Source: currently.att.yahoo.com 2/27/24
A former Chicago police officer who forced a woman to engage in a sex act in his squad car in 2019 was sentenced to a year in federal prison, prosecutors said Monday.
James Sajdak, 65, pleaded guilty in November to one count of deprivation of civil rights, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said in a statement.
He was sentenced Friday to the maximum allowed for the misdemeanor charge.
On March 5, 2019, Sajdak flashed the lights of his police vehicle at a woman walking on the street and said something like “You can get in the front seat or you can get in the back,” which he meant to be a threat of arrest, Sajdak admitted in a plea agreement. The woman got in the front seat.
Sajdak locked the doors, drove to an abandoned lot and forced her to do a sex act, the plea agreement said.
Sajdak, a police officer since 1989, retired after the incident. The victim sued him and the city, and the case was settled, according to records and his defense attorneys. He was federally indicted in 2022.
Was only charged a misdemeanor, allowed to retire and didnt have to register…smfh
The judge says here if he could sentence him more he would have. There’s nothing stopping the judge from sentencing him to a longer-term in prison even if the maximum amount of time had been reached. Let him appeal the over the top sentence in the appellate Court system to see how far they would knock it back. Maybe even do an outstandingly large fine to go with the one year sentence.
Are you kidding? A misdemeanor for rape? And I’m willing to bet that this sex worker was poor and black…guaranteed. And her public defender probably told her the juror won’t believe her story over this 30 veteran of the Chicago Criminal Force.
Ok, here’s my bizarre questions about all this.
Under what circumstances did this guy become a cop? Was he brought on during a period of Police Force expansion, or as part of a recruitment drive brought on by understaffing? Why ask?
More cops you try to add to the force all at once, easier it is for someone who’s motivation for joining is crime. If your career is crime, what better career move could you make than becoming a cop?
Most people begin their career as a criminal in their early twenties, just like most cops with their career, like this man did. Teens commit all kinds of crimes, but many stop in their 20’s…while others go on to attempt a career at it.
This crime was clearly not this man’s career… but perhaps his hobby? Obsession? Compulsion? Choice of lifestyle? Is this why he became a cop, or did he turn into this along the way? Under what circumstances did this man become a cop? What were his personal motivations, and under what circumstances was he hired?
All questions that need to be answered to have any hope of not handing out badges to more people who will do these kinds of things. Have to know what went wrong here, so the same mistakes don’t get repeated. Questions that need to be answered, but won’t even be asked.
Did he become a cop so he could do stuff like this? If so, how do we stop the next person with similar motivations?
If he did not become a cop to do things like this, how did he turn into a person that does this? How do we help make sure other cops don’t turn into this?
Perhaps he was always someone that desired this, but that’s not why he became a cop? He just, on that day for the first time, realized being a cop could help with his hobby? Ummmmmm, took him 10 years to put that together? Having a hard time buying that idea, but maybe?
Can’t fix the problem if you don’t know what it is.
How is that a misdemeanor charge. A police officer committing any offense while on duty is the biggest betrayal of public trust that I can imagine. There should be an enhancement charge tacked onto any crime committed by a public servant such as law enforcement or political representative. They make the laws but seldom if ever see the penalties of breaking them.