 |
| Leondo Joseph (inset) is accused of seven rapes, including two near Wrigley Field. | Chicago Police; Google |
On his birthday in 2003, he shoved his foot into a Wrigleyville woman’s apartment door so she couldn’t close it. Then, he raped her.
At Christmastime the next year, he donned a ski mask, forced his way into another Wrigleyville woman’s apartment and raped her at knifepoint. Then he stole Christmas presents from under her tree and fled.
Now, Leondo Joseph has finally met justice.
Charged with a series of brutal rapes, Joseph and his younger brother—who was accused of two attacks elsewhere—today were each given sentences of 147 years by Cook County Judge Dennis Porter.
The sentences are for a single case elsewhere in the city in which the brothers allegedly raped a woman together. Prosecutors have to decide if the state will continue to pursue the other cases, including the three Lakeview incidents.
Justice was delayed for years in the cases because rape kits collected from victims sat untested at the Illinois State Police Crime Lab.
Since being charged in 2014, the Joseph brothers have played every card at their disposal while awaiting trial. They switched attorneys, filed reams of motions, and eventually decided to represent themselves.
“Illinois’ court system is prejudiced,” Leondo Joseph shouted as guards led him out of the courtroom today.
His victims, whose day in court have been stalled by an inept state government, surely have other opinions.
Lakeview Attacks Spanned 6 Years
Leondo Joseph, 40, was charged with hundreds of counts of criminal sexual assault, kidnapping, battery, and related charges for a series of attacks that included three in Lakeview.
 |
| Locations of Leondo Joseph’s three Lakeview attacks |
• On May 23, 2010, Leondo entered an apartment in the 900 block of West George through an open window and hid in a closet before sexually assaulting a woman who lived there.
• On December 19, 2004, less than a block from Wrigley Field, Leondo forced a woman into her apartment at knifepoint and then repeatedly raped her while wearing a ski mask. He then tied the woman up, stole her Christmas presents, and fled from the scene in the 3700 block of North Wilton.
• On August 6, 2003, a Lakeview woman who had enjoyed an evening on the town encountered Joseph outside of her building in the 3900 block of North Janssen. When Leondo put his foot in her apartment door to prevent it from closing, the woman allowed him inside for a drink. He refused to leave, became physical, and raped the woman. It was Leondo Joseph’s 27th birthday.
 |
| L.B. Joseph | Chicago Police Dept |
Also still pending against Leondo Joseph are two other rapes in other parts of the city. 31-year-old L.B. Joseph is accused of participating in one of those as well.
Yet Another Rape
In October 2016, less than a month after the brothers were convicted of the crime that sent them to prison on Monday, the Joseph brothers were charged with yet another rape.
Prosecutors said that crime lab testing of another rape kit showed that the Joseph brothers were responsible for kidnapping and raping a prostitute on the West Side in 2011.
According to DNAInfo Chicago, L. B. Joseph interrupted his bail hearing for the latest case:
“There’s no way that happened” before being admonished by his public defender. He later said, “There’s no DNA! I ain’t never touched this chick.”
“Retired”
The Joseph brothers were arrested together on September 25, 2014, at their home: Anixter Center at 2537 N. Halsted. It’s a 14-unit publicly-subsidized housing facility that, according to federal guidelines, is supposed to provide supportive housing for elderly persons with disabilities.
No one named Joseph was listed on the building’s directory when a CWB Chicago representative went there two days after the brothers were arrested. It is not clear how they came to make Anixter Center their home.
Five months before the duo was arrested for the series of rapes, Leondo Joseph was arrested for stealing $500 cash at the Anixter Center—from his brother, LB.
