MT. ZION, Ill. (WCIA) — A man from Mt. Zion has been charged with grooming after police said he inappropriately touched his teenage neighbor last weekend.

Ryan Lippolt, 23, was arrested on April 19 and was formally charged with one count of grooming on Monday. In a sworn statement, a Mt. Zion police officer said the arrest happened after a complaint was filed by the victim’s mother.

The mother told officers that Lippolt was her neighbor and on Sunday, he was at her home “hanging out in the backyard.” He told the mother he had to go to the bathroom and went inside, but didn’t return. The mother told officers she thought it had taken Lippolt long enough to go to the bathroom and went inside to look for him.

“(She) advised her daughter’s bedroom door was closed and when she opened it, she saw Ryan sitting next to her daughter on her bed with his hand on her inner thigh,” the officer said. “(She) advised her daughter had tears in her eyes and advised she told Ryan to leave, but he wouldn’t.”

The officer said Lippolt eventually did leave, asking the mother not to call police as he left.

When police responded, they interviewed the victim, who said Lippolt had come into her room, closed the door and sat down close to her on her bed.

“The juvenile female advised Ryan mentioned he was the closest thing to a dad for her and said ‘it’s the age gap,'” the officer said. “(She) advised Ryan showed her a video on his phone of her in front of her house. (She) advised this scared her and she wanted to leave, but felt like she couldn’t.”

The officer said Lippolt then started touching the victim’s thigh and asked to hug her, despite the victim saying “no.” But Lippolt continued to grip her thigh until her mother entered the room.

After Lippolt was arrested, the officer said he participated in a mirandized interview.

“Ryan admitted to being in the female juvenile’s bedroom and touching her thigh, but it was a misunderstanding,” the officer said. “Ryan admitted to having video of the juvenile female in front of her home that he took to make her smile.”

Macon County court records show Lippolt made his first appearance before a judge on Monday. Judge Lindsey Shelton found that there was “clear and convincing evidence that proof is evident or the presumption is great” that Lippolt had committed grooming, a detainable offense, and that he did pose a “real and present threat” to another person’s safety.

However, Shelton also found that there are conditions of pretrial release that could mitigate that threat. She denied the state’s petition to detain and ordered the following conditions of release for Lippolt:

• He appears in court for his next scheduled hearing
• He does not violate any criminal statue of any jurisdiction
• He remains in the State of Illinois and does not leave without permission from the court
• He stays 500 feet away from the victim, has no contact with her and has no contact with anyone under the age of 18

Shelton also ordered that GPS monitoring and home confinement be included as a condition of Lippolt’s release.

He is due back in court on April 30 for a preliminary hearing.