Source
Police officer's accuser is angry that she
was prosecuted
By Terry Hillig Of the Post-Dispatch
Lori Ross says she was victimized by a police officer who made unwanted sexual advances, then victimized again when she was charged with a felony for complaining about it.
A special prosecutor last week dismissed the charge
against her - filing a false report - but Ross says she
should never have been prosecuted.
John Rekowski, the longtime Madison County public
defender, agrees. Rekowski, who had no role in the Ross
case, said prosecution of people who make allegations of
police misconduct is bound to have a chilling effect on
such reports.
He said there should be laws to protect people who file
such complaints.
"We need to encourage people to report misconduct,"
Rekowski said.
William R. Haine, the Madison County state's attorney,
said after a grand jury indicted Ross in January that the
charge was appropriate because she had a history of filing
complaints that could not be substantiated and because
the allegation in question was so inflammatory. Haine,
who had requested the special prosecutor in the case,
declined to discuss the matter this week.
The man who dismissed the case was Joseph Brown, the
special prosecutor. Brown said after a review of the
evidence that it was sufficient to support the charge.
But he said such charges raise "serious questions
concerning the rights of citizens to petition their
government for redress of grievances without fear of
criminal prosecution."
Ross, 30, of South Roxana, is a single mother of two who
was a topless dancer at Metro East area clubs.
She claimed she was mistreated in July last year at her
former home in Alton by an Illinois State Police officer
assigned to a federal Drug Enforcement Administration
task force.
Ross said the officer had called with questions about drug
activities involving Ross' former boyfriend.
"I told him what I knew over the phone, but he insisted on
coming over," Ross said in an interview. She said the
officer came to her house the next day and, rather than
asking any questions about the drug investigation, "began
putting his hands on me." Ross said that when she
protested, the officer pushed her against a wall, then
followed her into her bathroom. She said he "touched me
in inappropriate places" and grabbed her hand and placed
it in his pants. "He said, 'I know you're a stripper, so act
like one,' " Ross said.
"I was afraid of being raped," she said.
Ross said the officer had a firearm and that her 8-year-old
daughter was in the home.
She said the officer claimed to be a DEA agent, but
refused to show her a badge or provide any police
identification.
Two months later, she made a telephone complaint about
the officer to the DEA. In September, she was questioned
for two days by three DEA agents and one from the State
Police.
"I feel like they had a preconceived notion about it," Ross
said. "They made me feel more like a suspect than the
victim."
Ross was told the investigation would be dropped unless
she permitted a review of her telephone records; she
refused to do so.
The next thing she heard of her complaint came in
January, when two South Roxana police knocked on the
door of her home and arrested her on the charge of filing a
false report.
The officer has declined to comment, and a State Police
spokesman said policy prevented any comment in such
matters unless an officer is charged with a crime.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, so the nature of the
evidence is not available.
She claimed affair with investigator
Ross' attorney, Brian Ransom of Belleville, filed motions
alleging several conflicts of interest affecting members of
Haine's staff.
Ransom's motions stated that:
<·> One assistant state's attorney is married to the officer
accused by Ross.
<·> Ross claims to have had an affair with an investigator
for Haine's office.
Ross claims that while working at a topless club, she
became acquainted with a former assistant state's
attorney who later married the assistant state's attorney
who obtained the indictment of Ross.
Rekowski said he cannot recall another case in Madison
County in which someone was prosecuted for complaining
to a law enforcement agency about an officer's
misconduct.
Joe Warzycki, first assistant circuit attorney for the city of
St. Louis, said he could not remember that sort of case in
the years since he joined the office in 1977.
But Jay A. Miller, executive director of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Illinois, said there have been many such
cases around the country. Miller said people who
complain directly to a police officer's department about his
or her conduct face a risk of being charged themselves.
He said police and prosecutors generally stick together in
such cases, and recommended that anyone considering
making a complaint about a police officer should see a
lawyer first.
"It's wonderful they found someone who would dismiss
this thing," Miller said of the Ross case.
Ross is now unemployed. She said she was told she
could not return to one of the clubs where she once
worked because of the publicity around her. She said she
had decided she would not dance again anyway, except
as a way of getting out of debt.
"I just want to raise my kids and not be bothered by
people," she said.
------------------
LowClassCat
Always willing to calculate my chances
Edited to fix formatting problem -TBM
[This message has been edited by TheBluesMan (edited August 09, 2000).]
