Mar 12, 2010 5:51 pm US/Central
Southwest Side Rape Suspect Denied Bond
Chauvet Stiggers Turned Himself In Wednesday
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Chauvet Stiggers is charged in a series of sexual assaults on the Southwest Side.
Chicago Police
An accused serial rapist had been out of jail on probation when he allegedly started attacking teens on the Southwest Side, CBS 2 has learned.
Chauvet Stiggers, who was ordered held without bond Friday, was arrested 16 times in recent years, police said. Most were for drug offenses and for gang-related activity. Now he's accused of sexually assaulting three teenage girls and exposing himself to another -- crimes could send him away for up to 30 years, if he's convicted.
Stiggers, 23, early Friday was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault with a firearm and one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault with the threat of life, police said.
He appeared for a bond hearing Friday and was ordered held without bond by Judge Peggy Chiampas. Stiggers was dressed in an argyle sweater, looking every bit the young man who his attorney said had attended college. But a prosecutor portrayed him as a young man more interested in preying on students than being one.
"I hope this person -- and I don't want to call him a man, because anyone who does that isn't a man-- I hope he never sees the light of day," said activist Dawn Valenti, co-founder of United for a Cause.
Mario Williams says he's a friend of Stiggers. He described him as a ladies man who would never resort to rape.
Police issued a community alert Wednesday saying Stiggers -- who also goes by the names Rashaun Little, Andre Harris and DeAndre Harris -- was a suspect in multiple sexual assaults and was considered armed and dangerous.
A woman stepped forward after seeing media broadcasts because she remembered seeing a similar vehicle -- a green minivan that was spotted in all of the incidents -- and contacted police with the license plate number, the release said. Detectives then tracked down the minivan, which belonged to a female friend of Stiggers.
Victims also provided to a composite sketch of the offender and identified Stiggers in a photo lineup. Detectives then issued a warrant for his arrest and released his photo and name to the media, the release said.
Stiggers turned himself in at 7 p.m. Wednesday to detectives at the Wentworth Area police station at 5101 S. Wentworth Ave., police News Affairs Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti said.
The assaults happened in the Wrightwood and Ashburn neighborhoods between March 4 and March 7, according to an earlier alert issued by Wentworth Area detectives.
A 17-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted March 4 in the 8200 block of South Sacramento Avenue about 7:15 p.m. after he forced her into a vehicle, police said.
Police said a second sexual assault was reported March 5 in the 7900 block of South Maplewood Avenue after the man allegedly forced a 16-year-old girl into the van at gunpoint.
On Sunday, the man allegedly exposed himself to an 18-year-old woman near the 7900 block of South Pulaski Road while in the green minivan.
Then on Monday of this week, prosecutors say, he forced a 13-year-old girl into his van at gunpoint and raped her.
The van Stiggers allegedly used during the recent attacks actually belonged to his girlfriend. She is cooperating with police.
Investigators say they have DNA evidence in the case.
Stiggers' name was also mentioned in 2008 as a suspect being sought as a fugitive, on federal drug and gun charges connected with the Spanish Cobras street gang.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli and Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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