Robert Skipper (inset) is charged with sexually assaulting a woman inside an elevator at the Rookery Building. |
A man charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a Loop elevator last weekend made an unusual move when police brought his victim to identify him: He identified her.
No, to tread a well-worn path, this is not The Onion.
Prosecutors say that around 2 p.m. on Saturday, convicted felon Robert Skipper followed a 28-year-old woman onto an elevator in the historic Rookery Building at 209 South LaSalle and then began to assault her. After putting his hand under her blouse, Skipper restrained the woman, forced her to the floor of the elevator and said, “Give me that *****,” prosecutors said.
After getting away, the woman called 911 and provided a description of the offender. Police said two other women had reported being battered or sexually abused by a man with a similar description earlier in the day—one near Pritzker Park and the other in an unspecified Loop location.
Cops who stopped Skipper near State and Washington shortly after the attack asked other officers to bring the victim to their location to see if they had the right guy.
When the woman arrived, Skipper made eye contact and “excitedly” announced “That’s her! That’s her! That’s the one I got! I stalk my prey,” police said in an arrest report. Officers said Skipper’s statement was captured on their body cameras.
Prosecutors charged Skipper with felony attempted criminal sexual assault by force; felony criminal sexual abuse by force; and felony unlawful restraint. He is being held without bail.
Skipper previously served prison time for a 2013 robbery on the South Side, according to court records.