Police officer's accuser is angry that she
was prosecuted
By Terry Hillig Of the Post-Dispatch
Lori Ross says she was victimized by a police officer who made unwanted sexual advances, then victimized again when she was charged with a felony for complaining about it.
A special prosecutor last week dismissed the charge
against her - filing a false report - but Ross says she
should never have been prosecuted.
John Rekowski, the longtime Madison County public
defender, agrees. Rekowski, who had no role in the Ross
case, said prosecution of people who make allegations of
police misconduct is bound to have a chilling effect on
such reports.
He said there should be laws to protect people who file
such complaints.
"We need to encourage people to report misconduct,"
Rekowski said.
William R. Haine, the Madison County state's attorney,
said after a grand jury indicted Ross in January that the
charge was appropriate because she had a history of filing
complaints that could not be substantiated and because
the allegation in question was so inflammatory. Haine,
who had requested the special prosecutor in the case,
declined to discuss the matter this week.
The man who dismissed the case was Joseph Brown, the
special prosecutor. Brown said after a review of the
evidence that it was sufficient to support the charge.
But he said such charges raise "serious questions
concerning the rights of citizens to petition their
government for redress of grievances without fear of
criminal prosecution."
Ross, 30, of South Roxana, is a single mother of two who
was a topless dancer at Metro East area clubs.
She claimed she was mistreated in July last year at her
former home in Alton by an Illinois State Police officer
assigned to a federal Drug Enforcement Administration
task force.
Ross said the officer had called with questions about drug
activities involving Ross' former boyfriend.
"I told him what I knew over the phone, but he insisted on
coming over," Ross said in an interview. She said the
officer came to her house the next day and, rather than
asking any questions about the drug investigation, "began
putting his hands on me." Ross said that when she
protested, the officer pushed her against a wall, then
followed her into her bathroom. She said he "touched me
in inappropriate places" and grabbed her hand and placed
it in his pants. "He said, 'I know you're a stripper, so act
like one,' " Ross said.
"I was afraid of being raped," she said.
Ross said the officer had a firearm and that her 8-year-old
daughter was in the home.
She said the officer claimed to be a DEA agent, but
refused to show her a badge or provide any police
identification.
Two months later, she made a telephone complaint about
the officer to the DEA. In September, she was questioned
for two days by three DEA agents and one from the State
Police.
"I feel like they had a preconceived notion about it," Ross
said. "They made me feel more like a suspect than the
victim."
Ross was told the investigation would be dropped unless
she permitted a review of her telephone records; she
refused to do so.
The next thing she heard of her complaint came in
January, when two South Roxana police knocked on the
door of her home and arrested her on the charge of filing a
false report.
The officer has declined to comment, and a State Police
spokesman said policy prevented any comment in such
matters unless an officer is charged with a crime.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, so the nature of the
evidence is not available.
She claimed affair with investigator
Ross' attorney, Brian Ransom of Belleville, filed motions
alleging several conflicts of interest affecting members of
Haine's staff.
Ransom's motions stated that:
<·> One assistant state's attorney is married to the officer
accused by Ross.
<·> Ross claims to have had an affair with an investigator
for Haine's office.
Ross claims that while working at a topless club, she
became acquainted with a former assistant state's
attorney who later married the assistant state's attorney
who obtained the indictment of Ross.
Rekowski said he cannot recall another case in Madison
County in which someone was prosecuted for complaining
to a law enforcement agency about an officer's
misconduct.
Joe Warzycki, first assistant circuit attorney for the city of
St. Louis, said he could not remember that sort of case in
the years since he joined the office in 1977.
But Jay A. Miller, executive director of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Illinois, said there have been many such
cases around the country. Miller said people who
complain directly to a police officer's department about his
or her conduct face a risk of being charged themselves.
He said police and prosecutors generally stick together in
such cases, and recommended that anyone considering
making a complaint about a police officer should see a
lawyer first.
"It's wonderful they found someone who would dismiss
this thing," Miller said of the Ross case.
Ross is now unemployed. She said she was told she
could not return to one of the clubs where she once
worked because of the publicity around her. She said she
had decided she would not dance again anyway, except
as a way of getting out of debt.
"I just want to raise my kids and not be bothered by
people," she said.
------------------
LowClassCat
Always willing to calculate my chances
Edited to fix formatting problem -TBM
[This message has been edited by TheBluesMan (edited August 09, 2000).]
