Former Markham Deputy Police
Chief Anthony DeBois was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for lying
to FBI agents who were investigating an allegation that DeBois sexually abused
a woman in his police station office.
DeBois last September pleaded
guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI. But while he said he did have sex
with women in his office, he insisted none of them were in police custody.
"I'd like to apologize for
my conduct and lying to the FBI," DeBois told Judge Joan Lefkow. "As
a police officer, I should have known better".
In the case in question, a
woman alleged she'd been picked up with a friend who was accused of counterfeiting.
After about a half hour in police custody, she said she was taken by another
officer to DeBois' office, where he forced her to engage in oral sex and then
raped her.
Defense attorney Terry Ekl has
called the woman's credibility into question, pointing out that she admitted to
lying about her contacts with DeBois and forcing her to concede that she
"may have" visited DeBois in the police station a few days after the
alleged attack.
Lefkow called DeBois' conduct
"revolting," and said she understood why the woman didn't immediately
report the attack.
"She had no reason to
believe that the Markham Police Department would help her," she said.
"[DeBois] obstructed justice."
DeBois served as deputy chief
between 2008 and 2011 and was Markham’s inspector general until 2012. He worked
with the Chicago Housing Authority Police Department in the 1990s and as a
Harvey Police officer.
Records show DeBois was named
in about a dozen lawsuits between 2004 and 2011 alleging he was abusive, many
of which were settled out of court.
He's to surrender to
authorities on June 10.
