March 27--A Chicago man has been charged with criminal sexual assault after being linked through DNA evidence to a 2008 group sexual attack of a woman on the South Side.
Prosecutors charged Darrion L. Wright, 35, with aggravated criminal sex assault Saturday for allegedly participating in a group sex assault of a woman on May 22, 2008.
At that time, the victim was drinking at the corner of 79th and Halsted streets about 1:30 a.m. with a friend when two men approached, prosecutors said.
The victim and her friend continued to drink with the two men, prosecutors said. The victim's friend left after awhile, leaving the victim with James Gordan, 37, and a second unknown man, prosecutors said. Gordan is also identified in court records as Gordon.
Later, the victim walked away and went to a bus stop to wait for a bus, and while she was waiting, she felt "a hard object" being placed to her back, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Anna Sedelmaier.
The victim saw it was the unknown man, who ordered her to come with him and Gordan, prosecutors said.
They took her to an abandoned building on the 7800 block of South Emerald Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood and while at the building three other men joined them in pouring alcohol down the woman's throat and taking off her clothes, Sedelmaier said.
While holding her down on her hands and knees, the five men, including Wright, sexually assaulted the victim, prosecutors said. The woman is currently 28 but at the time she was 20 years old, prosecutors said.
Later the five men left, and the woman walked to the Chicago police station at 78th and Halsted streets to report the attack, authorities said.
She was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where a rape kit was collected, prosecutors said.
After being released from the hospital about 6 a.m., the woman was at the Red Line on 63rd Street when she saw Gordan, authorities said. She called 911 and told a security guard, who detained Gordan and called police. He was taken into custody but not charged until 2013, prosecutors said.
In 2008 and again in 2011, DNA profiles taken from the victim's kit indicated an association with Gordan, prosecutors said.
In 2012, another DNA profile was identified from the vaginal swab collected from the victim's body, and it had an association with Wright, who was charged Saturday with aggravated criminal sexual assault in this case, authorities said.
The victim said she doesn't know Wright, and there is no other explanation for him being on her kit, prosecutors said.
Gordan remains in custody pending trial. He was ordered held without bail in June 2013.
On Saturday, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Wright, of the 3800 block of West Flournoy Street, held on $350,000 bond.
The other three men remain unknown.
gpratt@tribpub.com
