CHICAGO — A Maywood man was charged with kidnapping and assaulting girls in separate incidents in Austin and Oak Park this week, including the sexual assault of a 13-year-old, Oak Park Police said Thursday.
Shawn Stubblefield, 48, of the 1800 block of South Fourth Avenue in Maywood, is charged with criminal sexual assault in the attack of the 13-year-old girl in Austin Monday. In the Oak Park incidents Wednesday morning, he is charged with kidnapping and child abduction.
In the Austin attack, the girl was walking down Race Street toward Parkside Avenue about 7:15 a.m. when a man walked up to her, asked her name and said he'd been watching her, Chicago Police said.
He then grabbed her around the neck, told her he had a gun and ordered her to get into to his vehicle in the 400 block of North Parkside Avenue, according to police.
She was sexually assaulted close to three schools and a public library, according to authorities.
The man drove the girl to her home and threatened to set her house on fire if she didn't bring him money, police said.
She then went inside her house and called police, and her attacker fled before officers arrived, police said.
In the first Oak Park incident, Stubblefield allegedly tried to kidnap a 16-year-old student at Oak Park and River Forest High School as she walked to classes in the 100 block of South Taylor Avenue at 8:15 a.m., according to Oak Park Police. The victim said she was grabbed by a man, then managed to scream and escape from her attacker by rushing to passing drivers who came to her aid, police said.
Apparently undeterred, her attacker allegedly tried to kidnap a 13-year-old Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School student just a half-hour later in the 700 block of South Home Avenue as she was on her way to school, police said. She, too, was able to get away from the attacker and run to safety, also rescued by passing motorists, according to police.
Stubblefield was arrested just minutes after the second incident in River Forest after an off-duty Maywood Police officer noticed him driving erratically, police said.
Oak Park Police Chief Rick C. Tanksley gave credit to the drivers who helped stop the kidnappings and to the courageous victims.
“The details of the descriptions of the suspect were key to our ability to get the word out quickly and find the suspect before he could get very far," Tanksley said."These were brave young girls who met adversity with strength and poise. Their actions helped to take a dangerous predator off the streets.”
Stubblefield is scheduled to appear in Cook County Bond Court Friday.
