A taxi cab driver was being held on $15,000 bail after he was charged with sexually assaulting a female passenger in west suburban Naperville.
Sandeep Arora, 44, of Chicago, was arrested Thursday, one day after a $1 million dollar warrant was issued for four charges of sexual assault and two counts of sexual abuse, according to a statement from the DuPage County state’s attorney office.
On July 9, 2017, Arora allegedly picked up a woman and another person outside of a Naperville establishment and, after dropping off the backseat passenger, sexually assaulted the woman still seated in the front passenger seat, the state’s attorney office said.
Arora allegedly bruised the woman and partially ripped off her clothes, prosecutors said. He continued driving and then pulled over a short time later and assaulted the woman again.
The woman was eventually able to free herself from the taxi and run away, according to prosecutors. She called a friend and hid in bushes until they arrived.
She went to Naperville police the next morning, and an investigation led to the charges against Arora over a year later, prosecutors said.
“It is alleged that this defendant, once alone with the victim in his taxi, sexually assaulted her to satisfy his sexual desires,” DuPage County State’s Attorny Robert B. Berlin said in a statement.
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“These allegations are extremely disturbing and, if found guilty, Mr. Arora will find himself behind bars, unable to prey upon innocent women, for a significant amount of time,” Berlin said.
Arora was scheduled to appear in court again on Jan. 10.
