Moldy Rape Kits Found in Ill. Police Dept.
A suburban police department left behind a roomful of evidence when it closed two years ago - including a moldy sexual assault kit that authorities said linked a man to the 2006 rape of a 13-year-old girl, nearly 200 guns and hundreds of bags of narcotics, officials said Friday.
In all, seven rape kits had been left rotting in an unplugged refrigerator in the former Ford Heights Police Department, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said. The guns had not been registered with the state as having been seized by police, and Dart's spokesman Steve Patterson said none of the DNA evidence found matches anyone in the state's database.
Dart described the performance of the Ford Heights officers to CBS News Station WBBM-TV in Chicago as "beyond incompetence."
(Scroll down to watch the report WBBM-TV filed)
"You're not talking about ineptness, neglect, you're talking about outrageous conduct of a police department that didn't care about the residents out there," Dart said.
His deputies have been patrolling Ford Heights for the past few years after financial problems forced the village to lay off most of its 16 police officers. The sheriff's department took over completely in 2008, after two years of sharing duties with what was left of the police department, because the last few Ford Heights officers simply stopped showing up for work, Dart said.
"They just vanished," he said. Cook County deputies didn't use the police department's headquarters, because the former chief, Earl Bridges, continued working in some capacity regarding code enforcement. But Dart said he became uncomfortable with Bridges remaining in the building after it became clear the sheriff's department would be handling law enforcement in Ford Heights for the foreseeable future.
"At that point, I said enough's enough, he's got to go, we're taking over," said the sheriff, who ordered Bridges to leave last spring.
That was when deputies opened the door to the evidence room.
Detectives were stunned by what they learned about the sexual assault of the girl - and the apparent lack of any meaningful investigation of a case in which there was a great deal of evidence against one man.
"What happened to this girl is unconscionable," said Dart, whose office arrested 27-year-old Marquis Deering this week. "She thought nothing was going to happen to him."
Ford Heights police never interviewed Deering, whose criminal history includes 15 arrests since 2001 and a conviction for aggravated vehicular manslaughter, Dart said. He said it's unclear whether they ever interviewed the girl.
Ford Heights police received a report from police in nearby Chicago Heights who interviewed the girl at a Chicago Heights hospital, Dart said. They also received a state crime lab report that concluded DNA linked Deering to the assault.
"They had it," Dart said. "And they did nothing with it."
Bridges could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the phone at a listing for an Earl Bridges refused to comment before hanging up the telephone. Ford Heights Mayor Charles Griffin did not immediately return calls for comment.
The girl told Dart's detectives that she was walking home when Deering offered her a ride in a van. She said he indicated he had a weapon, forced her to drink alcohol until she became unconscious and drove her to a house where he assaulted her.
Deering is being represented by the Cook County Public Defender's Office. It did not have an immediate comment Friday.
Dart's office said in a news release that Deering, who is in state prison and was scheduled to be released next week, initially denied the allegations, then said he had sex with the girl but did not rape her. He has been charged with criminal sexual assault, and his bond set at $100,000.
Dart's office is investigating whether Deering may be involved in other sexual assaults.
The sheriff said his office also is looking into whether criminal charges can be brought against anyone at the Ford Heights Police Department, but he acknowledged that's not likely.
"It's hard to come up with the required criminal intent," Dart said.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In all, seven rape kits had been left rotting in an unplugged refrigerator in the former Ford Heights Police Department, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said. The guns had not been registered with the state as having been seized by police, and Dart's spokesman Steve Patterson said none of the DNA evidence found matches anyone in the state's database.
Dart described the performance of the Ford Heights officers to CBS News Station WBBM-TV in Chicago as "beyond incompetence."
(Scroll down to watch the report WBBM-TV filed)
"You're not talking about ineptness, neglect, you're talking about outrageous conduct of a police department that didn't care about the residents out there," Dart said.
