A migrant accused of robbing two girls and sexually assaulting certainly one of them has averted a trial after placing a deal that leaves him convicted solely of 1 theft. Prosecutors dropped the sexual assault prices and the second theft case altogether after Elvis Hernandez-Pernalete entered his plea earlier than Choose Ursula Walowski.
Walowski sentenced Hernandez-Pernalete to 6 years in jail. However beneath state regulation, the sentence is routinely lowered by 50 p.c for good conduct, and extra credit earned whereas in jail make him eligible for launch in December 2026, lower than three years after his arrest.
In March 2024, prosecutors portrayed Hernandez-Pernalete, 29, as a public security menace after two violent assaults inside hours of one another.
Based on courtroom filings, surveillance video from each the CTA and the College of Illinois Chicago campus confirmed him trailing a girl from the UIC-Halsted Blue Line station on the evening of March 16. Once they reached the 900 block of West Harrison Avenue, he grabbed her from behind and dragged her to the bottom. He held the sufferer in a leg lock whereas reducing off her air provide, inflicting her to lose consciousness, prosecutors claimed.
When she handed out, prosecutors alleged, he turned her over, stole her jewellery, and groped her physique.
“[He] really admits to the police that he believed he had killed her and [is] seen making an attempt to maneuver the sufferer’s physique,” a prosecutor mentioned throughout his first courtroom listening to. Hernandez-Pernalete fled when a witness noticed what was taking place.
Three hours later, authorities mentioned, he attacked one other lady after she left a Northwest Facet CTA station. In that case, prosecutors mentioned he choked the lady throughout a theft try.
Regardless of the horrifying allegations specified by early courtroom hearings, information present Hernandez-Pernalete finally pleaded responsible solely to robbing the primary sufferer. The sexual assault prices had been dropped and the second case was dismissed altogether.
Unique reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click on right here to assist our work.
