Sex assault is no red flag for this suburban school board

Tyrone Rogers has been charged with three felonies — aggravated criminal sexual assault, attempted criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse and kidnapping.

Yet he remains a school board member in Harvey. He is on court-ordered electronic home monitoring but has repeatedly been given permission by Cook County Circuit Judge Allen F. Murphy to leave his home and attend school board meetings.

Despite the current social climate, the “Me Too” movement and nationwide outrage over the way women have been ignored and marginalized when it comes to sexual harassment, I am told that no one on the school board has complained that Rogers continues to attend meetings.

There are no protests outside the administration offices of Harvey Elementary School District 152.

There are no parents demanding that Rogers resign.

The school board president not only is supporting Rogers, but she actually posted Rogers’ bail. That would be Janet Rogers, Tyrone’s wife.

There are two interim school superintendents jointly running the school district. They were appointed after former school Supt. Denean Adams lost her job and filed a federal lawsuit claiming, among other things, that Tyrone Rogers said she was “itching for an ass kicking” after she requested a forensic audit of district finances.

Mrs. Rogers was convicted of theft and state benefits fraud in 2004 over false information on her son’s financial aid application, prompting her to step down from the school board. She rejoined the school board and was allowed to stay despite her criminal past after she was pardoned by Gov. Pat Quinn.

As for Mr. Rogers, a 49-year-old woman claimed that she went to the Harvey Municipal Center on the afternoon of Aug. 26, 2016 to meet with Rogers on behalf of a friend. The friend was a poor woman dealing with a raccoon problem at her home. The victim told Cook County Sheriff’s Police that since she had known Rogers for 40 years and he worked for the City of Harvey, she thought he might be able to get city officials to deal with her friend’s raccoon problem. Rogers had also been married to a relative of the alleged victim.

The woman said she met Rogers in the main office at Harvey’s city hall with other workers present and asked if she could speak with him. Rogers allegedly stated, “Yes, let’s go to my office.” The victim told police that Rogers took her down a long hallway, grabbed her right wrist, pulled her inside an office and closed the door.

At this point, Rogers made his intention clear and began pulling at her clothes. The woman said she tried to get out of the office by running around a long table, but Rogers locked the door with a key. Rogers then allegedly tried to sexually penetrate the woman after pulling her pants down.

Rogers held her head down as he bent her over a table, she told police, but she sank her nails into him and “mule kicked” him with her right foot. Rogers tried again to penetrate her sexually, the police report states, and also attempted to force her to perform a sex act.

The victim contends that Rogers then unlocked the door and let her out. She stopped at a Dollar Tree store and then went to a hospital emergency room, where a rape kit inspection was done and Cook County Sheriff’s Police were called.

I asked Rogers for a comment at a court hearing and he referred me to his regular attorney, who was replaced by someone else that day. I called the attorney’s office three times and did not get any response.

The Cook County state’s attorney sent me a statement claiming, “our prosecutors have consistently objected to the defendant’s request for movement off EM (electronic monitoring).” The sheriff’s office claims it has rarely seen so many releases granted off administrative monitoring, which requires three phone calls a day to keep tabs on the defendant.

School administrators point the finger at the school board, headed by Mrs. Rogers, who have the power to remove Mr. Rogers.

Hey, with all the buck passing going on, maybe this isn’t such a big deal. Consider it part of the old “not my job” movement.

Email: philkadner@gmail.com