Darien Kidnapping, 2 Others Get Man 50 Years

DARIEN, IL – A man who was convicted of kidnapping three women, one of them in Darien, has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison, authorities said. He was accused of sexually assaulting two of them.

On March 8, 2021, Andrew Anania, now 29, who lived in Berwyn, got into an Uber at Burrito Paradise in Darien. The driver was called to pick up a woman, but she found a man waiting instead.

Anania entered the driver's back seat and said he needed to go to the Ogilvie train station in downtown Chicago, according to a Stickney police report that Patch obtained at the time. The woman said she could not go there, but she could take him to the station in Westmont.

Then, Anania pointed a gun at her and told her she would follow his orders, police said. Before she got onto Interstate 55, Anania climbed into the front seat.

He then ordered her on a route through Stickney and Summit, where he sexually assaulted the woman, according to police.

The trip ended in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, where Anania stole $6 from the woman and told her not to look back, the report said. He then left on foot.

On Feb. 27, 2021, Anania got into a car with another driver in Chicago, claimed he had a gun and sexually assaulted her, according to federal prosecutors. The woman escaped when the car stopped at an intersection.

Anania fled in the car, but crashed it shortly after, prosecutors said in a news release.

On March 10, Anania and another man, Walter Moran, kidnapped a woman who was on her way to work in Cicero, prosecutors said. Anania was accused of pointing a gun at the driver and ordering her to drive to Chicago, while Moran exchanged gunfire with others on the street, police said.

The pair eventually released the woman and stole her car. Earlier this year, a jury convicted Anania of kidnapping, carjacking and firearms offenses in connection with the March 2021 incidents.

As for the February 2021 incident, he pleaded guilty before his trial.

He committed all the offenses while awaiting trial in a separate federal gun case, prosecutors said. He had been released on bond in the case after a court hearing during which prosecutors requested that he go to jail before trial.

Moran, a Cicero resident, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and carjacking charges. He was sentenced to nearly 16 years in federal prison.