A former military airman who is required to register as a sex offender has been charged with raping a woman he met through a dating app at a South Side motel.
Robert Jones, 31, faces two counts of criminal sexual assault and a count of aggravated battery in the attack, which happened Monday at Best Motel, 6535 S. King Drive, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Jones was ordered held on $100,000 bail at his initial hearing on the charges Thursday by Judge Arthur Wesley Willis.
Prosecutors said Jones met the 34-year-old woman through a dating app and they had previously talked on the phone and met once in person prior to the attack. They decided to get a hotel room to be alone together, because both live with their parents, prosecutors said.
At the motel, the woman became uncomfortable because she believed Jones “was only interested in having sex” with her and Jones became angry when the woman rejected his advances, leading to an argument, prosecutors said.
Jones stormed out of the room and the woman went to lock the door, but found there was no way to secure it from the inside because the room didn’t have a deadbolt or chain lock, prosecutors said. She decided to take a shower and moved a table in front of the door to block it from opening.
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After she undressed, Jones opened the door with his key and was able to get inside the room, prosecutors said, and they argued again until Jones agreed to take her home. The woman was getting dressed when Jones approached her and began forcefully removing her clothing as she tried to stop him, prosecutors said.
Jones then choked the woman until she passed out; when she woke up, her nose was bleeding and Jones was raping her, prosecutors said. Jones allegedly gave her a towel to wipe her nose after the assault, but kept the towel when they left and drove her home.
The woman’s mother saw her face and asked her what happened, leading the woman to tell her mother about the choking, but not about the assault. The woman’s mother took her back to the motel, where police were called and the woman was brought to a hospital, prosecutors said. A sexual assault kit was completed at the hospital, but the results were pending Thursday.
The woman identified Jones in a photo array and he was taken into custody at his home that night, prosecutors said.
Jones was convicted in 2013 of aggravated sexual assault and indecent conduct stemming from a 2011 rape at Aviano Air Base in Italy while he was serving in the military. In that case, prosecutors said he assaulted a fellow military member when she was unable to give consent. He was court-martialed, sentenced to three years in prison and dishonorably discharged, prosecutors said. As a result, he is required to register as a sexually violent predator, according to Illinois State Police records, which showed him living in Washington Park.
An assistant public defender for Jones noted his military service and said he was currently employed as an ironworker. The public defender said Jones disputed prosecutors’ statements that he was convicted of sexual assault, but admitted to the conviction for indecent conduct, the prison sentence and the dishonorable discharge from the military.
Judge Willis additionally required Jones to go on GPS and electronic home monitoring if he posts bond and told him to have no contact with the victim, warning him his bond would be revoked if he did.
His next hearing was set for Jan. 6.
