An Uptown man allegedly forced his way into a stranger’s downtown Chicago hotel room Wednesday morning, robbed her, and tried to sexually assault her while holding a gun to her head, prosecutors said Friday.
“That’s some bullsh*t, yo,” Keshawn Bunch yelled when Judge Susana Ortiz told him that he would be held without bail.
Around 11 a.m., Bunch knocked on the 32-year-old victim’s door at the Congress Plaza Hotel, 520 South Michigan, and pretended to be a housekeeping worker, according to prosecutor Danny Hanichak.
The woman opened her door and found Bunch pointing a pistol at her, although police would later discover that it was a BB gun, according to Hanichak.
Once inside the room, he allegedly took the woman’s phone and about $1,000 cash, then ordered her to give up her phone PIN and demanded to know if she had CashApp so he could try to transfer her money.
Bunch asked the woman if she wanted to die while continuing to demand the passcode as she hurriedly called the hotel operator for help on the room phone, Hanichak said. The hotel operator notified security after hearing a man demanding passcodes and other commotion on the phone line.
Before security arrived, Bunch tried to get the woman to remove her clothing, but she refused. He then lowered his pants to expose himself and pushed her head down, ordering her to perform a sex act at gunpoint, Hanichak alleged.
But the woman told Bunch her boyfriend would be back soon and that help was on the way, so he should leave. With that, Bunch allegedly pulled up his pants and left the room just as security guards arrived.
The victim yelled out to the guards that Bunch had attacked her, and they detained him in the hallway. Hanichak said the woman’s phone and the BB gun fell to the ground as they caught him. Chicago police allegedly found nearly $1,400 in Bunch’s possession.
Prosecutors charged Bunch with attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault, home invasion, and two counts of robbery.
He has been on bail since late July when he was charged with identity theft and illegally possessing more than three credit or debit cards.
In that case, two Uptown men were awakened early on July 27 after getting fraud alerts from their banks. They found that their wallets and car had been stolen from their home. They tracked the alerts and saw Bunch discard a receipt bearing one of their names and credit card numbers at a McDonald’s in Uptown, prosecutors said. The men called the police, who arrested Bunch after allegedly using one of the stolen credit cards at a nearby grocery store.
Prosecutors said that Bunch had six of the victims’ credit cards in his possession. He told investigators that he found a wallet in the grass.
Court records show that he went home with a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. after putting up a $300 bail deposit.
On Friday, Hanichak said Bunch was convicted of felony criminal damage and felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle in 2020. As a juvenile, Bunch was adjudicated delinquent for carjacking and battery in 2017 and carjacking, robbery, and battery in 2016, according to Hanichak.
His public defender on Friday said he attends church regularly, is “engaged in community activism,” works for a modeling agency, and has mental health concerns.
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