A Chicago cabdriver who lured women into his vehicle in the northwest suburbs and then sexually assaulted them was sentenced today to 35 years in prison.
Eric Chung, 31, pled guilty in Cook County’s Rolling Meadows branch court today to aggravated criminal sexual assault and attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault in connection with two incidents initiated in Prospect Heights last year. He entered the plea using a Cantonese interpreter.
Assistant State’s Attorney Tami Strickman said the attempted assault occurred in February 2013 when Chung was parked near a tavern in the 1200 block of Rand Road. He saw a young woman standing outside and asked if she wanted to hire his taxi. When she told him she was waiting for a relative, he said she could wait in his cab rather than stand outside in the cold, Strickman said.
The woman got in the cab and Chung locked the doors and drove away, stopping in a nearby parking lot where he demanded sex, Strickman said. As Chung groped her, the woman fought back and was able to escape, running to a nearby home where police were called, Strickman said.
Police were unable to locate Chung following that incident, the prosecutor said.
Three weeks later, three women entered Chung’s cab after leaving the same bar at about 3 a.m. and hiring him to drive them home, Strickman said. One of the women got in the front seat and as Chung drove away, he began touching her, Strickman said. The 24-year-old woman demanded that he stop and her two friends were able to escape the vehicle, Strickman said. The friends called police, she said.
Chung, of the 1900 block of South Wong Parkway in Chicago, drove the woman to a parking lot in Schaumburg where he choked and slapped her, removed her pants and assaulted her, Strickman said. Schaumburg police spotted the taxi and found Chung assaulting the woman, she said. Chung was taken into custody and confessed to police, Strickman said.
Chung, who authorities said is married with three children, will have to serve 85 percent of the sentence under state judicial guidelines.
Authorities said he was not affiliated with a taxi company at the time of the incidents and was using his own van.
Other charges of kidnapping and unlawful restraint were dropped in exchange for Chung’s guilty plea.
