Jul 19, 2008 3:28 pm US/Central
$500,000 Bond For Suspect In Gold Coast Attack
James Castaldo Also Linked To Attack Last Year
CHICAGO (STNG) ―
Bond has been set at $500,000 for a 47-year-old man charged in an attack on a woman in a Gold Coast building. Police have also linked the man to the beating of a woman last year outside her North Side building.
James Castaldo was charged with criminal sexual abuse, armed robbery, aggravated battery and weapons and drug violations.
On Saturday, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Ramon Ocasio set bond at $500,000, according to a Cook County Circuit Court clerk.
Castaldo's latest attack was caught on video surveillance, and Belmont Area detectives who worked both cases were able to immediately connect the two incidents, police said.
Castaldo is accused of sneaking up behind a woman who was going into her Gold Coast apartment building near Clark and Schiller streets, forcing himself in and then sexually abusing her, police said. Castaldo also allegedly hit her over the head with a blunt object and stole her wallet, cell phones and keys, police said.
James Castaldo was charged last August with unlawful use of a credit card and other charges after police found he had been using the credit card of a woman who had been attacked in her Lake View home.
That case is still pending in Cook County court, and Castaldo had posted bond.
Castaldo was never charged in the 2007 attack, but he was always a suspect, law enforcement sources said.
Police arrested him near his North Side home Thursday morning.
Castaldo will appear for a preliminary hearing at North Felony Court (Br. 42) on July 24 at 9 a.m.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2008. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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