His deputies have been patrolling Ford Heights for the past few years after financial problems forced the village to lay off most of its 16 police officers. The sheriff's department took over completely in 2008, after two years of sharing duties with what was left of the police department, because the last few Ford Heights officers simply stopped showing up for work, Dart said.
"They just vanished," he said. Cook County deputies didn't use the police department's headquarters, because the former chief, Earl Bridges, continued working in some capacity regarding code enforcement. But Dart said he became uncomfortable with Bridges remaining in the building after it became clear the sheriff's department would be handling law enforcement in Ford Heights for the foreseeable future.
"At that point, I said enough's enough, he's got to go, we're taking over," said the sheriff, who ordered Bridges to leave last spring.
That was when deputies opened the door to the evidence room.
Detectives were stunned by what they learned about the sexual assault of the girl - and the apparent lack of any meaningful investigation of a case in which there was a great deal of evidence against one man.
"What happened to this girl is unconscionable," said Dart, whose office arrested 27-year-old Marquis Deering this week. "She thought nothing was going to happen to him."
Ford Heights police never interviewed Deering, whose criminal history includes 15 arrests since 2001 and a conviction for aggravated vehicular manslaughter, Dart said. He said it's unclear whether they ever interviewed the girl.
Ford Heights police received a report from police in nearby Chicago Heights who interviewed the girl at a Chicago Heights hospital, Dart said. They also received a state crime lab report that concluded DNA linked Deering to the assault.
"They had it," Dart said. "And they did nothing with it."
Bridges could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the phone at a listing for an Earl Bridges refused to comment before hanging up the telephone. Ford Heights Mayor Charles Griffin did not immediately return calls for comment.
The girl told Dart's detectives that she was walking home when Deering offered her a ride in a van. She said he indicated he had a weapon, forced her to drink alcohol until she became unconscious and drove her to a house where he assaulted her.
Deering is being represented by the Cook County Public Defender's Office. It did not have an immediate comment Friday.
Dart's office said in a news release that Deering, who is in state prison and was scheduled to be released next week, initially denied the allegations, then said he had sex with the girl but did not rape her. He has been charged with criminal sexual assault, and his bond set at $100,000.
Dart's office is investigating whether Deering may be involved in other sexual assaults.
The sheriff said his office also is looking into whether criminal charges can be brought against anyone at the Ford Heights Police Department, but he acknowledged that's not likely.
"It's hard to come up with the required criminal intent," Dart said.
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If you were the victim of this horrible crime as I was so many years ago and I was treated as though I garbage there would be a lot of things happening to Illinois that they wouldn't be interested in at all.
This is why I am screaming to change the law from Rape to Manuslaughter because once you are reped you become a totally different person the person you were is dead and there is no looking back.
In my case it was my brother-in-law for nine (9) years from the age of twelve (12) through the age of twenty-one (21) and he would tell me over and over again that if I spoke about it that he would kill my family starting with my mother and let me watch.
I became this person that my family didn't know at all I wouldn't allow anyone close and before that happened to me I was a loving child. I was constantly not sleeping because I was afraid that I would speak in sleep and cause him to kill my family and that continued all of my life.
I lost a lot of good jobs because of my temper if anyone would close to me or speak to me in ways that he would I would lose my temper. If anyone approached me in a wrong way I would demand them to step away becaue if they got to close I would slap them for getting to close and always afraid I would speak about what he did to me and he would find out I said something becaues he told me over and over again he would kill my family.
Sometimes I would wake-up seven (7) to ten (10) times a night screaming thinking I would see him watching me sleep with my husband and of course he wasn't there but he was omni present in my dreams. I lost my first husband because of this entire mess I was constantly afriad of him. I didn't allow my husband to touch me a certain way becaue that is what he would do when he was telling me in his way I will see tomorrow the same thing happened at work.
There were so many things that happened to me because of the rape that endured for so many many years.
