New information indicates that a former Salem Police Sergeant while performing an unauthorized investigation of the case, was having sex with an alleged victim.
(SALEM, Ore.) - New information coming to light could strongly affect the way people remember a sex abuse trial against a former African-American police officer in Salem, Oregon. It appears that a Salem officer investigating the case against Sterling Alexander was also sexually involved with one of the alleged victims, according to an investigation launched by Oregon State Police.
Sterling Alexander was charged with sex crimes against three women shortly after leaving Salem, Oregon Police. In each case, he was accused of having forced the women to comply with sex acts. Accompanying charges included strangulation and kidnapping.
When the jury offered their verdict, charges of rape and sex abuse were dropped, but they did find Alexander guilty on a second-degree Sex Abuse charge and Official Misconduct.
Alexander says his problems began when he was an active duty police officer in Salem. He said he believed he was receiving prejudice treatment because he was black.
After resigning, he filed a complaint citing racial slurs from another city employee, and racial discriminatory and disparate treatment by the Salem Police Department and DPSST, the police academy that at the time was located in nearby Monmouth.
Shortly after initiating the civil rights suit against Salem Police with the NAACP, Alexander was charged by Oregon State Police for the first of the three sex crimes. Alexander's supporters say it was a case of retribution toward a black officer over the filing a civil rights case involving the NAACP. Salem Police at the time said race was not a factor.
The water looked stormy for Sterling Alexander as the trial finally approached last summer, after an investigation that lasted almost three years. Marion County Prosecutor Jodie Bureta had what appeared to be, at least initially, a strong case.
But Alexander's Attorney Kevin Lafkey had a trick up his sleeve, a move made prior to the trial that would pay off big, by showing the jury that there was a much larger picture than had so far been presented to them. Lafkey had summoned copies of emails circulated between Salem Police and the agency investigating the case, Oregon State Police.
When a police officer is accused of committing a crime, the case is always handed over to another agency, and Sterling Alexander's case went to OSP and an investigator named Detective Terri Cassebarth.
But the trail of police emails subpoenaed by Lafkey showed clearly that Salem P.D. never stopped investigating the case, and they used a Street Crimes Sergeant named Jeff Barnes to gather information, as he was a "family friend" of one of Alexander's accusers, a woman named Brooke Neal. Barnes left Salem Police shortly before Alexander's trial began last summer.
Salem and Oregon State Police said at the time that they believed they had a good case, but during the trial Alexander's attorney charged that the agencies worked together against his client, and that it was a clear conflict of interest. He said, "Salem Police are not just investigating the case, they are out looking, cultivating, to find people to testify that Sterling Alexander did something."
The state police investigation that began after Alexander's trial, apparently sought to determine whether Salem Police were involved in any wrongdoing. The emails between the two police agencies discussed telling a Salem investigator to "name his price" and revealed that the state investigator writing the email was "desperate for another victim."
Lafkey says it is a situation where police located and then prepared the alleged victims for court. Bureta said that was the farthest thing from the truth. But the new revelation that a Salem investigator was sexually involved with one of Alexander's victims as he investigated the case, does not look good for the state, and Alexander's supporters say the impact from the jury hearing the case without understanding integral facts could have resulted in an unfair trial.
The new revelations go beyond former Salem Police Sgt. Jeff Barnes' involvement with the victim in the case. Oregon State Police investigators have learned that a Woodburn Police officer was also involved with with the same individual, Brooke Neal, in the same time period. An advocate for Alexander noted that the young woman with a small child may have had a propensity to seek out police officers for sexual relationships, even going so far as to make 911 calls about local crimes like underage drinking parties in hopes of meeting them.
How this new information will affect this case remains to be seen, but if nothing else, it lays all the cards on the table. And that's fair.
The sentencing of Sterling Alexander for the two convictions, second-degree Sex Abuse and Official Misconduct, takes place Monday morning in Salem.
Here are other Salem-News.com articles on the Sterling Alexander trial:July-9-2007 Former Salem Officer Sees Charges Dropped Jun-13-2007 Jury Begins Deliberation in Trial of Former Salem OfficerJun-07-2007 Trial in Former Salem Police Officer Sex Abuse Case ContinuesJun-06-2007 Sex Abuse Trial of Former Police Officer Begins in Salem, OregonApr-12-2006 NAACP Will Fight for Former Salem OfficerJan-7-2006 Former Salem Police Officer Facing Several Charges
New Questions in Sex Case Against Former Salem CopSalem-News.com