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No Bail for Man Accused of Raping Autistic Teen

By  Alex Parker  and Emily Morris | June 23, 2013 2:51pm 

 Edwin Hernandez allegedly sexually assaulted a sleeping girl, and was ordered held without bail Sunday.
Edwin Hernandez allegedly sexually assaulted a sleeping girl, and was ordered held without bail Sunday.
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Chicago Police Department

CHICAGO — The man accused of sneaking into a sleeping autistic teen's bedroom and raping her had watched her through her window on at least three occassions, prosecutors said Sunday.

Edwin Hernandez, 30, of the 4600 block of North Lawndale Avenue, raped the 13-year-old girl in her Albany Park home in the early morning hours of June 16, Assistant State's Attorney Bridget O'Brien said. Hernandez was ordered held without bail.

O'Brien said the girl has the mental capacity of a toddler.

Prosecutors said Hernandez was friends with the girl's babysitter. He had peered through her bedroom window in the past, and once snuck into her home before being startled by someone in the home. But last Sunday, after returning home from Puerto Rican Fest, Hernandez pushed the girl's bedroom window open and climbed inside, O'Brien said.

While she was sleeping, he began kissing and fondling the girl before raping her, O'Brien said.

The girl's parents later observed muddy footprints on the window sill. Police collected semen samples and fingerprints, and were able to match them to Hernandez, O'Brien said.

Hernandez was arrested and admitted to the crime, O'Brien said.

Hernandez said "he thought that the victim was 10 or 11 years old, and that he knew that the victim was 'sick in the head, and her mind was not right,'" O'Brien told Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr.