SALT LAKE CITY — A long-haul truck driver from Illinois accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Salt Lake City was charged with five felonies on Friday.
John Henry Redmond, 35, of East St. Louis, Illinois, was charged in 3rd District Court with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of object rape, all first-degree felonies; and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.
On Tuesday, a woman went to a hotel in downtown Salt Lake City to give Redmond a massage, according to charging documents. While giving Redmond the massage, he asked her to engage in sex, the charges state. The woman said no.
Redmond then pulled a gun out of a duffle bag, “put (the woman) in a chokehold and held the gun to her face,” according to charging documents.
“Redmond told her that she was going to give him what he wanted and that she was not leaving,” the charges state.
Redmond raped the woman several times, and “threatened to shoot her if she kept squirming,” according to charging documents.
After the alleged assault, Redmond forced the woman to say that the encounter was consensual as he recorded her comments on his cellphone, the charges state. Police searched Redmond’s phone after his arrest and found a video that showed the woman “appearing fearful and attempting to cover herself with her arms and hands,” the charges state.
He also made the woman hold his hand as he walked her to her car, and “took pictures of her and the vehicle as she left,” according to a police affidavit.
Prosecutors have requested Redmond be held in the Salt Lake County Jail on no bail.