"I've Been Watching You" Rape Trial of Former Illinois Cop, Jeff Pelo, Underway

June 06, 2008

Jeff Pelo, a 43-year-old married father of three and a 17-year veteran of the Bloomington, Illinois police department, has been in jail for the past 22 months on multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and home invasion that prosecutors contend were committed on four occasions between 2002 and 2005 by a blue-eyed man donning a ski mask and dark clothing who had stealthily entered the bedrooms of four young women, all of whom were single and in their twenties, and raped them.  Pelo's trial is currently underway, and his lawyers have been arguing that the wrong man is being tried for the crimes.  His lawyers are also challenging what they claim are questionable identifications made by victims who only recall seeing a masked man in their bedrooms, a prosecution sore point made all the more troubling by the fact that the victims were asked to identify their masked assailant more than a year after the alleged assaults occurred.

The first rape occurred in December 2002, and the second one in April 2003.  Nearly two years passed before the next two rapes occurred, both in January 2005.  The cases stumped the local police, and at first there was only idle speculation that the cases might be connected.  Little headway was made in the case until December 2005, when the FBI reported that there were significant similarities between the cases.  After the FBI report was issued, Bloomington police announced that a serial rapist might be at work in the area and they appealed to the public for assistance with regard to information pertaining to the investigation.

The case didn't break for another seven months—on June 10, 2006—when Sergeant Pelo was arrested and charged with burglary and stalking after yet another female called the police to report a late-night prowler outside her house, located on Bloomington's east side.  It was shortly past midnight when a police officer, David Ziemer, confronted Pelo outside the woman's house.  Pelo ignored the officer's commands to halt, and attempted to walk away from the scene until Ziemer pulled his gun and aimed at Pelo.

"He had a blank stare on his face," Officer Ziemer testified during one of the court hearings.  "I was yelling, 'Stop,' and he wasn't complying with me.  I thought it was going to be a deadly force situation."

According to Ziemer's account, Pelo told Ziemer that he was out looking for a house to purchase for his mother-in-law.  However, the problem with his story was the lateness of the hour and the fact that the house where he was arrested was not for sale.

A month later, three of the rape victims...

Continue Reading "I've Been Watching You" Rape Trial of Former Illinois Cop, Jeff Pelo, Underway