Man charged with robbing, raping woman in Streeterville on 4th of July

Juan Sanchez | CPD

Police have arrested a man in connection with Saturday’s robbery and sexual assault of a woman in Streeterville. The man is also charged with performing lewd acts in front of three separate women as he drove around the North Side this week.

Prosecutors charged Juan Sanchez, age 37, of Logan Square with felony aggravated criminal sexual assault, felony kidnapping by force or threat, and aggravated robbery in connection with Saturday’s attack on the 100 block of East Huron near the Magnificent Mile.

He is also charged with three misdemeanor counts of public indecency for incidents involving female joggers and pedestrians this week.

Sanchez is accused of implying that he had a weapon to rob a 37-year-old woman as she walked in Streeterville around 7:10 a.m. on July 4. The offender then forced the woman into the back seat of a white Honda Odyssey minivan and sexually assaulted her, police said.

Then, on Tuesday morning, several women made separate 911 calls to report a man who was trailing females in a white minivan while masturbating and exposing himself.

Incidents were reported between 5:45 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. by women on the 600 block of West Belmont and the 3200 block of North Damen in Lakeview as well as by women on the 2500 block of North Stockton in Lincoln Park

Some of the women involved in those cases did not file formal police reports. But one woman who did formalize a complaint later identified Sanchez as the man who exposed himself from a white van on the 1400 block of West Wrightwood around 5:45 a.m.

Two other women identified Sanchez as the man who exposed himself to them Monday in the 2800 block of West Shakespeare at 8 a.m. and in the 2800 block of West Diversey at 5:32 a.m., according to a CPD spokesperson.

On Wednesday, police caught up with Sanchez in the 5200 block of North Lincoln, according to a CPD statement. He is due in bond court on Friday.

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