A decision by Chicago police detectives to release surveillance images of a Lincoln Park rape suspect drew “several” tips from people who recognized the assailant, prosecutors said as they filed charges in the case on Friday.
The 28-year-old victim was visiting Chicago and staying with a friend in the 1900 block of North Sheffield last month. After going out with friends, she took an Uber back to the apartment building on Sheffield and noticed a man standing on the sidewalk as she exited the vehicle, prosecutors said.
As she put the key in the door, the man wrapped his arms tightly around her neck, causing her to feel faint as he whispered to her to stay quiet. He pushed her onto the hallway stairs and raped her, but he could not maintain an erection, prosecutors said.
After the attack, he went through the woman’s purse and took some cash.
When the woman begged him not to take her ID and credit cards, the attacker laughed, threw them at her, and left the building, officials said. The victim immediately went to her friend’s apartment and explained what happened. The friend called the police.
Police recovered Ring surveillance video and other footage from the area. Detectives pulled two images of the suspect from the videos and released them to the public last Friday.
The publicity generated several tips identifying the man as Reggie Brown, 31. Among the people who identified Brown were his ex-girlfriend and a Department of Children and Family Services employee, prosecutors said during Friday’s court hearing.
Chicago police put Brown’s home under surveillance and arrested him Wednesday.
Brown told police that he choked the victim and tried to have sex with her, but he had trouble maintaining an erection, according to the allegations.
At the end of the bond hearing, Judge Mary Marubio held Brown without bail at the state’s request. He is charged with three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault threatening life, aggravated robbery, and unlawful restraint.
Prosecutors said he has three misdemeanor convictions in his background.
One of those misdemeanors stems from an incident last year in which a man was charged with trying to sell a woman’s SUV and her dog, which was inside the car when it was stolen, back to the victim for $350.
Among the items in the woman’s stolen car were her business checks. Brown was accused of trying to cash one of those checks, made out to his name, at a currency exchange.