Bail Set At $2 Million For Nicholas August, Charged With Raping Hostage After Robbing Rockford Credit Union
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The man accused of taking a woman hostage, and sexually assaulting her, after robbing the Heritage Credit Union in Rockford, has been ordered held on $2 million bond.
Nicholas James August, 38, has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, armed robbery, and aggravated unlawful restraint.
Police have said August robbed the Heritage Credit Union in Rockford around 2:30 p.m. Friday. He then took a 39-year-old woman hostage and ordered the rest of the employees out of the building, prompting a nearly seven-hour standoff with police.
SWAT teams surrounded the credit union and negotiators contacted August after he took the woman hostage, in an effort to get him to let the woman go and surrender.
Prosecutors say August sexually assaulted and choked the bank employee during the standoff.
The woman was freed and taken to a hospital when the standoff ended around 9 p.m. Friday. Police said they do not believe August and the woman he took hostage knew each other.
During August's first court appearance on Monday, a Winnebago County judge set his bail at $2 million. August is due back in court on Jan. 29.
He has three previous domestic violence charges. He was wanted on a warrant for aggravated domestic battery issued in December 2019 and has now been charged in that case as well.
