Teen runaway found with sex offender
A report of a teenage runaway led to the arrest of a registered sex offender.
The Rockford Police Department was contacted Thursday regarding a report of a 16-year-old female runaway. Officers responded to the 1600 block of Overdene Avenue where they located the juvenile in the presence of Travis Blomgren, 29, of Rockford, a registered sex offender.
Detectives conducted a follow-up investigation, and after a review of the case with the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office, Blomgren was charged with traveling to meet a minor, failure to register as a sex offender, indecent solicitation of a child via the internet, unlawful communications of a sex offender with a child, and distributing harmful material to a child.
If you have any information regarding this or any other incidents, you can contact the Rockford Police Department at 815-966-2900, via Facebook at @RockfordIllinoisPoliceDepartment or on Twitter @RockfordPD. To submit an anonymous tip, text the word RPDTIP and your tip to 847411 or get the Rockford PD App in the App Store or Google Play Store. You can also leave an anonymous tip with Rockford Area Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867.
Chris Green is a Rockford Register Star general assignment reporter. He can be reached at 815-987-1241, via email at cgreen@rrstar.com and Twitter @chrisfgreen.
In celebration and recognition of Women's History Month, the Rockford Register Star has partnered with Midway Village Museum to bring readers a local women's history fact of the day.
Visit rrstar.com or the Rockford Register Star newspaper each day throughout the month of March to read about the women who played significant roles in Rockford history.
Born in 1922 in Dekalb, Barbara Hale was a member of the final graduating class from Rockford High School in 1940 before enrolling in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts to pursue a performing career.
Her first credited role came opposite Frank Sinatra in 1943 in the film "Higher and Higher" where the 21-year old sang with the soon-to-be famous crooner.
Hale achieved stardom in the 1940s and left RKO to join Columbia Pictures in 1949. She appeared in "Lorna Doone," "The Jackpot" with Jimmy Stewart, "A Lion Is in the Streets" with James Cagney, "Seminole," and "The Oklahoman" in 1957.
The latter film would mark Hale's last leading role in a motion picture as she turned her talents to television opposite Raymond Burr in the series "Perry Mason." Barbara Hale died in 2017 in California.
Want to learn more about Barbara Hale? Visit Midway Village Museum online at midwayvillage.com or in person at 6799 Guilford Road, Rockford.