MADISON (WKOW) - Authorities say surveillance video helped nab a suspect in two, disturbing campus-area attacks on women.
30-year old Coleman Chung of Monona was charged Monday with four felony crimes, including attempted kidnapping, in connection to an attack on a woman downtown Sept. 30, and an attack on a UW student Oct. 2.Coleman is on federal probation for possessing child pornography. A criminal complaint states after Coleman unsuccessfully tried to stuff the student into a Honda sedan's trunk earlier this month, his probation agent helped investigators zero-in on Coleman. "Chung's probation officer...positively identified Chung from a surveillance video from that day of the UW parking lot where the green Honda Accord was seen," according to a criminal complaint against Chung.
The complaint states Chung attacked his first victim from behind on North Carroll Street and placed her in a choke hold, before she screamed and was able to escape.The complaint says Chung's second victim was near the campus's Social Science Building when Chung grabbed her and moved her into a secluded area.
"Chung told (victim) to get on the ground and he taped her hands together and taped her mouth shut...cut her hair," the complaint states.
Authorities say when Chung tried to push her into the car's trunk, she resisted. Court records state Chung used a hatchet to hit in the head, and when she forced the hatchet out of his hand, he produced a knife and put it to her throat. The complaint says Chung eventually let her go.
"The suspect's actions here were incredibly disturbing," UW Police spokesperson Marc Lovicott tells 27 News.
"It's our belief that we would be talking about a very different case, if that victim did not do what she did, and fight off (Chung), and refuse to get into that trunk," Lovicott says.
Chung was scheduled to appear on his charges in Dane County Court Monday, but a court commissioner says the lack of a court document to legally move Chung from federal to state jurisdiction canceled his appearance. The commissioner says Chung is now scheduled to appear Wednesday.
Federal court records show Chung lived with his father, who was responsible for monitoring Chung's computer use as a condition of Chung's child pornography sentence. Chung's father declined comment to 27 News when contacted about the new allegations against his son.