Cab Driver Accused Of Sexual Assault Last Year Charged In Second Rape More Than A Decade Earlier
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A cab driver accused of sexually abusing a woman in his taxi last year has been charged with another rape 12 years ago, after DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
Mustafa Dikbas, 37, was charged with criminal sexual assault last week, accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his cab in southwest suburban Oswego in July 2007. At that time, a woman told Oswego police a cab driver sexually assaulted her, but she didn't know the name of the cab company.
DNA evidence was collected in that case, but police couldn't find a match at the time.
That evidence now has been linked to Dikbas, after he was charged in another rape last year.
In late February 2018, Dikbas allegedly sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman who fell asleep in his taxi. Police and prosecutors said the woman had hailed Dikbas' cab outside a River North bar, and then fell asleep in the back seat.
She woke up more than three hours later to find Dikbas in the back seat with her while parked in the Lakeview neighborhood. He had pulled up her skirt around her waist, ripped her pantyhose in the crotch area, and had his hand on her leg, according to prosecutors.
The victim told Dikbas she wanted to go home, and he drove her to her building. After she realized she had left her purse and phone in the cab, she started chasing after Dikbas, but was only able to get his cab number.
Dikbas was arrested two days later, charged with one count each of attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, kidnapping, and theft.
Prosecutors said surveillance video from DIkbas' cab showed him touching the victim inappropriately.
DNA evidence collected in the 2018 case was submitted to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab, and later matched to the evidence from the 2007 rape.
Dikbas was being held at the Kendall County Jail on $250,000 bond for the 2007 case in Oswego, and was due back in court on Monday. He had been in the Cook County Jail, held without bail, ever since his arrest in the 2018 case in Chicago.