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UIC Sexual Assault Suspect Is a Registered Sex Offender, Prosecutors Say

By Darryl Holliday | April 2, 2014 2:17pm | Updated on April 2, 2014 2:53pm
 Tavares Humphries, 28, is facing five felony charges in connection with Monday's assault of a University of Illinois-Chicago student at her dorm room in Commons South, a UIC spokesman said.
Tavares Humphries, 28, is facing five felony charges in connection with Monday's assault of a University of Illinois-Chicago student at her dorm room in Commons South, a UIC spokesman said.
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DNAinfo/Darryl Holliday and UIC Police

CHICAGO — A registered sex offender burglarized two University of Illinois at Chicago dorm rooms before sexually assaulting a student while she was taking a shower, prosecutors said.

Tavares Humphries, a 28-year-old East Garfield Park man, was in bond court Wednesday on five felony charges in the Monday morning attack at Commons South, 700 S. Halsted St., a student dorm.

The 18-year-old victim was taking a shower in a women's bathroom on the fifth floor when she heard a male voice, prosecutors said. After opening the curtain she saw a naked man standing outside the shower asking for soap.

Humphries, who is not a student or employee at UIC, began taking a shower in the stall across from the victim's before getting into her stall, prosecutors said. After she told him to leave, he left briefly, but then lunged at her and began choking her.

The woman lost consciousness, and when she awoke, she was in a different stall being raped by Humphries, who slapped her and told her to "shut up," prosecutors said. When the woman kept screaming, Humphries choked her again, knocking her unconscious again, prosecutors said.

A witness who heard the victim's screams knocked on doors for help. Another witness went into the bathroom and detained Humphries until police arrived, according to prosecutors.

After Humphries was taken to the UIC Police Department for questioning, he grabbed a detective's groin while being handcuffed, said prosecutors.

A search later revealed Humphries had stolen items from a room the victim shared with two other female students during a break-in prior to the sexual assault, prosecutors said.

Additional charges are pending stemming from Humphries being "uncooperative and combative" before his bond hearing, according to court documents.

In 2001, Humphries was convicted as a juvenile of aggravated criminal sexual assault, requiring him to register as a sex offender.

As an adult, he's been convicted four times of felonies, most recently on a 2007 drug charge that resulted in a two-year prison sentence.

In 2006, he was sentenced to a year in prison for failing to register as a sex offender.

His most recent conviction was this year, when a misdemeanor trespassing conviction ended up with him being sentenced to conditional discharge — a type of non-reporting probation — through Jan. 28, 2015.

After the incident, the victim and one of the witnesses identified Humphries in a lineup, prosecutors said. The victim was taken to UIC Hospital.

Humphries was charged with one count of attempted murder, one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault, one count of aggravated kidnapping, one count of battery to a police officer and one count of residential burglary.

He was ordered held without bail Wednesday.