4-year sentence in mall rape
A Glendale Heights man was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday for raping a co-worker at a Gurnee Mills store.
Sampharan Peanpokven, 33, of 118 Wren Court, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual assault during a hearing before Lake County Circuit Judge John Phillips.
Assistant State's Attorney Catherine Waldeck said Peanpokven worked with a 19-year-old Waukegan woman at a clothing store at the mall.
On Aug. 29, he told the woman to clean the store's restroom because other employees were complaining it was dirty.
He then followed the woman into the bathroom and raped her.
The woman fled the store, which did not have any customers at the time, and reported the incident to police.
She also told police Peanpokven had inappropriately touched her two days prior to the attack, but she did not report that because he stopped when she told him to do so.
Waldeck said Peanpokven faced up to 15 years in prison if he had been convicted after a trial.