The Wheaton Record
Wheaton, Ill.

Sept. 2, 2005

Sexual assault occurs two blocks away from campus
By Sarah Pulliam
A Wheaton resident was sexually assaulted Aug. 27 in her apartment near the college campus.
At approximately 2 a.m. a man broke into her apartment in the 1300 block of College Avenue, the Wheaton Police Department reported Monday. The victim’s 3-month-old child was in the apartment at the time of the assault but was not injured.
Administrative Division Commander Terry Mee declined to describe the nature of the sexual assault.
Mee, who has been working with the police department for 29 years, said the Aug. 27 incident is a rare crime in Wheaton.
“Nothing specifically like the events that took place in this incident has happened in my career,” he said.
The apartment building is located two blocks east of the college-owned Terrace Apartments. The woman is not a Wheaton College student.
The offender left after the assault and, at press time, a man fitting the suspect’s description was last seen in the area of College Avenue and Chase Street. The victim did not recognize the offender and described him to the police as an adult male with darker skin, about 5’10”, 250 lbs. with a dimple on his chin.
Police determined that the offender entered the victim’s apartment by cutting a window screen, accessing the deadbolt to the adjacent door and entering through the door. The victim told police he wore work-type gloves and a black ski mask that covered most of his face.
The victim, an adult, was sleeping before the assault. She reported the incident at 2:20 a.m. and was transported by ambulance to Central DuPage Hospital where she was treated and released the same day, according to Mee. He declined to say whether the victim was injured but did confirm that the victim experienced no serious injuries.
Chelsea Myers ’04, who lives in an apartment in the 1300 block of College Avenue, said she saw the victim move out of the apartment complex Monday to another location.
Mee said Wheaton Police do not have a firm suspect.
If caught, Mee said the offender would likely be charged with criminal sexual assault, pending the judge’s decision. He said the maximum penalty for criminal sexual assault is four to 15 years in prison.
Police think the Aug. 27 incident is related to an Aug. 24 incident, reported as disorderly conduct. An adult female resident of an apartment on the 1100 block of College Avenue said an adult male was looking into her apartment window around 6:35 a.m.
The incident occurred one-half block east of Terrace, near the College Avenue railroad crossing. The victim was not connected to the college as a student or employee.
She described the man as about 5’10”, 180-200 lbs., clean-shaven, with short brown hair and brown eyes.
She said the man left after she yelled to him, saying that she was calling the police department. The police responded but did not find the offender.
Wheaton owns 10 apartment buildings ranging from 603 College Ave. to 1057 College Ave., according to Director of Housing Paul Chelsen.
Chelsen he does not plan any changes to the housing department’s current commitment to safety.
The Carpenter Shop in the Physical Plant is conducting inspections of all ground level on-campus housing units to see if they are equipped with safety stops so that a window cannot be opened wide enough to allow a person to enter from the outside, according to Chelsen.
Britta Hayne ’05 lives on the second floor of the 1300 block of College Avenue where the Aug. 27 incident took place.
“We are now more careful about locking windows and doors, but I think there is a difference between being careful and upsetting our whole lives in order to avoid one incident,” Hayne said. “Basically, I don’t think we should be paranoid.”
There are 13 sex offenders currently registered in the City of Wheaton and all 13 are within four miles of Terrace Apartments. Five offenders are within less than a mile of the apartments.
Mee said the number of registered sex offenders has not increased in Wheaton since the police department began the registration process. The Illinois State Police was required to begin a sex offender database in 1999, according to the Illinois General Assembly Web site.
An average of about five sexual assaults have occurred in Wheaton each year since 1995, according to the Wheaton Police Department. Prior to Aug. 27, there had been four sexual assaults this year.
An average of five peeping tom incidents have occurred in Wheaton each year since 1995, according to the Wheaton Police Department. The 2005 peeping tom incidents were Aug. 24, Aug. 27 and Aug. 28.