to a check stolen from the cheerleading center last year. The check was later cashed at a bank for $500. Police say Abrahams committed the theft and forged Shapiro’s name on the check. Police also say Abrahams used Shapiro’s personal information to open credit card accounts.
For those crimes he now faces felony charges of forgery and issuing or delivering a forged document, and three counts of ID theft, and one count each of forgery, issuing or delivering a forged document, computer fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud.
He was indicted last summer on four felony charges of criminal sexual assault, and four felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He is accused of having sex at the cheerleading center with a then-13-year-old girl in March and April 2006. Another girl subsequently came forth and said Abrahams also molested her at the center in 2006, when she was 16.
No date has been set for court appearance on the ID theft-related charges; the sexual assault cases will go to court August 27.
Tags: Bradley S. Abrahams, forgery, Illinois Cheer Company, Illinois Cheer Extreme Athletics, Jason Shapiro, Naperville Illinois