Hector Olivo has been to prison four times for failing to comply with the state’s sex offender registration laws. In September 2020, Chicago police arrested him again for the same thing.
Judge Charles Beach released him on his own recognizance the next day. Olivo never showed up for another court date. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest in the case on January 13, 2021.
Two months later, prosecutors said Wednesday, Olivo forced a woman into a Logan Square stairwell where he sexually assaulted and robbed her. Authorities caught up with Olivo recently after DNA testing linked him to the rape, according to the allegations.
Around 5 p.m. on March 14, 2021, a 49-year-old woman was walking home from a sandwich shop when Olivo pressed something to her back and said he had a knife in Spanish, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said. He said the woman had never met Oliva before.
Olivo, now 57, led the woman to a stairwell on the 1600 block of North Maplewood and ordered her to pull down her pants, according to Murphy and CPD records. The woman refused. Olivo pulled her pants down and assaulted her, Murphy said.
During the assault, the woman hit her head on the concrete stairwell and lost consciousness, Murphy continued. She woke up to find her pants down and her wallet gone. She went to a nearby restaurant and called for help.
Murphy said the woman only reported the robbery at first because she was embarrassed about the sexual assault. He said she also did not tell medical workers at St. Mary’s Hospital about the assault when they treated her for other injuries.
But she later outcried to workers at a shelter and they encouraged her to get help. Murphy said the woman returned to the hospital and DNA evidence was collected that tests would later link to Oliva.
Investigators interviewed the woman in November 2021 after the DNA results came back, but she could not identify Olivo, Murphy said. Police arrested Olivo on two outstanding warrants later that month, according to CPD records. He has been held in the Cook County jail without bail on the failure to register case since then, court records show.
Murphy said Oliva denied having sexual contact with the victim.
Prosecutors charged him with aggravated criminal sexual assault with a weapon and aggravated robbery. His public defender said Olivo is homeless and has worked at a carwash for two years.
Judge Susana Ortiz set his bail at $250,000 and ordered him to go on electronic monitoring if he can post a 10% deposit bond. He will continue to be held without bail on the failure to register case.
Olivo must register as a child sex offender because he was convicted of unlawful restraint of a 16-year-old in 2002. The case was pleaded down from criminal sexual assault, Murphy said.
