JEFFERSON COUNTY — Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard took to Facebook Thursday to dispute allegations that a School Resource Officer and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office waited two years to act on information in the Matthew K. Smith sex crimes case.
According to Bullard, false claims were made via social media that an SRO sat on information in the Smith case for two years and that the sheriff’s department “turned a blind eye” on the case until Smith’s arrest in June. Smith, a former Woodlawn School District teacher, was arrested by the JCSO on preliminary charges of grooming and possession of child porn, and later formally charged with five Class 2 felony counts of child sexual abuse material and one Class 4 felony count of grooming. His case is still pending in court.
The social media allegations prompted Bullard to order an internal affairs investigation conducted by JCSO Chief Deputy John Prudent, which ultimately showed that the SRO and sheriff’s office did nothing wrong in their handling of this case, Bullard said. The investigation involved numerous interviews with students, parents, and members of the faculty and staff at Woodlawn School District. The person making the social media allegations, however, did not cooperate with the investigation, Bullard said.
While the claims were made via social media and were not in the form of a formal complaint, the Illinois SAFE-T Act mandates that such claims be investigated if the department becomes aware of them,...
JEFFERSON COUNTY — Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard took to Facebook Thursday to dispute allegations that a School Resource Officer and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office waited two years ...