Second man charged in sexual assault outside West Loop club

The second of two men charged with sexually assaulting two women after they left a West Loop nightclub on Halloween was ordered held on a $300,000 bond Monday.

Brian Ventura, 29, and Greg Bogacz, 27, made the women perform sex acts and unsuccessfully attempted to rape them, Cook County prosecutors said in court Monday.

Bogacz was charged Nov. 11 for the attack and remains jailed on a $300,000 bond, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office.

The pair grabbed the women’s buttocks as they walked out of The Mid at 306 N. Halsted, Assistant State’s Attorney Alexandra Molesky said at Bogacz’s bond hearing last month.

When the women got to their car, parked in the 800 block of Wayman Street, they noticed a window had been broken and some of their belongings were taken, Molesky said.

That’s when Bogacz and Ventura re-emerged and pounced, prosecutors said.

But this time, they strangled the women, threw them in the back seat of the SUV, ripped off their clothes and threatened their lives, Molesky said.

Bogacz took one victim into the trunk where he allegedly assaulted her again.

Ventura attacked the other woman in the back seat, punching her in the face, causing her nose to bleed and her eyes to blacken, prosecutors said.

One victim was able to escape. She ran for several blocks nearly naked until she got to a warehouse where workers were able to call 911, Molesky said.

While she was running, a witness saw Ventura man grab the other woman by the hair and drag her down the street, prosecutors said.

That bystander also called 911.

While Bogacz and his friend were able to get away, they were captured on surveillance video from The Mid, Molesky said.

Bogacz, who had been seen drinking and doing drugs at a party before the assault, was identified in a lineup and photo array by both women, Molesky said.

Ventura, originally from Plainfield, works in a warehouse and has two daughters, his attorney said. He turned himself in Dec. 5. Judge James Brown set his bond at $300,000 on Monday.