A man who recently served a five-year prison sentence for fondling two women on the Red Line is now charged with stabbing a man in the neck in Rogers Park early Friday.
Prosecutors on Sunday charged 35-year-old Barry Marquez with felony aggravated battery with a knife.
Three employees of a restaurant told police they were walking home from work around 1:40 a.m. when Marquez rode his bicycle into their space on the 1700 block of West Greenleaf. The group recognized Marquez as an occasional customer of the restaurant, prosecutors said.
Marquez departed, then allegedly returned and “antagonized” the group while challenging them to fight, according to a prosecutor. One of the restaurant workers crossed the street and swung at Marquez, but missed. That’s when Marquez allegedly took out a pair of scissors and stabbed the man in the neck.
The victim began bleeding profusely and Marquez rode away from the scene, according to prosecutors. Both of the man’s co-workers began administering first aid and subsequently provided police with a description of the attacker.
Police stopped Marquez nearby and the victims’ co-workers identified him as the attacker, according to prosecutors.
The victim is still admitted to St. Francis Hospital after undergoing surgery. Doctors are trying to determine if the stabbing caused arterial damage.
Courtney Smallwood, a public defender who was assigned to represent Marquez during a bond hearing Sunday, said Marquez was defending himself.
Judge David Navarro set bail at $10,000. Marquez will be able to go home by posting a $1,000 deposit bond. He has another misdemeanor battery case pending. That incident took place on Wednesday, less than two days before the alleged stabbing.
In January 2014, prosecutors charged Marquez with sexually abusing two women at the North-Clybourn Red Line station. He eventually received a pair of concurrent five-year prison terms for the attacks, according to state records.
Marquez was accused of grabbing and fondling a 28-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman at the CTA station in 20 minutes, DNAInfo reported at the time.
Prosecutors said Marquez pushed the older woman against a train car and fondled her. She fought him off and escaped on a train. He then walked up behind the 19-year-old on the platform and fondled her. That woman screamed and also escaped by boarding a train, according to the DNAInfo report.