Taxi driver Eric Chung gets 35 years for sex assaults in cab

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (WLS) -- Eric Chung, 31, was sentenced to 35 years in prison after sexually assaulting women who entered his cab in the northwest suburbs.

Chung, of Chicago, sexually assaulted two victims during separate incidents in February 2013. He pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and one count of attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault. Cook County Judge Bridget Hughes sentenced Chung on Thursday at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse.

Chung picked up a woman in Prospect Heights on February 2, 2013. Instead of taking her to the location she requested, he drove her to a nearby parking lot where he refused to let her out of the vehicle and sexually assaulted her. She was able to escape.

Three weeks later, Chung picked up a group of women in Schaumburg and began inappropriately touching the one sitting in the front passenger seat. She demanded he stop the car, police said. The two women in back got out of the backseat, but Chung sped off before the third woman could get out. He struck her and sexually assaulted her.

The women who got away called Schaumburg police, and officers interrupted the assault. The victim suffered multiple bruises, abrasions and scratches fighting him off.