If i can help one (1) person with this post that would be so wonderful because that person might not even realize why they do what they do since they were raped.
This law has to change from RAPE to MANSLAUGHTER TODAY to help all the future RAPE victims TODAY.
MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF RAPE VICTIMS TODAY AND FOR ALL TIME AS I AM SURE HE WILL!!!
If you were the victim of this horrible crime as I was so many years ago and I was treated as though I garbage there would be a lot of things happening to Illinois that they wouldn't be interested in at all.
This is why I am screaming to change the law from Rape to Manuslaughter because once you are reped you become a totally different person the person you were is dead and there is no looking back.
In my case it was my brother-in-law for nine (9) years from the age of twelve (12) through the age of twenty-one (21) and he would tell me over and over again that if I spoke about it that he would kill my family starting with my mother and let me watch.
I became this person that my family didn't know at all I wouldn't allow anyone close and before that happened to me I was a loving child. I was constantly not sleeping because I was afraid that I would speak in sleep and cause him to kill my family and that continued all of my life.
I lost a lot of good jobs because of my temper if anyone would close to me or speak to me in ways that he would I would lose my temper. If anyone approached me in a wrong way I would demand them to step away becaue if they got to close I would slap them for getting to close and always afraid I would speak about what he did to me and he would find out I said something becaues he told me over and over again he would kill my family.
Sometimes I would wake-up seven (7) to ten (10) times a night screaming thinking I would see him watching me sleep with my husband and of course he wasn't there but he was omni present in my dreams. I lost my first husband because of this entire mess I was constantly afriad of him. I didn't allow my husband to touch me a certain way becaue that is what he would do when he was telling me in his way I will see tomorrow the same thing happened at work.
There were so many things that happened to me because of the rape that endured for so many many years.
If i can help one (1) person with this post that would be so wonderful because that person might not even realize why they do what they do since they were raped.
This law has to change from RAPE to MANSLAUGHTER TODAY to help all the future RAPE victims TODAY.
MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF RAPE VICTIMS TODAY AND FOR ALL TIME AS I AM SURE HE WILL!!!
It is the 7th anniversary of the start of the RepubliCon Iraq Invasion!
Seems the "news services" have collective amnesia....
http://www.mediaite.com/online/notice-something-missing-media-collectively-forgets-anniv-of-iraq-war/
Oh PLEASE!! They are having a stink fit about this? You can walk into ANY functioning police station, RIGHT NOW, and find hundreds of rape kits sitting from years back that will never be investigated! What difference does it make?
This is why I want the law to change from RAPE to MANSLAUGHTER because more attention will be made and lawyers will want to take on these cases.
Many women and men will never ever be the same after they are Raped and this crime has to treated as though a person was killed because once you are raped you are totally totally different and that is fact never spoken about.
MAybe you'll get raped in the a$$ someday,and you'll wish that the evidence wasn't handled so casually...
You are an idiot. I was being SARCASTIC! I was just saying that it is a bit ridiculous to be jumping up and down over 7 moldy rape kits when there are THOUSANDS of rape kits being ignored in every city in the U.S. What about those?
Besides his real name is not BO it is Barry Soetoro look it up for yourself on cuil.com or ixquick.com.
He is citizen of Indonesia because his step father took him there so he would get education there and the only way he could do that was to become a citizen because they were at war and that was the law at the time.
Did anyone see the interview with the grandmother in Africa when she was so proud to say that she was in the operating room at the time of his birth and she was so proud to see where he is today?
There were two (2) interviews with girls that he went to high school with and they were scared to think that he would become President because he was drug user and drug seller in his own living room and he would do anything to anyone that tried to cross him and they were frightened to think that he would be running the United States and look what he is doing today. Just exactly what he is doing today arm bending and promicing things to people and GOD knows how far the river he is selling us.
I would love to be a fly on the walls of the White House to hear what he is doing.
There is nothing that I believe about him NOTHING.