Suspected serial CTA predator caught on video, later arrested
A young woman may have helped prove a pattern against a suspected serial CTA creep.
It all started for Brii Williams, 27, when she was using the Brown Line, like she does most weekday mornings.
But when a man sat next to her and started touching her, she pulled out her phone.
"When I looked up, he was standing in front of me — and the rest of the train was pretty empty," said Williams.
In the video, Williams is heard saying to the man: "Do you like sitting next to me like this? Can you move over there please?"
The man says, "I know, but I'm trying to be your friend." Williams says, "Please stop touching me."
Williams said she already had her phone out when the man sat next to her on March 18 — putting his leg on hers, and trying to touch her.
She said she told the man to move, but he initially refused.
"I was pretty scared. I was nervous," Williams said. "I didn't really know what to do. I didn't want to make him more upset."
Williams' camera caught the last 37 seconds of their interaction. The man is seen walking to the door at the Washington/Wabash stop downtown — issuing threats as he steps through the doors and onto the platform.
"So I just started recording, because I didn't know what was about to happen — so I wanted to make sure that I had some type of documentation of something," Williams said.
After Williams posted the incident to Facebook, she realized the man was not just a random person. Comments came in fast and furious about the same man doing similar disturbing things to others on Chicago Transit Authority trains.
"I'm also grateful for the community on social media, and just community in general, for amplifying the story the way that they did," Williams said. "I feel like that helped the case a lot."
There were no fewer than 18 comments on Williams' Facebook post in which people talked about being harassed, touched, and bothered. Some described incidents going back 20 years.
This video Williams took was also just one time the man, Robert Cook, has apparently been caught on camera.
Chicago Police said Cook, 47, now faces one felony count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving an underage victim between 13 and 17, two felony counts of criminal sexual abuse or force, and four felony aggravated battery involving a transit employee.
"I feel grateful that the video was able to help them piece together a couple of other cases that they had open," Williams said.
In addition to the incident involving Williams, police said they linked Cook to incidents on Feb. 10 near the Wilson Red Line station in Uptown — and June 2 of last year near Morse Red Line station in Rogers Park.
On May 22 of last year at the Lake Street Red Line subway stop downtown, a man who turned out to be Cook was the subject of a community alert. Police at the time said he approached a passenger and asked for change, and kicked and punched the passenger when they refused.
In 2017, Cook was accused of groping two people on CTA 'L' platforms, including a 15-year-old Whitney M. Young Magnet High School student. Prosecutors said Cook pressed up against the girl on a train, sat next to her so as to block her from leaving, got off the train holding her hand, and then wrapped his leg around hers and began to pant once they got on the platform.
So what happens when someone is a serial offender? As far back as 2003, the CTA was adding people to a banned passengers list for a year as part of a "repeat offender initiative."
"I'm not sure if they still have it or not, but I think that something should be done to help protect people against repeat offenders," Williams said.
CBS News Chicago found even more people online saying they've been the victim of Cook as well.
CBS News Chicago has also been asking the CTA for a week if they still ban repeat offenders from riding the trains. So far, the CTA has not provided an answer, but CBS News Chicago has filed a Freedom of Information Request on the subject.
The Chicago Transit Authority did release this statement late Thursday:
"As soon as any criminal activity is reported, CTA immediately deploys resources to assist the police in their investigations, including review of all possible security camera footage, which have proved to be vital in aiding local enforcement. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) leads law enforcement efforts across CTA's system. Additionally, CTA works with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office to request and obtain a ridership ban or limitation as a condition of pretrial release in criminal court.
"As a result of legislation that CTA pursued in 2023, CTA now also can present cases before an administrative law judge on a monthly basis to have ridership privileges suspended of persons who commit violations that, in general, involve harm to others or reasonably put others in harm's way.
"Since that time, CTA has issued 30 notices of suspension, continues to present cases before the administrative law judge on a monthly basis. and, to date, has had suspensions approved in eleven cases."