COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — After a South Deering man raped a prostitute and her pal, he proceeded to lecture the women on why they shouldn't engage in prostitution, prosecutors said Thursday.
Jonathan Ferguson, 23, met the victims on Jan. 2 after he responded to a prostitution ad one of them had placed on Backpage.com, Assistant State's Attorney Akash Vyas alleged during a bond hearing.
Ferguson asked the 22-year-old woman to meet him at a house in the 2100 block of East 97th Place, prosecutors said.
The woman and two friends, ages 23 and 30, had been in Chicago for New Year's Eve, Vyas said. All three live in Milwaukee and were staying at the same hotel.
When the 22-year-old went to meet Ferguson, prosecutors said, her friends waited outside in a car.
After about 10 minutes, the woman ran outside to ask her friends for a condom, Vyas said. She returned to the house and allegedly found Ferguson waiting for her with a gun. He forced the woman to perform oral sex before raping her, Vyas said.
At that point, according to prosecutors, Ferguson demanded the woman call her friends and beckon them inside. He dumped the women's purses on the kitchen floor and stole cash and cellphones.
Ferguson, still armed with a gun, then brought the women to an upstairs bedroom, Vyas said. He shut two of them in a closet before raping the 23-year-old and forcing her to perform oral sex, prosecutors and police said.
Next, "He lectured them about how they should not be engaging in prostitution," Vyas said.
The women left and called police, who tracked down Ferguson via phone records and arrested him on March 9, Vyas said. Ferguson allegedly admitted that he saw an ad on Backpage.com and that he'd stolen the women's phones.
Ferguson, of the 9700 block of South Merrill Avenue, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, robbery and robbery with a firearm.
Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Thursday held him in lieu of $250,000 bail.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
