A cab driver is being held on $2 million bond after he was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting two female passengers this month.
Eric Chung, 29, of Chicago, is charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of aggravated sexual assault in connection with the incidents.
Police say the first incident happened on Feb. 2 around 4 a.m. when a woman flagged Chung's taxi down while standing in front of a Prospect Heights bar. The woman claims Chung drove her behind a Speedway gas station against her will, got in the back seat and forcibly fondled her. She says she only managed to escape after agreeing to give him oral sex in order to get him off of her.
The second incident happened Sunday at the same bar when Chung is accused of picking up three women in a Buick Terraza van labeled "AAA Futura Taxi."
During the drive, the women claim Chung started acting strangely, so two of the women hopped out of the vehicle at a red light. Police say Chung sped off before the third woman could get out.
The woman's friends called 911, and officers quickly tracked the cab to an office complex on East Algonquin Road in Schaumburg. Arriving officers said they could hear the woman yelling for help as she was being attacked, and claims that Chung strangled her to the point where she pretended to pass out and raped her in the back seat.
"The victim played dead in hopes the defendant would stop the attack on her," Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Maria McCarthy said.
Police took Chung into custody and the woman was transported to a local hospital.
The owner of the cab company told NBC Chicago that he fired Chung last week for not paying rent to use his cab. He says Chung borrowed the cab from another driver on Sunday.
Police say the first victim picked Chung out of a lineup and that he used her credit card.
