- A rape suspect was linked by DNA to a daylight attack on an off-duty Chicago police officer who was jogging in a Northwest Side park but was able to fight him off, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.
Rolando "Cortez" Cortes, 21, was arrested Thursday on the new charge at Cook County Jail, where he has been held without bail for the last 14 months on charges he kidnapped and sexually assaulted another woman as she left a health club in the same area, prosecutors said.
"I find you a danger to the community," Judge Donald Panarese Jr. told Cortes on Friday as he ordered him held without bail as well on the new charge of sexual abuse.
The female officer, then 39, was jogging on the Sauganash Park bike path in the 5800 block of North Rogers Avenue about 2:45 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2013, when Cortes grabbed her neck from behind, said Assistant State's Attorney Sarah Karr.
The two struggled and fell down an embankment into bushes. Cortes fondled the woman over her clothes, Karr said. The officer screamed and tried to push him off her, but he repeatedly punched her about the head to try to silence her, she said.
The officer dug her nails into Cortes' eyes and grabbed his genitals, causing him to run away, Karr said. The officer tried to chase after him, but her hair had become tangled in a bush.
A harrowing experience to be sure. But over 18 months to find a DNA match? And he was waiting in County for 14 of those months. Is the ISP Lab still that backed up? Something has to change over there.
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