Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Assaulting Woman at Chicago Bus Terminal
A man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for luring a woman from the Greyhound bus terminal in Chicago and sexually assaulting her in a nearby homeless encampment.
Kenneth Horner, aged 45, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual abuse causing bodily harm and a reduced charge of attempted aggravated kidnapping causing bodily harm before Judge Mary Brosnahan. As part of his sentence, he is required to submit his DNA to a law enforcement database and register as a sex offender for life.
The incident occurred on July 6, 2019, when Horner, riding a Divvy bike, struck up a conversation with a 38-year-old woman who had just arrived at the bus depot at 630 West Harrison. He offered to help her find accommodation in Chicago and led her to a homeless camp in the 400 block of South Desplaines, where he sexually assaulted her. Horner threatened to harm the woman and inflicted injuries that caused significant blood loss.
Following the assault, Horner took the woman back to the bus terminal and instructed her to attribute her injuries to a fall. The victim required emergency surgery as a result of the attack.
Horner was apprehended by police the day after the assault, thanks to a community alert shared by a bus station employee. He had been in jail since 2019 and participated in inmate programs, earning 2,048 days of credit that will offset his sentence. The Illinois Department of Corrections has not yet announced his anticipated parole date.
Prior to this offense, Horner had been sentenced to prison four times for various crimes, including delivery of narcotics in 1999, destruction of evidence and possessing a knife with intent in 2016, and being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2018.
