Couple Charged in Birthday Party Rape

ORLAND PARK, IL -- A Matteson couple was arrested at the Orland Park police station when they arrived to talk to detectives about their possible role in the sexual assault of a woman at a party they were attending, police said.

Eric Pate, 28, and Aniah King, 19, appeared before Cook County Judge Peter Felice for a bond hearing on June 20, where they were charged with one count each of criminal sexual assault. The woman, in her early twenties, had been a guest at a party in Hollow Tree Court.

According to the charges, the woman’s best friend invited her to a birthday party for her aunt in the evening of June 17. During the party, at Pate’s urging, the young woman consumed a large amount of alcohol. The prosecutor said the woman went downstairs into basement where she fell asleep.

Sometime during the night, the woman woke up to Pate allegedly assaulting her. The woman told Orland Park police that she remembered both Pate and King trying to dress her in the bathroom. The woman fell and hit her head on the bathroom floor, the prosecutor said.

During the alleged assault, the woman recalled for police that King became upset when Pate said that sex with King was boring. The prosecutor said that King had also participated in the assault. When the young woman’s friends saw her the next morning, her underwear was wrapped around her pants leg, officials said.

The young woman’s friends brought her to a nearby hospital, where evidence was collected for a sexual assault kit. Pate is said to have told his mother that the sex was consensual. Orland Park police went to the hospital to interview the woman after learning that a rape kit was being applied, the prosecutor said.

At the request of Orland Park detectives, Pate and King were asked to report to the police station, where they were both taken into police custody around 12:15 p.m. June 18. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office approved felony charges for both after reviewing the facts.

The assistant public defender told the judge that Pate is a videographer. Due to King’s lack of criminal background, the assistant public defender asked the judge to consider electronic home monitoring.

Pate was charged with aggravated battery in 2012, that was later reduced to assault, the prosecutor said. According to to a pretrial assessment, Pate was flagged for violent crime.

Pate’s bail was set at $500,000; King is being held on $300,000 bail. Both were told have no contact with the young woman while the case is pending and to surrender any weapons, FOID cards and conceal-carry permits to police. The couple is due back in court July 12 in Bridgeview.