Man admits to 19 robberies, sex assaults in Wicker Park, Humboldt Park

A man accused of robbing and sexually assaulting more than a dozen women walking alone during a 2012 spree in the Humboldt Park and Wicker Park neighborhoods has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Vidal Rainey, 25, pleaded guilty to Monday to multiple charges including aggravated criminal sexual assault and armed robbery, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said.

Rainey was accused in 19 separate cases, for a spree that targeted women walking alone in Wicker Park and Humboldt Park between July 11 and July 31, 2012, prosecutors said. He would approach them with what appeared to be a handgun and demand money, cellphones and credit or ATM cards.

In one case, Rainey forced a 14-year-old girl into a gangway where he robbed her of $15 then sexually assaulted her at gunpoint, prosecutors claim.

He was arrested Aug. 1, 2012, after surveillance video at a gas station caught him using one of the stolen credit cards, authorities said. Police later found the BB gun used in the robberies in the stolen car he had been driving.

Rainey, of the 5200 block of West 23rd Place, pleaded guilty during a hearing before Judge Thaddeus Wilson, who imposed the 40-year sentence, prosecutors said.