COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A UIC student is accused of raping an 18-year-old woman at a party in University Village.
"What are we going to do with our young people?" Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said, shaking his head, during a bond hearing Friday.
According to prosecutors, Joseph Vinod, 18, was hosting a party at his University Village apartment in the 1300 block of West Taylor Street about 10 p.m. July 4.
Among the guests were several of Vinod's high school classmates, including an 18-year-old woman who had spent the day drinking alcohol at the beach with pals, Assistant State's Attorney Elena Gottreich said in court Friday.
During the party, several guests left their belongings inside Venod's bedroom, according to Gottreich.
At one point, the 18-year-old woman headed toward the bedroom to get something out of her bag, prosecutors said. When she and Vinod were alone together in the room, Vinod closed and locked the door, according to an arrest report.
That's when Vinod pulled off the woman's denim shorts and swim bottom, and proceeded to rape her, Gottreich alleged. The woman told Vinod to stop and tried to push him off her, prosecutors said. An arrest report lists Vinod as six-foot and 190 pounds.
After about 10 minutes, guests started to knock on the door, Gottreich said. Vinod let them in the room, and the victim immediately told a friend what happened. When Vinod was confronted, he simply smirked, according to prosecutors.
The victim was picked up by a relative and taken to a hospital, where a rape kit was collected, Gottreich said.
Vinod is charged with criminal sexual assault.
According to defense attorney Todd Pugh, Vinod recently finished his freshman year as a computer-science major at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It's not clear whether Vinod will be allowed to return to campus this fall in light of the pending case, Pugh said.
UIC spokeswoman Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez on Friday confirmed that Vinod is a student in the College of Engineering. Due to federal privacy laws, Gonzalez said, she could not confirm whether Vinod will be subject to a UIC student conduct review.
Pugh noted that Vinod graduated from Hampshire High School, and described the gathering at Vinod's apartment the night of the alleged attack as "a fraternity party."
Judge Bourgeois on Friday set bail at $100,000. Should Vinod post bond, he'll be required to surrender his passport, adhere to a 7 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew and wear an electronic-monitoring bracelet, the judge said.
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