Registered sex offender charged in sexual assault, kidnapping in Bloomingdale
A 21-year-old college student, home on spring break, was the victim of a "horrific" kidnapping and sexual assault at the hands of a convicted sex offender who, days earlier, stole a gun in Ohio and boarded a bus for Chicago, DuPage County authorities said Monday.
Within hours of arriving in Chicago on Friday, 34-year-old Justin Dalcollo approached the woman around 3:30 p.m. as she left the Bloomingdale Court Mall at 344 W. Army Trail Road and forced his way into her car at gunpoint, authorities said.
Assistant State's Attorney Jim Scaliatine said Dalcollo was holding a stolen and loaded pink-and-black .380 automatic handgun when he ordered the woman to drive to a Glendale Heights bank and withdraw $300. They then drove to numerous locations in Hanover Park and Bartlett before he ordered her to drive to the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Scaliatine said.
Once there, Dalcollo, who has a last known address in Kentucky, ordered the woman to park between two cars in the garage and then sexually assaulted her numerous times, authorities said.
"The whole time, she felt the barrel of the gun on her back," Scaliatine said.
Still holding the victim at gunpoint, Dalcollo ordered her to drive to a downtown Elgin convenience store and go into the store with him to purchase chewing tobacco, according to authorities.
He then used her phone to call a cab to pick him up at the Elgin train station and take him to a Target store in the South Loop on Roosevelt Road.
Once there, Dalcollo used the stolen money to purchase new clothes, including a hooded sweatshirt, which he was wearing Saturday afternoon when he was arrested near the store by DuPage Major Crimes Task Force and Chicago police officers, Scaliatine said.
Speaking "as a father and a person in law enforcement for many years," Bloomingdale Director of Public Safety Frank Giammarese said that "to see a random act of violence like this is horrific. To see this stoic young lady, who is a tremendous witness for us and went through a horrible situation, it's gratifying to all of us in law enforcement to bring this person to justice and make that arrest."
Dalcollo, a Glenbard North High School graduate with ties to Glendale Heights and Bloomingdale, has a lengthy criminal history involving sex-related crimes.
Most recently he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree sexual conduct in Ohio in 2015 and was sentenced to 10 months in prison. He then pleaded guilty to failure to register as a sex offender in 2017 and was sentenced to probation. He violated that probation and was sentenced to prison in Ohio. He was on parole and had been ordered to wear a GPS monitor.
Scaliatine said Dalcollo admitted to cutting that monitor off in Ohio before boarding the bus to Chicago.
Dalcollo was charged Monday with aggravated criminal sexual assault with a firearm, aggravated kidnapping with a firearm, aggravated armed robbery with a firearm and being a fugitive from justice.
"This was a vicious, violent attack on a completely innocent 21-year-old college student who was home for spring break," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. "The fact that the victim was abducted in a public parking lot in broad daylight is incredibly aggravating."
DuPage Judge George Bakalis ordered Dalcollo held without bail, given the nature of the accusations and Dalcollo's criminal history.
The case will be tried in DuPage County.
Berlin and Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon vowed to work together to prosecute Dalcollo.
"We'll use every available resource to make certain that this defendant receives a full measure of justice," Berlin said.
Dalcollo is scheduled to be arraigned April 12 in front of Judge Liam Brennan.