$3M Bond For Man Accused Of Raping Women He Met On Craigslist
WOODSTOCK, Ill. (CBS) -- A McHenry County judge set bail at $3 million Tuesday for a man accused of raping at least five women he met online, after prosecutors revealed evidence of possibly 20 more victims.
Charles Oliver, 44, is charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and one count of kidnapping.
One woman has accused him of locking her in the basement of his Woodstock home, and refusing to let her leave. He allegedly raped that woman and four others he met on Craigslist.
He was released on $150,000 bail earlier this year after his January arrest in three of the alleged attacks, but was re-arrested last month in two new cases. McHenry County prosecutors sought to have his bail revoked.
On Tuesday, a judge increased his bond to $3 million.
During the hearing, prosecutors revealed investigators recovered thousands of images of women engaged in sex acts from Oliver's home. Prosecutors said many of the acts appeared to be non-consensual.
They also said there are potentially 20 more unidentified victims, based on the videos recovered at Oliver's house.
One neighbor said he saw women coming and going at odd hours and that recently he put sheets over his windows.
When asked if the sheets raised any questions in his mind, neighbor Eric Maldonado said, "Yes, of course. If you have a person that is normal like you see we all got shades so we don't need to put sheets."
A neighbor's friend was one of the alleged victims. It started with a Craigslist ad.
"He would take pictures for modeling and that's something she was interested in," said neighbor Julie Randecker. "He came picked her up and was gonna take her to Chicago, put a plastic bag over her head, took her over to the house and beat her and raped her."
Oliver's defense attorney claims that at least some of the alleged victims are prostitutes and that at least some of the sex acts were consensual.
