January 17, 2001, Wednesday, City Final Edition
Copyright 2001 The Indianapolis Star
THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
January 17, 2001, Wednesday, City Final Edition
(MARION COUNTY, Ill.) -- A woman is accusing a high-ranking officer with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department of raping, battering and intimidating her over a period of more than a decade, and he might face a civil lawsuit over the matter.
The officer, Deputy Chief Robert W. Leary, denied the accusations through his attorney. Leary’s boss, Sheriff Jack Cottey, said he believes his longtime friend is being unjustly vilified in the media on the basis of flimsy, unreliable charges.
Last fall, Leary admitted he hit the woman once during an incident in July outside her home. Under terms of a diversion agreement, Leary will avoid prosecution on the misdemeanor battery charge after he completes anger management classes and counseling and pays the woman’s medical bills. Police say the woman suffered bruises on her face, lip, head and left calf in the incident.
Shortly after the incident was reported to police, Leary, a 13-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department who oversees its civil division, was suspended for five days without pay.
Now the woman contends that Leary forced her to have sex with him many times since 1989. The Indianapolis Star is not identifying the woman because she may have been the victim of sexual assault.
Earlier this month, the woman notified several parties -- Cottey, Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, attorneys for the city and the Indiana attorney general -- that she intends to file a lawsuit. The woman is seeking actual and punitive damages in excess of $300,000.
The woman making the accusations was married to a Sheriff’s Department employee supervised by Leary, according to the notice filed by the woman’s attorney, Richard A. Cook.
The woman charges that Leary used his position over her husband as a way to force her to comply with his sexual demands. She says she never talked about the ongoing situation to her husband, who died in the summer of 2000.
The legal document sent by certified mail this month does not indicate the woman made any police reports about the incident, list witnesses to the alleged attacks or refer to medical reports detailing injuries she said she sustained. Cook declined to discuss the details of the case.
Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman said Tuesday that he was surprised to learn of the allegations because he spent hours interviewing the woman and her family after the battery complaint surfaced.
“At that time, I asked her very pointed questions about whether there was anything more to the relationship,” Newman said. “She stoutly denied any sort of relationship with Mr. Leary.”