Saline Co. chief dept/Hbg School Bd president arrested on Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse charge
Todd Fort
HARRISBURG, Ill.—After what appears to have been a very lengthy interrogation, Saline County chief deputy and Harrisburg school board president Todd Fort has been arrested early this morning on a preliminary charge of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse.
The arrest came as the result of a brief investigation by Illinois State Police into what’s apparently been going on with Fort and a 17-year-old girl (who was reportedly 16 when the alleged activity started) who has been interning at the sheriff’s department in recent months.
The whole thing exploded yesterday afternoon, not long after lunch hour, when the girl’s father spotted his daughter in Fort’s police squad at a time when she had no business being with the deputy (no excuse—not in the office, and she wasn’t babysitting Fort’s 12-year-old…both of which, reportedly, had been excuses used in the past.)
The father gave chase in his truck. It’s been reported to Disclosure that he chased Fort for at least 20 minutes through back streets of Harrisburg at speeds of up to 80-90 mph, this while on the phone to central dispatch. Dispatch ordered the father to cease chasing Fort. Finally, he did. When police located Fort’s vehicle, they located it in front of none other than reviled Harrisburg attorney Robert Wilson’s office, and the girl was nowhere in sight.
Wilson, it’s been reported, favored Fort as his “pick” for sheriff come next election.
We had initially heard that Fort was whisked into the Saline County Detention Center/sheriff’s department, where he and the girl were ultimately interviewed for a considerable number of hours, however, Saline authorities have confirmed that Fort was not interviewed at length, only the girl. Her vehicle was also confirmed as searched; it remains unconfirmed as to whether Fort’s squad was searched at length, at least at that time.
Sheriff Keith Brown was seen through the glass at SCDC late Monday night rubbing his forehead vigorously in abject angst. The matter had been taken up with him—and Fort—by the father of the girl in recent months, and Brown had defended his chief deputy.
Fort is being held at the Jackson County detention center (in Murphysboro; same elegant digs as Gallatin Co. sheriff Raymond Martin, different corner of the jail, though, as Raymondo is fed) on $250,000 bail ($25,000 cash, which he is expected to make pretty soon). There is no word on his status with either the school board or at the sheriff’s department. The particular charge as it stands right now (and it may be added to after the prosecution becomes fully involved), upon conviction, carries with it a possible 3-7 year sentence in DOC.
We have full details on this matter dating back to late last year, including previous allegations similar to this about Fort, and we will be bringing them all to you in the August Special Edition, on stands Aug. 2-4.
UPDATE 12 noon: We have just spoken with others involved in the investigation. It’s our understanding that this may not be an isolated incident. If you or someone you know has been a victim, feel free to contact us. We will put you in touch with the appropriate authorities, and your name will never be revealed. Click the ‘about’ link to obtain contact information.
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=3978
Posted by Jack Howser
on Jul 20 2010. Filed under Saline.
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jeez, that doesn’t sound very good.
The alleged victim has apparently told authorities of various scars and/or tattoos that he has on his person, they want to photograph those for identification purposes would be my guess. She would have had to see, apparently, parts of his body that most of us have not.
@dmin…please tell me you aren’t going to post any of those pics of Todd… :bloody: …lol
Blech.
Don’t wanna even think about em, let alone post em.
But you could only imagine the hits…curiosity gets the best of everyone.
However, no, we’re not going to…but we do have some interesting pics for the print version!
THANK YOU !…because I probably would have looked at them…you know like when you see a car wreck and don’t want to look but can’t help yourself! :aie:
Curious @admin, I just realized two people can use the same name! Their is another posting with my name on it and it wasn’t me that posted! I’m sure because I didn’t know that info at all. Be careful Disgusted don’t say anything mean and tarnish my awesome me! LOL
Might be because the other ‘disgusted’ used a lower-case D or something…idk…I’m still trying to learn the ins and outs of this web template. I swear I’m going to have Ang’s rocket scientist/computer genius son design a site for us from scratch so that I’ll know my way around it without a damn two-week tutorial…I would dearly LOVE to have a wysiwyg site, complete with being able to size/crop pics how I want, place them where I want without guesswork, and use whatever font in whatever size I want too…I’ve been informed that a template for such a thing doesn’t exist, so if the boy genius could devise such a thing, I guess we could all retire here…
@shunned: Wow that was a courageous shot you just took at Jimmy Holloway. I mean it takes some balls to talk about a dead man. In your expert opinion the Holloway kids were better off that a cop killed their father? Intelligence just flows from your keyboard huh? You just be glad being an idiot isn’t a crime….@eileen: Seems like you hang on every post or comment on this website, you might want to find a hobby. Go find you a spot to have coffee and gossip like all the other senior citizens.
yeah the other used to post with lower case then changed it to the uppercase like mine. They probably didn’t realize that Mine was already there like that. No big deal as long as they make civil comments and of course agree with whatever I have to say! LOL
Totally different IP, tho.
@LEFTYLUCY…RIGHTYTIGHTY…seems like you need a cookie.
@LEFTY…I’M SORRY. WHAT I MEANT TO SAY IS THANK YOU FOR JOINING MY FAN CLUB ! and I guess you must hang on my every post? :o:
@ND…you know what else LEFTY?…I get such a kick out of YOU thinking you know what or how I conduct MY BUSINESS. And what I find outrageous is that YOU are bothered about how I spend my time? I mean come on, is YOUR life so empty that my “meaningless” posts get under your skin?…I’m sorry =( for you. And NEWS FLASH ! The only person I’m EVER going to worry about being bothered by my posts is the ADMIN. If that happens believe me I’ll worry BIG TIME. Now have a cookie and calm yourself down. By the way Johnny Holloway is a great friend of mine.
OOPS…I’m on Moderation so maybe he’s as tired of me as you are LEFTYLUCY. :8
Sorry…again…I don’t know why that’s happening.
I’m wondering if I shouldn’t change formats or something…
Whewww…had me worried for awhile! I was going to go commit Hari Kari but then I realized it would make too many folks happy… :((
Isn’t it ironic that Danny Gibbs is the whistle blower in a case involving a underage girl. Does anybody else remember how old his Danny’s wife was when they got hitched? Here’s a hint, it was two years younger than the victim in the fort case.