A Chicago man who’s accused of raping, robbing, and kidnapping an Uber driver who picked him up in the suburbs last week was AWOL on a federal gun charge at the time of the attack, according to court records.
Andrew Anania, who also has a murder case in his background, was ordered held without bail by a Cook County Judge on Tuesday in connection with the Uber driver attack.
Back in 2014, Anania was charged with murdering a 16-year-old rival gang member, but he later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. His ten-year sentence was reduced by 50% for good behavior and was then largely off-set by the time he spent in jail awaiting trial, records show.
While on parole in that case, Chicago police allegedly caught him with a firearm in 2019. The U.S. Attorney’s Office took that matter into federal court, and Anania remained in custody until last autumn.
Federal court transcripts show an assistant U.S. attorney argued strenuously against defense efforts to release Anania due to concerns about COVID in the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown.
“The community would be at heightened vulnerability if Mr. Anania were released,” a federal prosecutor said during a September hearing. He pointed out that a different federal judge previously found no conditions that could reasonably assure the public’s safety if Anania were released.
Countering a contention that Anania’s illnesses required him to walk with a cane, the prosecutor said CPD bodyworn camera footage shows Anania “sprinted down for two blocks” as police chased him in the gun case.
According to records, the judge in the September hearing ordered Anania to undergo health testing but did not release him from custody. He was later allowed out of custody to await trial, but court records that document that decision are not publicly available.
A warrant for Anania’s arrest was issued on February 2 for violating the terms of his release, records show.
Six weeks later, on March 8, Anania allegedly ordered an Uber to pick him up from a Mexican restaurant in suburban Darien and then held the driver at gunpoint while forcing her to drive to Summit.
There, he sexually assaulted the woman in the back seat of her vehicle before forcing her to drive to Stickney, prosecutors say. He raped her again upon arrival and then forced her to drive into Chicago, where he robbed her of cash and got out near the 2400 block of South Albany in Little Village, according to the allegations.
US Marshals and police officers from Chicago, Stickney, and Summit arrested Anania after a brief standoff at his home over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Judge Margaret Ogarek ordered him held without bail.
