A Cook County judge on Sunday ordered an Uber driver from Logan Square to pay a full $250,000 cash bail on claims that he restrained and sexually assaulted a young woman who lost consciousness after an evening out earlier this summer.
Christopher Molina, of the 1700 block of North Spaulding Avenue, faces aggravated criminal sexual assault, kidnapping and unlawful restraint charges.
After a night at Clark Street bars on the evening of June 2, she awoke early the next morning zip-tied by the wrists in the rear of a car parked in a well-lit garage, Assistant State’s attorney Jacqueline Simon told the court.
Molina allegedly unbound her wrist restraints, fondled, then sexually assaulted her for about 15 minutes, during which she repeated that she “did not want to do this,” Simon said. After the assault, Molina allegedly allowed the woman out of the vehicle to use the bathroom then drove her home.
During the drive, Molina allegedly told the woman that he was sorry, that the attack was his “bad side,” and that his girlfriend was mean to him, Simon said.
The victim returned home to the West Loop and asked a stranger to use his phone after no one answered the door at her home, prosecutors said.
The victim was taken to an area hospital where a sex assault kit was performed. Prosecutors said Uber app information led to the owner of the car, a businessman who had contract showing that Molina rented the vehicle the day of the attack.
“What’s been described is deeply disturbing and something nobody should ever experience,” an Uber spokesman said in a statement released Sunday evening. The statement provided no further details on the incident, but said Molina had been banned from the app.
Troubled by Molina’s alleged possession and use of zip ties to restrain a helpless victim, Judge Kelly Marie McCarthy said he was a potential risk to the community before ordering the cash bail.
The judge also ordered him not to have any contact with the victim and scheduled him to return to court Aug. 29.
