Schaumburg man charged in sex assault at forest preserve

A Schaumburg man is charged with sexually assaulting and kidnapping a woman late last month while she was walking along the Poplar Creek Trail in the Arthur L. Janura Forest Preserve near Hoffman Estates, authorities said Wednesday.

Ryan Patterson, 27, was ordered held on $150,000 bail Wednesday. If convicted of the felonies, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Cook County sheriff's investigators arrested Patterson Tuesday.

Authorities say the woman was walking on the trail the evening of May 30 when Patterson rode past her several times on a bicycle and ran past her once. He then knocked her to the ground and threw away her cellphone, said Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Loukas Kalliantasis.

He dragged her into the woods, ordered her to remove her clothes and sexually assaulted her, the prosecutor said. In an attempt to distract him, the woman talked to Patterson, who told her he graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has "difficulty forming relationships with women," according to the prosecutor.

Patterson also told the woman "this is my fetish," Kalliantasis said. He later said, "You must be new around here. I've been biking these paths, doing this for years and I've never seen you," according to Kalliantasis.

Patterson later called the woman's phone in an attempt to help her locate it. Fearful of what he might do, the woman agreed to speak to him the following day. She then drove home and told her son, who photographed her clothes and injuries, which included scratches, a cut and bruises around her neck, prosecutors said.

The following day, the woman received a text message from a number authorities say belonged to Patterson, according to Kalliantasis.

The woman reported the assault to Streamwood police on June 7. According to prosecutors, she did not contact police immediately because she feared the defendant and, having grown up in a communist country, mistrusted authorities.

Patterson was ordered to submit to a curfew and GPS monitoring and to surrender his passport and any firearms if he posts bail. He's scheduled to return to court July 8.

Sheriff's detectives believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with information should call the sheriff's office at (708) 865-4896.