CHICAGO — A jury has awarded $18 million to three women who were raped by a man with a history of sexual assault who went missing from a halfway house in 2009.
A jury decided on Wednesday that St. Leonard's, a licensed transitional house, did not properly monitor Julius Anderson, 65, who left the facility and sexually assaulted three women in 24 days in 2009, prosecutors said. Anderson was convicted of sexually assaulting the women and sentenced to a 75-year prison term in 2013.
“St. Leonard’s failed every step of the way,” said attorney Martin Dolan, who represented the three women, in a news release. “It’s simply inconceivable that something like this could happen — with zero oversight, screening or accountability — that permanently scarred three women’s lives forever.”
Anderson had served more than 30 years in jail for several armed robberies and sexual assaults he committed in the '70s before he was paroled in June 2009. After his release, Anderson was being monitored by St. Leonard's House. He cut off his electronic monitoring device and left the facility in August 2009, prosecutors said. Police weren't notified Anderson was missing until 12 days after he left, prosecutors said.
While missing, Anderson sexually assaulted a woman in an alley at knifepoint on Aug. 15, prosecutors said.
On Aug. 18, Anderson followed a woman to her apartment, forced his way inside with a knife, bound the victim with electrical tape and a cord and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 1, Anderson forced a woman into a friend's home, bound her, sexually assaulted her and robbed her, prosecutors said.
The jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding St. Leonard's was negligent in monitoring the whereabouts of violent sex offenders as required and it did not alert police or area residents that Anderson was missing, prosecutors said.
“How does a dangerous violent criminal with a long history of sexually assaulting women just disappear into thin air?” Dolan said in a statement. “This isn’t a case of a sly criminal who slipped through a crack. It was a matter of a violent and mentally deranged man walking out of the door like it was his own house.”
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