CHICAGO — An Uptown man accused of robbing and trying to sexually assault a woman after forcing his way into her downtown Chicago hotel room one year ago has reached a plea deal.
Prosecutors allowed Keshawn Bunch to plead guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery in exchange for a five-year sentence from Judge Michael Clancy. The state dropped the most serious charges he faced, including multiple counts of home invasion, kidnapping, and five counts of attempted criminal sexual assault, according to court records.
Bunch was accused of forcing his way into a 32-year-old woman’s room at the Congress Plaza Hotel, 520 South Michigan, around 11 a.m. on August 24, 2022.
Officials said he didn’t know the woman when he knocked on her door, posing as a housekeeping worker. The woman opened her door and found him pointing a pistol at her, although police would later discover that it was a BB gun, officials alleged.
Once inside the room, Bunch allegedly took the woman’s phone and about $1,000 in cash 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 her PINs as she hurriedly called the hotel operator for help on the room phone, according to a version of events presented by prosecutors last year. 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, prosecutors alleged.
He stopped when the woman told Bunch her boyfriend would return soon and that help was coming. Bunch left the room as security guards arrived.
As they detained him in the hallway, the woman’s phone and the BB gun fell to the ground, officials said.
Bunch was on bail at the time for felony identity theft and illegal possession of more than three debit or credit cards. The case is still pending.
The charges stem from an incident in which two Uptown men were awakened early on July 27, 2022, after getting fraud alerts from their banks.
They found that their wallets and car had been stolen from their home. Prosecutors said the men tracked the alerts and saw Bunch discard a receipt bearing one of their names and credit card numbers at a McDonald’s in Uptown.
The men called the police, who arrested Bunch after he allegedly used 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.
Bunch is expected to be paroled on July 18, 2024. He is receiving credit toward his sentence for the time he spent in jail and for participating in a high school program while in custody. His sentence will also be reduced by 50% for good behavior.