Man gets 28 years in prison for sexually assaulting woman he met via dating app

A man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for sexually assaulting a Bensenville woman he met through an online dating app.

Oscar Howell, 28, was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Brian Terlander after pleading guilty in April to one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

DuPage County state’s attorney’s office

In April 2014, Howell, who was using the username “thefamousboytrey,” met a 19-year-old woman through the social media app Kik, prosecutors said. Howell was using a fake profile picture and convinced the woman that they knew each other from school.

Howell drove to the woman’s home at 2 a.m. on June 30 after the pair agreed to meet, prosecutors said. She got into Howell’s vehicle, who drove them to an alley a few blocks away.

There, Howell pulled out a knife, ordered the woman into the backseat and sexually assaulted her multiple times, prosecutors said. He then drove her home and threatened her not to tell anyone of the assault.

The woman reached out to Bensenville police, and Howell was taken into custody in 2016 after an investigation, prosecutors said. He has since been held at the DuPage County Jail.

Howell had committed a previous sexual assault in LaGrange Park in June 2014 after meeting a woman on Kik while using the same username, prosecutors said during the sentencing hearing.

He must serve 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, and must register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life once he is released, prosecutors said.