A convenience store clerk convicted in January of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old runaway boy in the Loop has disappeared after the judge refused a prosecution request to keep him in jail to await sentencing.

A jury needed less than 90 minutes to find Bharath Simha, 22, guilty of criminal sexual assault during the commission of a felony and two counts of kidnapping in connection with the December 2023 attack at 7-Eleven, 4 East Jackson.

But Judge Peggy Chiampas denied the state’s request to revoke Simha’s electronic monitoring status and have him jailed so he didn’t flee to escape prison time, according to court records.

Those records show Simha failed to appear for his next court date on February 14 and yet another date on February 21. During the second hearing, Chiampas decided to sentence Simha in absentia, saying he “willfully absconded.”