CHICAGO — Two men kidnapped a woman from a Chicago bar and then raped and robbed her inside a North Side apartment, prosecutors said as they filed charges in the case Wednesday. Officials said the woman did not know the men.
Sarwar Khan, 46, of the 5700 block of North Washtenaw, was held on $1.5 million bail by Judge Susana Ortiz. The second man remains at large.
The 22-year-old woman, who recently moved to Chicago, went out for drinks with friends after work on Monday and ended up at a North Side bar, Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord told the judge.
Khan and the other man entered the bar at 12:50 a.m. Tuesday and Khan offered to buy the woman a drink while she was waiting in line to use the restroom, McCord said. The woman initially refused but eventually agreed “reluctantly.”
When she came out of the restroom, she felt “extremely intoxicated” and told Khan she was going to go home.
But Khan told her she was going home with him and “forcefully guided her” toward the front door, McCord continued. She said the second man met them at the door, and both men pushed the woman into the back seat of a silver Prius.
Khan sexually abused her as they rode in the back seat together until they arrived at his West Ridge home about 20 minutes later, McCord said.
Because she could not walk up the stairs, the second man carried her to the second floor. There, Khan took her to his bedroom and raped her, according to the allegations. McCord said the second man raped the woman after Khan.
Shortly after 2 a.m., the woman was able to call 911 on her phone. Chicago police responded to a call from a confused woman crying for help who didn’t know where she was. When Khan saw her on the phone, he knocked it from her hand and ordered her not to call anyone, McCord said.
The second man fled the apartment and hid the woman’s wallet in a nearby yard before CPD arrived. When the officers showed up, Khan went downstairs to meet with them. They contacted the woman on her phone and convinced her that it was safe to come out.
EMS took her to a hospital for treatment of “extensive” injuries consistent with sexual assault as well as abrasions and marks on her body, McCord said. A sexual assault evidence kit was collected for testing.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Khan’s attorney stated that he moved to the United States from Afghanistan more than ten years ago and arrived in Chicago last summer after living in Milwaukee. According to the lawyer, he supports his wife and 13 children by working at a parcel company and sending money back to them in Afghanistan.
While acknowledging the seriousness of the allegations, the lawyer countered that the woman was intoxicated, and McCord did not suggest that the woman cried out for help in the bar. He speculated that the police might have been confused because Khan does not speak English, and it was “unlikely” they understood what Khan was saying to them.
He is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault causing bodily harm, aggravated robbery by indicating the presence of a firearm, and kidnapping.
Judge Ortiz ordered Khan to go on electronic monitoring and surrender his passport if he posts the required $150,000 deposit bond.