CHICAGO — A pair of brothers suspected in a nearly decade-long sex crime spree were ordered held without bond Friday in yet another brutal rape from 2011.
Leondo and LB Joseph, of Lincoln Park, are accused of propositioning a West Garfield Park victim, a prostitute, for sex and then kidnapping her and assaulting her on Dec. 5, 2011, prosecutors said Friday.
Through DNA collected in the West Garfield Park case, the brothers, who lived at 2537 N. Halsted St., have also been linked to six separate sexual assaults dating back to 2003 and are facing charges in those cases as well.
Both men were already being held in the Cook County Jail on other rape cases.
In the West Garfield Park case, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Holly Grosshans said LB Joseph, now 31, drove his car up to the victim in the 4100 block of West Taylor Street. The woman got into the car and the two negotiated a price for oral sex, Grosshans said. No one else was in the car.
The two then drove to a nearby alley, where Leondo Joseph, 40, opened the car's passenger door, pulled the woman's jacket over her head and forced her into the backseat and hit her in the head, Grosshans said. Saying he had a gun, Leondo forced the woman to take off her clothes and raped her, prosecutors said.
LB then drove to another alley, got into the back seat and Leondo went to the front of the car punched her in her face and assaulted her, Grosshans said.
LB, interrupting his bond hearing, said, "There's no way that happened" before being admonished by his public defender. He later said, "There's no DNA! I ain't never touched this chick."
Desperate to end the assault, the woman began screaming, punching herself in the face and pulling her own hair, Grosshans said.
The brothers forced the woman out of the car and tossed her clothes to her, except for her bra, which they kept, the prosecutor said.
The victim ran to a nearby home and the person who answered called the police. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where a rape kit test was performed, Grosshans said.
Through the data collected through the kit, detectives were able to link the brothers to six separate rapes from 2003 to 2012, Grosshans said.
Leondo has been charged with 99 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault in three separate incidents, Grosshans said. Both Leondo and LB have been charged with 15 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault in an April 2011 attack, she said. The brothers also face one count of armed robbery, six counts of aggravated kidnapping and 12 counts of aggravated sexual assault in a September 2012 case.
The victim in the 2011 West Garfield Park rape has identified the brothers as her attackers, Grosshans said.
In court Friday, the two were surrounded by four sheriff's deputies.
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