Hanover Park man charged in attacks on two women in homes

Streamwood police are investigating whether a Hanover Park man being held on $2 million bail in two sexual assaults was involved in five similar home invasions in Streamwood over the last three years, officials said Friday.

Saul Salazar, 40, of the 2000 block of Sycamore Avenue, faces felony charges of home invasion and attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault related to an attack on a sleeping woman May 29 in her Schaumburg home, officials said. He also faces charges of home invasion and aggravated sexual assault in connection with a similar attack in May 2014 in Streamwood, officials said.

If convicted, Salazar faces up to 60 years in prison.

In both cases, fingerprint evidence found at the scene was a match for Salazar, police said. Schaumburg, Streamwood and Elgin police worked to arrest him Wednesday.

A woman, 34, told Schaumburg police that sometime after 3 a.m. May 29, a stranger entered her home and groped her while she was sleeping. She said she woke up and pushed his hands away as he began kissing her, said Cook County assistant state's attorney Maria McCarthy.

After she bit his arm, he fled through the sliding glass doors at the back of the house. Fingerprints on the door handle matched the defendant's, McCarthy said, and pants found at his home matched the description of his clothes the woman gave to police.

From 2013 to 2016, Streamwood had six similar home invasions, including one on May 26, 2014, Streamwood Deputy Chief Daryl Syre said.

On that date, a 26-year-old woman reported to police that a man entered the bedroom where she slept with her 1-year-old child about 4 a.m. while her boyfriend slept in another room. She awoke to find the man standing over her and touching her, McCarthy said.

Thinking it was her boyfriend, the woman spoke her boyfriend's name, causing him to run from the home, McCarthy said. Fingerprints found on the doorknob matched Salazar's, McCarthy said.

Salazar has not been charged with any other Streamwood home invasion, police said.

His background includes a 2009 conviction for domestic battery, for which he was sentenced to conditional discharge.

Detectives from both departments worked together on the investigation, according to Schaumburg police. On Wednesday, officers from Schaumburg, Streamwood and Elgin found Salazar near his Hanover Park home and took him into custody.

He next appears in court July 21.