Christopher Puente Held Without Bail For Raping 3-Year-Old Girl In McDonald's Restroom
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man was ordered held without bail on Thursday, after prosecutors say he sexually assaulted a 3-year-old girl in the stall of a McDonald's restroom, while her father was tending to her brother in the next stall after the boy had an accident.
Christopher Puente, 34, is charged with one count of predatory criminal sexual assault. Cook County prosecutors said he confessed to detectives that he'd placed the girl on his lap while he was in a restroom stall, pulled off her pants, and covered her mouth when she started calling out "daddy daddy."
At Puente's bond hearing on Thursday, prosecutors said the 3-year-old girl was at the McDonald's at 600 N. Clark St. around 8 a.m. Monday with her father and her brother, when her brother had an accident.
The father took both children to the restroom, taking his son into a stall while his daughter waited just outside in the restroom, according to prosecutors. Puente, who was in the next stall, lured the girl into his stall while her dad was preoccupied, pulled her into his lap, pulled down her pants and underwear, and sexually assaulted her.
Prosecutors said, when the girl started whimpering, Puente covered her mouth with his hand. When her father heard her cries, he tried to open the locked stall, then looked over and under the door, and grabbed his daughter's legs to pull her out.
Her father then took the girl and her brother out to his wife, and returned to the restroom, where Puente was still sitting in the locked stall, according to prosecutors. When he went back to check on his daughter, Puente fled the scene.
Puente was arrested two days later, after police released surveillance images of him leaving the McDonald's. Prosecutors said he was seen on surveillance video entering the restroom before the victim, and leaving after her father took her back to her mom.
After he was arrested, prosecutors say Puente confessed to police that he put the girl on his lap and pulled down her pants and underwear, and covering her mouth to keep her quiet, but claimed his penis "touched the victim's vagina because her vagina was right there, but it didn't go in." He also told detectives he was high at the time.
"The Defendant said that he was f****d up and thinking dirty. He was dirty and didn't want the police looking for him or catching him. He said he was paranoid and looking around as he left the bathroom because he knew what he did was wrong," prosecutors said.
According to court records, Puente has multiple criminal convictions dating back to 2006.
- In 2006, he pleaded guilty to theft and criminal trespass and was sentenced to 6 months' probation;
- In 2008, he was charged with domestic battery and criminal damage to property, but the charges later were dropped because a witness failed to appear in court;
- In 2011, he pleaded guilty to residential burglary, and was sentenced to 6 years in prison;
- In 2012, he pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery, and was sentenced to 4 years in prison;
- In 2016, he pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and one count of residential burglary, and was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison;
Puente is due back in court on March 10.
