Crime & Safety

Masked Man Busted After Falling Asleep in Rape Victim's Bed: Police

Daniel Sanders -- a boyhood friend of his 58-year-old victim's son -- broke into the woman's home and held a gun to her head, Joliet police said.

A man wearing a mask and armed with a gun broke into a Joliet woman's home and raped her -- and then promptly fell asleep in the woman's bed with his weapon under the pillow, Joliet Police Cmdr. Al Roechner said.

The 58-year-old victim didn't know her attacker until she was told his name, Roechner said. He was a boyhood friend of one her sons, he said.

The attack occurred at about 3:30 a.m. April 18, when Daniel D. Sanders, 25, of 1309 Pawnee, Joliet, broke into a home in the 1200 block of Rowell Street, held a .45-caliber handgun to the woman's head and sexually assaulted her, Roechner said.

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When he fell asleep, the victim was able to leave the house and had a neighbor to call police, he said. Officers surrounded the house and found Sanders still asleep when they went in to arrest him.

The victim was able to identify Sanders as her assailant and he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, home invasion and possession of a weapon as a felon, Roechner said.

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Sanders, who is believed to have been intoxicated at the time of the attack, would not talk with police so it's unknown if he knew his victim's identity or if it was coincidence that he had once been a friend of the woman's son, who's now 25, Roechner said.

Sanders is also being held on several other charges from previous arrests, including counts of possession of a controlled substance and other amount narcotic schedule I and II, filed in February, and possession of a controlled substance and manufacture/delivery of 1 to 15 grams of cocaine, filed in June 2007.

He is currently in the Will County jail in lieu of a total of $895,000 bond from all three arrests.


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