Man Charged With Randomly Assaulting 4 Women On Aurora Streets
AURORA, Ill. (CBS) -- A man was charged Tuesday with at least four attacks on women in Aurora over the past month – including an attempted sexual assault.
Detectives began investigating when they received a report from a woman in her late 40s who was attacked around 10 a.m. April 17 in the 400 block of North Titwsorth Avenue in Aurora, police said.
The woman said she was walking home when she saw a man following her, and he grabbed her buttocks with both hands, police said. The woman hit the man with her umbrella and he ran off, police said.
Six days later on April 23, Aurora police were called for a report of a sexual assault in the 500 block of East Benton Street at 11 p.m., police said. A woman in her 50s said a man followed her into a backyard, grabbed the back of her neck, forced her to the ground, and tried to sexually assault her, police said.
A week after that, this past Thursday, a woman in her 20s said a man came up and grabbed her waist with both hands near Kensington Place and Elmwood Avenue, police said. The victim lunged forward and the man ran off, police said.
On Sunday, police were called when a woman in her late teens said she was walking in the 500 block of Second Avenue when a man came up from behind and grabbed her buttocks with both hands, and then ran off, police said.
Officers found a man who matched the description the woman gave and detained him, police said. The woman positively identified the man as Zion Banks, of the 200 block of T Street in Aurora, police said.
Police talked to all the victims and potential witnesses and linked Banks to all four incidents. He was charged with three counts of aggravated battery in the public way, one count of attempted criminal sexual assault, and one count of unlawful restraint.