One of Chicago's most notorious rapists moved to a minimum security prison
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Marc Winner, known as a the "tanning salon rapist," was the target of a lengthy I-Team investigation. He is serving a 13 year sentence for raping a former employee and sexually abusing a customer and is suspected of raping countless other women over a 17 year period.
State prison officials have moved Winner to a minimum security facility in Taylorville.
When the I-Team first exposed Marc Winner as a serial rapist in 2016, he was being called a threat to the safety of women.
READ MORE: Women, prosecutors say Chicago man has raped for 15 years
Winner's temper was on display, even as he fought the charges. He once targeted the I-Team while entering Cook County court.
But in 2018, when Winner was sentenced to 13 years in prison, he was locked up at the medium security downstate Pinckneyville Correctional Center.
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Now, state prison officials tell the I-Team Winner has been moved to a minimum security facility in Taylorville, southeast of Springfield.
According to officials at the Illinois Department of Corrections, "Winner was reviewed and met criteria for minimum security placement. Due to his current offense, he met criteria for placement at Taylorville for programming."
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Winner's projected parole date is in about five years, with the aim of the Taylorville prison: to "promote successful execution of effective reentry programs...and for convicts "to enhance their chance of success upon release."
Winner was initially convicted of sexually attacking a former tanning parlor employee; and then he pleaded guilty to raping a tanning salon customer when he was faced with the possibility of an additional 97 year sentence. Even though he has a parole date in 2028, if he is determined to still be a sexually violent person he could remain locked up beyond that, indefinitely.
