Man gets 30 years for 2012 sexual assault in Chicago Lawn

A man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in the Southwest Side Chicago Lawn neighborhood in 2012.

Mario Booker, 27, was previously convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

On Aug. 27, 2012, the 24-year-old woman was walking down the street in the 6100 block of South Artesian when she heard footsteps and turned around to see Booker running toward her, prosecutors said.

She did not know Booker and thought he was going to run past her, prosecutors said.

Instead, he grabbed the woman from behind, put his arm around her neck and placed her in a chokehold, prosecutors said. Booker told her that if she screamed he would kill her.

Booker dragged the woman to a nearby gangway, put on a condom and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said. After the attack, he told her to stay in the alley until he could get away.

After he left, the woman ran to her cousin’s house a few blocks away and reported the assault to police, prosecutors said. Authorities recovered a used condom at the scene.

Booker was charged with the assault in 2015 after he was identified by the CODIS database, prosecutors said.

Judge Charles Burns sentenced Booker to 30 years in prison.