March 13--A Jeffrey Manor man lured three Milwaukee women to a home in his neighborhood, sexually assaulted two of them, berated them about engaging in prostitution and robbed them at gunpoint, prosecutors said Thursday.
Jonathan Ferguson, 23, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, armed robbery and robbery after he was arrested Tuesday in the Jan. 2 attacks that took place after he met one of the women on Backpage.com, prosecutors said. Ferguson was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail in a hearing midday Thursday before Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil, according to court records.
The three women, ages 30, 23 and 22, visited Chicago for the New Year's holiday from Dec. 31 to Jan. 2, and stayed in hotels, prosecutors said. One of the women put an ad on Backpage.com, offering sexual services, and Ferguson communicated with her, telling the woman to meet him at a Southeast Side home, prosecutors said. The assaults took place after they met about 5 p.m. in the 2100 block of East 97th Place, according to police and police records.
When the women got to the home, Ferguson met them at their vehicle, and asked the woman who placed the ad to go inside with him, prosecutors said. The woman went back outside about 10 minutes later and got a condom from one of her friends, then went back into the house.
Inside, Ferguson took out a handgun, forced the woman to perform a sex act on him and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said. He then forced the woman to call her friends and have them come into the house, and told the three to dump the contents of their purses on the kitchen floor, prosecutors said.
After stealing $300 from the third woman, he took all three upstairs, putting a gun to the second woman's head as he followed them up, prosecutors said. In a second-floor room, he ordered all three to take their clothes off, put the first woman and third woman in a closet, and sexually assaulted the second woman, prosecutors said.
Ferguson had the other two women leave the closet, then told the women they should not engage in prostitution and bragged he had killed people the same week, prosecutors said. Prosecutors did not indicate whether they suspect Ferguson in any killings.
Before leaving, Ferguson took each woman's cellphone and made them unlock the phones, then changed the phones' settings, prosecutors said. He then left with the phones and purses but left their car keys behind.
The third woman had a second cellphone in the car, and after Ferguson left, the women called police.
After obtaining cellphone records, investigators were able to arrest Ferguson on Tuesday, and two of the women identified him in a lineup, prosecutors said. Ferguson also admitted he met one of the women through Backpage.com and admitted he stole the women's cellphones, prosecutors said.
Ferguson, who lives in the 9700 block of South Merrill Avenue, about a block from the home where the assaults took place, is due back in court March 30.
