A Chicago software engineer charged with criminal sexual assault was arrested last month in Los Angeles after purchasing a ticket for a flight to Russia.
George Urakhchin, 30, appeared in court Friday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building and was ordered held in lieu of posting $15,000 bond.
In July 2017, the then 21-year-old west suburban woman who reported the assault said she was at a bar in Naperville and later awoke in a bed with a man assaulting her, Cook County prosecutors said. She had no memory of how she got there.
Surveillance video from the bar showed her being led by a male to a vehicle with an unidentified female driver and another male passenger, prosecutors said.
She eventually managed to leave the apartment and found herself in the 700 block of West Dickens Avenue in Lincoln Park, according to Chicago police records. Video surveillance from the area recorded someone matching Urakhchin’s description following her in a nearby alley before running off, prosecutors said.
The woman was taken to a hospital where a sexual assault kit was administered. The results of the kit were still pending Friday, prosecutors said.
The woman had left her cellphone behind during the assault, and when officers called it, a man named “George” answered and said he had found the phone and would meet the woman at a business to return it.
When officers went to meet the man, he never showed up, prosecutors said. Officers called the phone a second time and again set up a meeting with “George” to get the phone returned, but when officers arrived for that meeting, a hostess told them a man had just dropped the phone off and left.
In October 2017, the woman received a message on Instagram from a user later identified as Urakhchin who made sexual comments and said he had met her before but wouldn’t say where, prosecutors said. He indicated she had lost her phone and his friend had returned it and then sent her a message stating, “Sorry things got kinda rocky ... didn’t mean for that to happen.”
During the investigation, detectives learned Urakhchin lived at the home where the assault occurred and tried to speak with him, but the people inside refused to open the door. Detectives later were notified by the Department of Homeland Security that Urakhchin had gone to Mexico, prosecutors said, who did not say when that took place.
At some point, Urakhchin booked a flight back to Chicago but then changed the destination to New York City. Homeland Security recently notified police that Urakhchin had booked a flight to Russia that was departing from Los Angeles.
Urakhchin was taken into custody Sept. 29 in Los Angeles by the US. Marshals Service, prosecutors said. He was extradited to Cook County on Thursday.
Prosecutors said their records indicated that Urakhchin was born in Russia and asked if he wanted the Russian consulate notified of his arrest. Urakhchin declined through his assistant public defender, who said Urakhchin was a U.S. citizen.
Urakhchin’s attorney said he worked as a software engineer and had no previous arrests.
Judge Arthur Wesley Willis set his bond at $15,000, in addition to ordering Urakhchin to turn in his passport as a condition of his release.
Urakhchin’s next court date was set for Oct. 30.
