When in recent years Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul investigated claims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church statewide, he was outspoken in his quest for justice.
“… when such trust is betrayed with abuse to children — and there are efforts to cover it up — the call for accountability should be resounding,” Raoul said in 2023.
So do Raoul’s convictions about protecting our young people extend to kids, many of whom are now young adults, who claim they were abused at a juvenile detention center in a remote part of southern Illinois?
Fifteen people claim they were sexually assaulted by the same man while being held at the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg. They were minors at the time of the alleged assaults.
The man they’ve accused, Rocky James, is now mayor of downstate Eldorado, a village of fewer than 4,000 about 10 miles from the Harrisburg juvenile detention center, where he previously worked for over two decades.
One alleged victim claims that James handcuffed him to his bed before sexually assaulting him. Repeatedly. Others describe being forced to perform oral sex and forced masturbation by James, allegedly being promised candy, cigarettes and even early release for keeping quiet, among other disturbing claims.
James denies it all.
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Lawyers for these alleged victims also claim these allegations are part of a much bigger story involving the alleged sexual abuse of minors in juvenile facilities across the state.
“These were not rare cases,” Kristen Feden, a lawyer at Anapol Weiss told Tribune reporter Sophie Levenson, who covered the broader accusations. “This was systemic.”
But we’re focused today on what allegedly happened at the Harrisburg juvenile detention center, lest it be forgotten.
We were told by a spokesperson for the Eldorado Police Department that the criminal jurisdiction over the allegations involving Eldorado’s mayor lie with Saline County. We attempted to reach (by both phone and email) Saline County Sheriff J. Whipper Johnson multiple times over several days for comment and never heard back. More than once, we asked Raoul’s office if he’d be investigating these claims and received no response.
When we reached out to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, a spokesperson told us she “cannot confirm nor deny the presence of any investigation, and no charges have been filed in southern Illinois federal court.”
We asked Gov. JB Pritzker’s team over email whether the governor will call for an investigation into these specific claims.
A spokesperson responded with a statement from the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice acknowledging the lawsuits and noting that allegations of misconduct are “immediately and thoroughly investigated,” adding that “IDJJ has enacted policies and protocols to ensure the safety of youth and staff and identify any possible instances of abuse or misconduct.”
Kids who end up in the juvenile justice system already face uphill odds for the future. Add sexual abuse into the mix, and you’re looking at severely traumatized kids who were failed by authority figures. Not just failed, but violated and abused. That’s something even adult victims struggle to process — kids aren’t equipped for this.
Did James abuse these children?
“There’s no truth to it at all,” James said to the Tribune’s Levenson over the phone. “Ex-convicts are … just trying to get money. They’re just trying to ruin my life, is all they’re trying to do.” James did not return the board’s numerous calls to both personal and office numbers for further comment.
Todd Mathews of Bailey Glasser is one of the attorneys involved with the lawsuits, and he takes issue with trying to write off these kids as criminals.
“Children are not convicts, they’re residents of the youth facility, and they’re in the custody of the state for care and rehabilitation,” he said.
We agree with that sentiment.
If there’s no truth in any of the 15 allegations discussed here, we trust a thorough investigation would serve to confirm James’ innocence. He should welcome such a probe. So, for that matter, should all the residents of this state.
In this case, at a minimum, Illinois owes its children — and the public — real answers.
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