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Wheeling man charged with impersonating cop, kidnapping, attempted sexual assault

A Wheeling man who prosecutors say falsely claimed to be a police officer, then abducted a woman from a Niles shopping center parking lot and attempted to sexually assault her, was ordered held without bail Friday.

Janusz Kordek, 27, was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated false impersonation of a police officer and attempted sexual assault. If convicted of the most serious charge, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

The 20-year-old accuser was at a grocery store in the shopping center April 3 when she began to feel faint, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Katherine Bird said. The woman took a candy bar without paying for it and left the store.

Prosecutors say Kordek approached the woman in the parking lot, informed her she was wanted by police for shoplifting and offered to "get her to safety," Bird said. Coincidentally, officers arrived at the shopping center about the same time on another matter.

Kordek, who prosecutors said works as a grocery store stock boy, steered her to his white Toyota Corolla and told her he was an undercover officer, authorities said. He showed her a badge, flashed a red identification card and pointed out the red and blue, police-style lights affixed to the roof inside his car, Bird said.

Prosecutors say Kordek drove the woman around and wound up at a Wheeling motel, where he requested sex. The woman refused and attempted to exit the vehicle, but Kordek locked the doors and tried to assault her, Bird said.

He then drove to a fast-food restaurant where the woman exited the car, Bird said. Kordek drove off but returned a few minutes later and "tried to convince (the woman) to return to the vehicle," Bird said. The woman refused.

The next day, Kordek apologized to the woman via social media, Bird said. On April 6, she contacted police, who recovered surveillance video from several locations that corroborated her account of events, prosecutors said.

Additionally, Wheeling officers went to the grocery store parking lot where, they said, they located a white Toyota Corolla with a security badge clipped to the visor registered to Kordek. Police arrested Kordek on Wednesday.

"The fact that he had a badge he used and lights in his car, I think there's a public safety issue," Cook County Judge Jill Cerone-Marisie said in denying bail for Kordek, who was on supervision for a 2017 misdemeanor DUI at the time of his arrest.

He next appears in court May 3.

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