Cook County Probation Chief Sued for Civil Rights Violation, Negligence, Misconduct

The family of a 13-year-old girl who police say was sexually assaulted by a poorly-supervised probationer has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Cook County acting-Chief Probation Officer Jesus Reyes.

 by Lee Williams

The family of a 13-year-old girl who police say was sexually assaulted by a poorly-supervised probationer has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Cook County acting-Chief Probation Officer Jesus Reyes, claiming his poor management of the department contributed to the assault.

The lawsuit, filed this morning in federal court by Chicago attorney Timothy J. Cavanagh, also accuses the child’s attacker Acurie Collier—a convicted sexual offender—of battery, sexual assault and false imprisonment.

Cavanagh, a founder and partner of Cavanagh Law Group, filed the suit on behalf of the child and her mother, who according to the suit was injured while attempting to defend her daughter.

“Jesus Reyes, the acting-Chief of the Cook County Adult Probation Department, has publicly admitted that the assigned probation officer ‘dropped the ball’ by not arresting the sexual predator for dozens of known probation violations,” Cavanagh told the Institute. “However, he refuses to release internal documents pursuant to Freedom of Information requests. This federal lawsuit will ensure that the family gets access to those documents and the answers they deserve.”

According to Cavanagh’’s complaint, Reyes “failed to act” and deprived the mother and daughter of “their rights and privileges and immunities secured by the Constitution and well-settled laws of the United States and State of Illinois, including their right to safety. The acts and omissions of Reyes caused suffering and ultimately the rape of [the victim].”

The lawsuit accuses Reyes of negligence and a breach of duty by failing to properly supervise and train probation officers, and by failing to properly supervise and monitor Collier, “despite knowledge of Collier’s [probation] violations and prior conviction for sexual assault of a minor.”

The lawsuit came after the Illinois Policy Institute published a special report about the probation department, titled: “Cook County Adult Probation Department: A Public Menace.”

The report revealed that the Cook County Adult Probation Department suffers from a decided lack of leadership, transparency and accountability, which has crippled the agency’s effectiveness and put the public at extreme risk, despite the department’s annual infusion of $43 million taxpayer dollars. It chronicled how the probation department spurned Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking the most basic information, by claiming an exemption to open records laws because the agency is overseen by Cook County’s Chief Judge.

Neither Reyes nor his boss Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans returned calls or e-mails seeking comment about the suit. However, as Cavanagh pointed out, in a previous interview with the Institute, Reyes admitted his department “dropped the ball” with its monitoring of Collier.

Collier, 34, had already been convicted of a prior sexual assault of a minor, and was being supervised by the probation department’s highly-touted Adult Sexual Offender Program, known as ASOP.

According to Reyes, Collier missed 17 curfew checks during the nine months he was probation prior to his arrest for aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Probation officers, however, told the Institute the actual number of missed checks was 41. They say the department’s senior staff “sanitized” Collier’s file, removing a number of the most egregious offenses after he was arrested for the second sexual assault, so the department wouldn’’t look so bad if word got out.