A man angry that his girlfriend had male friends on the social media app Snapchat led him to sexually assault and torture her with a lighter, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.
Victor Castro, 33, faces a charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault with a weapon and domestic battery in the incident last month and was denied bail Thursday when he appeared before a judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building for his initial hearing.
Castro had been living with the 24-year-old woman since March at their South Shore apartment and became angry on Aug. 27 after going through the woman’s phone and seeing she had several male friends on Snapchat, prosecutors said in court.
He pulled her into their bedroom by her hair, removed her clothes and tied her hands behind her back and her legs together with packing tape, prosecutors said. Castro then allegedly held a flame to her bare skin while poking her body with a pocket knife. He used the lighter to burn her skin below her knee, then applied rubbing alcohol to the burn and punched her several times in the abdomen, prosecutors said.
Castro called one of the woman’s male Snapchat friends and demanded to know if she had slept with him, prosecutors said. Castro then sexually assaulted the woman multiple times and held a lighter to her groin, threatening to burn her again, prosecutors said.
She was able to escape the apartment and called the police. Prosecutors said she was hospitalized for four days after the assault.
Detectives collected used packing tape and a lighter from the home and a sexual assault kit was administered, prosecutors said. The male that Castro allegedly called that night also confirmed the call to police, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Castro is facing a pending domestic battery charge in DuPage County in connection with charges related to an incident involving the woman’s child. Chicago police records show he was taken into custody in the latest incident Tuesday at the DuPage County courthouse.
Juan Soliz, a private defense attorney for Castro, said Castro was working for a demolition company, graduated from high school in Michigan and got an associate degree from Daley College.
Judge Charles Beach II ordered Castro held without bail and set his next hearing for Sept. 24.
