Leaders of Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability on Tuesday said they have been unable to identify any victim in their investigation of claims that at least one officer engaged in a sexual relationship with a migrant being housed at a West Side police facility, but said another allegation has surfaced at another CPD station.
Citing the public scrutiny around the allegations, COPA’s chief administrator, Andrea Kersten, held a rare press conference at the agency’s office in West Town Tuesday morning. Kersten told reporters that COPA has received a second allegation of sexual misconduct involving at least one still-unknown Chicago Police officer and a migrant, whose identity also wasn’t known as of Tuesday.
The update from Kersten came less than two weeks after the agency acknowledged that it received a complaint of sexual misconduct involving at least one CPD officer and a migrant housed at the Ogden District station on the city’s West Side.
“Since receiving notification of this allegation, COPA has been working to substantiate whether these allegations in fact occurred, as well as to identify the source of the initial allegation,” Kersten said. “Any time you’re investigating an allegation of sexual misconduct … (there) are incredibly powerful barriers to people feeling they can trust a system and come forward and share their experiences.”
After receiving the first allegation, COPA contacted the CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs, which initiated its own investigation, a “potential criminal investigation should a victim of sexual assault be identified,” Kersten said.
The second allegation involves possibly one officer in the Town Hall District on the North Side, Kersten said. That alleged victim also remains unidentified currently, she added.
COPA has not recommended to CPD that any officers be stripped of their police powers in connection with the Ogden District investigation. That inquiry, Kersten added, stemmed from a text message that earlier this month was circulated among members of the CPD and the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. One officer was identified by name in that text message, but Kersten declined to say if he had yet been interviewed by COPA investigators.
The Tribune obtained a copy of that text message and confirmed that the named officer, a field training officer, was assigned to the Ogden District at the time the allegation was lodged.
“The source of the initial allegation was unknown, but the information appeared to be circulating among various CPD and Office of Emergency Management and Communications, OEMC, employees,” Kersten said.
It still was not clear if any CPD officers were stripped of their police powers in connection with the Ogden District investigation, but Kersten said Tuesday that COPA had made no such recommendation to CPD.
Migrants previously housed at the Ogden District told the Tribune that they were relocated from the station one day after the allegation was publicly disclosed.
Hundreds of migrants, largely from Central America, have been bused to Chicago and other major cities from Texas in recent months. Since April, CPD’s 22 district stations — along with several other city-owned or otherwise unused buildings — have become temporary homes for hundreds of migrants, sometimes drawing the ire of local residents.
On Monday, Mayor Brandon Johnson toured a new welcoming center for migrants, saying his administration’s “top priority” was to quickly move them from the city’s police stations.
As of Monday, 878 newly arrived migrants were staying inside police stations and 69 at O’Hare International Airport, according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
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