COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man charged with sexual assault on an unconscious woman outside an Edgewater comedy club raped her after giving her what he said was cocaine, prosecutors said.
The drugs Stephane Edouard, 35, gave to the woman, as well as her male companion, turned out to be an opiate, possibly heroin, prosecutors said.
Both lost consciousness after snorting a line of the powdery substance Edouard allegedly arranged for them on a folded newspaper, prosecutors said. The woman, 28, woke up to Edouard raping her, and her companion, 31, was later found suffering from a heroin overdose in an alley.
Edouard and the two victims met at The Frontier, a comedy club at 1106 W. Thorndale Ave., on Friday, prosecutors said.
The man and woman joined Edouard in his car to take what they believed to be cocaine, prosecutors said. Edouard prepared a line of white powder for the victims and held the newspaper while the man and woman took turns snorting the drug.
Both the man and woman passed out, prosecutors said. When the woman awoke, Edouard was having sex with her, and she couldn't move.
Edouard dropped the woman off at her male companion's apartment, where she told a witness what happened, prosecutors said. She was taken to a hospital and found to have opiates in her system rather than cocaine.
The man woke up in the emergency room after being found in an alley, prosecutors said. He was barely breathing.
Edouard, who was later identified by both the man and woman, appeared briefly in court Wednesday on charges of criminal sexual assault, aggravated battery and driving on a suspended license.
He is being held in jail on a $750,000 bond.