No bond for Chicago man charged in sexual assault of girl, 3, at River North McDonald's

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago man is being held without bail, accused of raping a 3-year-old girl inside the bathroom of McDonald's flagship restaurant in River North Monday morning.

Christopher Puente, 34, stood in front of a judge Thursday, and was denied bail. He has been previously convicted of burglary, forgery, trespassing, domestic battery and related offenses and has a record dating back 20 years.

Puente was assisted by a sign-language interpreter. He listened to prosecutors as they detailed his alleged acts perpetrated after the little girl's father says he took his son and daughter to the men's bathroom, taking the boy into a stall with him, and leaving her outside.

According to prosecutors, Puente motioned for the girl to enter his stall, when she did so, the defendant closed the stall and locked it. Puente said that he had the victim by the back of the head, covered mouth, and told her "shhhh."

Prosecutors said the girl's father heard his daughter's cries and desperately tried to open the locked stall. He could see her feet dangling off the ground, so he grabbed her legs and pulled her out from under the stall. He ran out of the bathroom with her, leaving Puente inside the bathroom.

The girl was hospitalized after the alleged rape.

Surveillance pictures of Puente exiting the bathroom were circulated by police earlier this week before Puente was arrested Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Puente was being investigated for trespassing when police recognized him from the surveillance pictures because he was wearing the same clothes he has on following Monday's attack.

After he was arrested, Puente confessed some of what he had done and described his actions to authorities.

"[Puente] said that the victim called out 'daddy, daddy.' He said what happened with the little girl was 'wrong and a very bad thing,'" Assistant State Attorney James Murphy said.

Despite a partial confession, Puente seemed not to understand the magnitude of the charges against him. When the judge denied his bond, he cried out, "But this was my first time."

The crime comes as a shock to those that frequent the McDonald's.

"Just to think something like that could happen, I mean my son is 3 years old, this is such a crazy world we are living in it just scares me," said customer Joe Briseno.