(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- An Austin man was charged Tuesday with allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on a CTA Purple Line train during busy hours last Saturday – an attack that a judge called a “brazen, bold, criminal act.”
“The fact that he is willing to do this in an open area…is direct evidence of his dangerousness,” prosecutors argued during a detention hearing Tuesday morning.
The judge agreed, ordering Anfernee Thomas, 27, held in Cook County jail pending trial on a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
The girl was heading home from a friend’s house at 5 p.m. Saturday when Thomas approached her on the CTA platform and asked if she wanted to smoke, state prosecutors said. The girl said “no,” and Thomas asked her to come to his house. She said “no” again.
The girl then boarded a Purple Line train and Thomas followed, prosecutors said. He asked the girl to sit next to him and give him her number, which she did out of fear.
Thomas then told the girl to follow him behind a partition on the train, prosecutors said. The girl allegedly told him, “I’m 16,” to which Thomas responded, “Oh OK.”
Thomas then sexually assaulted the girl, prosecutors said. He stopped when his friend, also on board the train, yelled they were at the next stop.
The girl immediately exited the train and told a CTA official she had been assaulted and described Thomas, who was wearing a blue coat and had a tattoo under his eye, authorities said.
Thomas reportedly was located on a train car, which had been stopped because of the attack. His jacket was turned inside out, indicating he was attempting to evade police, prosecutors argued.
When the girl was brought to identify him she burst into tears, prosecutors said.
Thomas and the girl are seen on video footage sitting on the train, but the alleged attack occurred outside the view of cameras.
Thomas’s lawyer argued, among other points, there was no evidence Thomas was attempting to evade police. But the judge did not believe the alleged encounter to be consensual.
Thomas has previous stalking and drug convictions. He also has a pending DUI case in Kane County.
He is due back in court on March 13.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2023. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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