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

By David Lohr

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...continue to full post

Full post as published by Bizarre Crimes of the Week on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).