A masked man riding a black mountain bike grabbed a woman's buttocks as she walked north on Custer Avenue just after midnight Monday, and less than a day later, another masked man exposed himself to a different woman less than a mile away. Evanston police are now investigating both incidents and have added extra patrols to the south end of the city as detectives chase down leads.
According to CBS News, officers were first called to Custer Avenue and Brummel Street around 12:37 a.m. Monday after a woman reported that a man on a bicycle rode up beside her and grabbed her before pedaling west on Brummel Street. That block sits just north of Howard Street, the dividing line where Evanston meets Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, and Custer Avenue itself runs as the southern Evanston extension of Chicago's Damen Avenue.
Police described that suspect as roughly 5 feet 5 inches tall, dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt, black jeans and a black ski mask, riding a black mountain-style bike, the outlet reported. The same woman later told officers she believed she spotted the suspect again near Custer Avenue and Howard Street, prompting officers to search the area, though they did not locate him, per the same account.
Second Attack Reported Hours Later Near Sherman and South Boulevard
Around 9:10 p.m. that same Monday, officers responded to a second report near Sherman Avenue and South Boulevard, roughly half a mile north of the first scene. A woman told police a man approached her with his pants down and exposed himself; she was not touched or injured, and she ran into her apartment and called 911, the station's report states.
That second suspect was described as about 6 feet tall with a thin build, wearing all-black clothing and a black ski mask; both descriptions include dark clothing and a mask. Detectives have reviewed video and followed available leads in both incidents, the CBS News report states.
What the Law Says About Each Alleged Offense
The two encounters carry very different legal weight under Illinois law. Non-consensual physical contact of a sexual nature by force or threat of force is classified as criminal sexual abuse under Stavros Law Offices' explanation of 720 ILCS 5/11-1.50; a first offense is a Class A misdemeanor, while a second offense or certain circumstances may be a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years in prison and mandatory sex offender registration. Lewd exposure with intent to arouse or satisfy sexual desires, or specified sexual conduct, falls under the public indecency statute, which Dolci Weiland notes treats a first or second offense as a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $2,500.
Evanston police say they plan to deploy additional officers to patrol South Evanston in response to the incidents. Any charges that eventually emerge from an Evanston Police Department arrest would be prosecuted in Cook County, typically moving through the Second Municipal District Courthouse in Skokie, as Hoodline has previously reported.
A Border Neighborhood With a History of Reports
Residents have raised concerns about public safety in the Howard Street area. The City of Evanston and Chicago's Rogers Park Business Alliance launched the “One Howard Street” plan, an effort reported by Axios to address public safety while revitalizing commercial and pedestrian corridors along the shared border.
It is not the first time the neighborhood has drawn police attention for sex offense investigations. In October 2025, Evanston police launched an active search after an attempted sexual assault was reported in the 1000 block of Dobson Avenue in South Evanston, according to ABC7 Chicago.
The latest reports also follow a separate case Hoodline covered just days earlier, in which Evanston police arrested a 33-year-old Chicago man on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and public indecency after he allegedly exposed himself to two teenagers inside an Evanston Starbucks in July 2026. Anyone with information on either of Monday's incidents is urged to contact Evanston police.
