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Man arrested in Wrigleyville attack
Keys, CVS card lead to suspect
WLS By Charles Thomas

October 31, 2006 - Police have charged a suspect in connection to a sexual assault in Wrigleyville over the weekend. Detectives found the suspect's keys at the crime scene.
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The keys had a small CVS discount card attached to them that led them to Jeffrey Cole, 23, from Blue Island. Coles was taken into custody. Police said the victim and a witness identified him during a lineup.

The victim's description of her attacker led to a composite drawing. It bears a striking resemblance to the booking photo of 23-year-old Cole, who was arrested late Monday afternoon and charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and stealing the woman's money and iPod.

But detectives say they did not find Cole because anyone thought he resembled the picture on the flyer distributed by police. Investigators say, when officers returned to the crime scene some time after the Saturday morning attack, they found a set of keys with a plastic CVS discount card on the ring. They got a subpoena and ran the bar code on the back of the card and the CVS computer spit out the suspect's name and his Blue Island address.

"The scan card came back to Jeffrey Cole from Blue Island. The detectives went to our I-Clear system and generated a photo from a past arrest. He was found to have a tattoo on his neck just like the one described," said Cmdr. Thomas Byrne, Area 3 Police Headquarters.

Police say they had Cole's photo on file because of past arrests. They say he has no prior convictions.

A witness, who was a weekend visitor to Chicago, told police when he responded to the victim's scream, he saw a man running away and theorized the keys that police found at the scene may have belonged to the suspect.

The 23rd District commander says the arrest was the result of not only good legwork by the detectives, but also community residents who came forward to aid the investigation.

"We did have somebody from the community who cared enough about what was happening outside his door come out and do something about it," said Cmdr. Gary Yamashiroya, Chicago Police Department.

A judge set bond for Jeffrey Cole at $300,000 Tuesday afternoon. By telephone, Cole's girlfriend says she does not believe Cole did it. The girlfriend said she is nearly eight months pregnant with Cole's child.