Police have arrested an Illinois man on charges of rape, sexual battery and criminal confinement in connection with a Sept. 1 assault of an 18-year-old woman a parking garage in downtown Bloomington.
Investigators credited people who recognized the suspect from security camera images in the media for facilitating the arrest by calling police to identify the man.
Andre J. Hardy, 27, of Joliet, Illinois, was taken into custody about 8:30 a.m. Sept. 7 by Bloomington Police Department detectives, U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force officers and Will County sheriff’s deputies.
They located Hardy in the 1300 block of Ada Street in Joliet, and took him to the Will County Sheriff’s Office to be interviewed. He is incarcerated at the Will County Adult Detention Facility awaiting extradition to Monroe County, according to a BPD news release.
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Within a very short period of time after the photographs of the suspect were released to the media seeking public assistance, several individuals contacted the Bloomington police with information about the suspect’s identity," Capt. Ryan Pedigo said in the news release.
On Sept.7, police filed a probable cause affidavit approved by Judge Darcie Fawcett with the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office. An arrest warrant was issued, investigators started looking for Hardy and learned he had left Bloomington and was in Joliet.
Pedigo said investigators appreciate the help from citizens "and thanks all of those that shared the photographs, which ultimately led to his arrest."
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The 18-year-old victim told police she entered the Morton Street parking garage from an alley in the 200 block of West Sixth Street around 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1. She walked up the steps to the third floor, then up the ramp toward the fourth floor, when she noticed a man following her.
The man grabbed her from behind, tackled her into a parking space between two parked vehicles and sexually assaulted her.
The woman yelled for help and when someone walked that direction, the suspect got up and ran down the steps and fled north across Seventh Street.
She described him as a tall, thin Black man. Court records list Hardy as Black, 6-foot-9 and weighing 210 pounds.
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According to the probable cause affidavit, a Monroe County woman who had a two-week relationship with Hardy in Bloomington a year ago was one of the people who identified him from the grainy photos.