Rapist Faked Female Identities Online To Lure Victims: Prosecutor

EVANSTON, IL — An Evanston man has been charged with raping a second woman he met after posing as a woman on an online dating app. Police said Jason Taylor, 28, was arrested again Friday while on electronic monitoring at his home after turning himself in last month. The man's second criminal sexual assault accusation is connected to an investigation that began two months before the incident he had already been charged with, according to Evanston police.

Taylor contacted a 22-year-old Algonquin woman through the HER dating app posing as a woman named "Kate," authorities said. In text messages, he convinced her to take an Uber to an address in the 500 block of Asbury Avenue in Evanston in the early morning hours of June 1. She was surprised to find herself dropped off in Leider Park, where Taylor approached her.

Prosecutors said Taylor claimed that he was a friend of the fake female identity he had created. He told the woman he met through the app that the person she thought she was meeting had a fantasy involving interrupting two people having sex, according to prosecutors, claiming the nonexistent woman was nearby and watching and would agree to have sex afterwards.

The woman began to reluctantly play along, but Taylor ignored multiple demands that he stop before she was able to break away from him after several minutes, prosecutors said.

Afterwards, the woman told investigators Taylor sent another message through the app from "Kate" claiming she was on her way, and she realized he had been impersonating her the entire time, according to prosecutors. Police said they learned of the incident the same day, and detectives opened an investigation. Taylor's DNA was found in a sexual assault kit completed at a hospital, authorities said.

Cook County Associate Judge Mary Marubio Saturday ordered Taylor held without bond over the new charges. Taylor was indicted this week on 24 counts, including criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual abuse, aggravated kidnapping, unlawful restraint and robbery in connection with a July 30 incident where he was accused of sexually assaulting a Chicago woman.

Earlier: Fake Uber Driver Charged With Raping Woman Met Through Dating App

In that incident, prosecutors said Taylor used the dating app Hinge and constructed another false identity of a woman named "Haley." He allegedly posed as an Uber driver and claimed to live in the 500 block of Asbury Avenue before assaulting the woman inside his gold Honda near a gas station at Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue. According to police, Taylor also made repeated attempts to meet with students from Loyola and Northwestern universities, but they declined.

Last month, Taylor posted the $10,000 cash portion of his bail following a bond hearing. Court records show he was released with GPS monitoring. He remained held at Cook County Jail ahead of his next court appearance Sept. 20.