CHICAGO — A man accused of chaining a woman to the wall of a South Side home for three days and raping her twice before a passerby heard the victim’s screams and notified Chicago police, was handed a 10-year sentence Wednesday.
Joel Cammon, 46, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault during the commission of another felony before Judge William Gamboney, according to the clerk of court records. By law, he will serve at least 85% of the time. Gamboney also ordered him to register as a sex offender for life.
“This is a heinous act of, essentially, torture,” Assistant State’s Attorney Danny Hanichak said during Cammon’s initial bail hearing in June 2022.
Cammon worked as a security guard at a business near the abandoned home and knew the 36-year-old victim because he had previously paid her for sex, officials said.
He crossed paths with the woman on May 18, 2022, and the woman agreed to meet Cammon in the basement of a home in the 11100 block of South Eggleston for paid sex, Hanichak said.
But the two began arguing in the basement, with Cammon allegedly saying he was “sick of paying you b*tches for sex just for you to rush me.”
Prosecutors said he used his handcuffs to restrain the woman and dragged her to the attic, where he chained her right leg to the wall. Cammon sexually assaulted the woman and then left the home, leaving her restrained and alone overnight.
The woman banged on the walls and yelled for help, but no one came to her aid.
Cammon returned the next day and raped her again while she was handcuffed and chained to the wall, Hanichak said. The woman begged him to stop and pleaded to be let go, but Cammon left her alone again.
She continued to bang on the wall and scream for help for two more days until Antione Dobine heard her as he walked to a nearby bus stop. Dobine called for help and started telling the story on a Facebook stream that went viral.
In Dobine’s video, a police officer walked to the rear of the abandoned home with a large set of bolt cutters in his hand.
“She’s handcuffed and chained to a wall,” the officer said.
People who live near the home provided information that led police to Cammon.
Hanichak said he was convicted of robbery in 1995 and animal neglect in 2006. The latter case involved allegations that Cammon tied a dog to a pole without food, water, or shelter.
Prosecutors dropped seven felonies in Cammon’s plea deal, including multiple additional counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.
