Homeless Woman Dragged Screaming to Abandoned House — No One Helped Her: Cops

JOLIET, IL — A homeless woman was dragged screaming to an abandoned house by a homeless man who held her against her will and assaulted her, police said.

No one helped the screaming woman as she was pulled from the corner of Clay Street and Youngs Avenue to a house about a block away on Clay around 4 p.m. Monday, police said.

The 31-year-old woman was held at the house for nine hours by 26-year-old Joseph McCloud, during which time McCloud choked her, beat her and “sexually groped her while (he) attempted to remove her clothing,” police said.

When the woman tried to escape, McCloud beat her some more, police said, but she finally got away about 1 a.m. Tuesday and headed for the Shell station at Cass Street and Henderson Avenue, where she called the cops.

The woman reportedly led officers back to the house where she had been taken. The door was unlocked and McCloud was inside, police said. He was arrested and taken to the Will County jail.

While McCloud claimed to be homeless, he has a last known address in Plainfield, police said. The woman’s last known address is in Romeoville. Both said they live on the streets of Joliet, according to police.

In July 2015, McCloud exposed his penis to a woman at a Cass Street temp agency. He pleaded guilty two months later and was sentenced to 60 days in jail — which he had already served — and a year of conditional discharge. McCloud was also fined $400.

Joseph McCloud | image via Will County Sheriff's Department