ST. LOUIS — Multiple St. Louis police officers are now under investigation after being accused of sexually assaulting other officers and civilians over a period of years, 5 On Your Side has learned.
Police sources told 5 On Your Side that four accused officers were put on administrative duty last week pending the outcome of the investigation.
So far, multiple victims have come forward with accusations against the officers, including allegations that some of them were drugged and then raped.
5 On Your Side is not naming the officers because they have not yet been charged with a crime. Victims of sexual assault are not identified unless they agree to do so.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Sgt. Keith Barrett said the department does not comment on ongoing investigations.
An attorney for the accused officers declined to comment.
But documents obtained by 5 On Your Side show that the most recent allegation involved a woman who is a municipal police officer, that said she was raped by a St. Louis officer inside his truck at 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 17. She reported the incident to Internal Affairs Feb. 20, stating that she was assaulted outside Mimi’s Subway Bar & Grill in Ferguson.
The St. Louis County Police Department has been conducting the criminal investigation since it happened.
The county police department’s custodian of records, Lt. Craig Molden, has refused to provide the incident summary about the crime, saying that because the call came in to the county’s Crimes Against Persons Unit, an incident summary does not exist.
The state’s sunshine law defines incident summaries as containing basic information, such as time, date, place and a summary of the incident. The law states that any police department that keeps a log or record of suspected crimes must make incident summary information available for public inspection.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell confirmed that his office has been contacted by St. Louis County detectives about the allegations.
“I have requested detectives, along with St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office investigators, to perform a detailed and thorough investigation on this case,” he wrote. “Upon completion of the investigation, we will make a determination on whether or not prosecution is warranted.”
Another officer was accused in 2012 of raping a woman while she was unconscious inside her apartment, according to documents obtained by 5 On Your Side. In that case, the victim told police she confronted the officer about his actions, but that he left her apartment without explaining himself.
She reported her case to Internal Affairs four days after it happened, according to the documents.
It’s unclear what became of the internal affairs investigations, as those records are exempt from the Sunshine law.
He was never criminally charged.
The department refused to release the police report related to the incident citing a portion of the Sunshine Law that allows agencies to keep records sealed if they are part of an ongoing investigation.
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