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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
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NIU employee: Police chief asked files be removed By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com
SYCAMORE – Sexual assault charges against former Northern Illinois University police officer Andrew Rifkin were dropped Tuesday after more testimony raised questions about the NIU Police Department withholding information. DeKalb County State’s Attorney Clay Campbell called the NIU police’s mishandling of information “egregious” and said he had little confidence all the information in the case had been brought forth by the department. His comments came after hearing of a latenight meeting that took place between NIU police Chief Donald Grady and an information technology specialist to remove personal files from the chief’s laptop. Campbell said he could not put Rifkin’s liberty in jeopardy any longer. “I do not see how I can Andrew allow this prosecution to Rifkin: go forward,” Campbell Former NIU said. “My highest duty police officer as state’s attorney is to has sexual assure justice is done.” assault Rifkin, 24, of North- charges brook, was fired from dismissed. the NIU force Oct. 28, 2011, the same day his accuser came forward with the allegations. She alleged Rifkin had assaulted her at his apartment in Cortland while off-duty. Campbell’s decision to drop the charges came moments after listening to sworn testimony from Haider Thahab, a computer forensic expert with NIU who said Grady called him the night of Nov. 9 and asked to meet him at the police department. Thahab said he removed files from Grady’s laptop and transferred them to a flash drive that night and gave it to Grady. Grady was placed on administrative leave Nov. 10, along with Lt. Kartik Ramakrishnan for failing to report two witness statements that would have aided Rifkin’s defense. Friends of Rifkin’s accuser told officers their friend had an ongoing consensual sexual relationship with Rifkin, but that he had not assaulted her. Despite being banned from the police department, Ramakrishnan also called Thahab on the morning of Nov. 11 and asked to meet with him at the office and remove personal files from his computer. Thahab said Ramakrishnan’s computer access had been blocked at that point, so he could not follow through with the request. Thahab said he did not know what files he removed from Grady’s computer other than documents related to Grady’s book, “The Injustice of Justice.” Jim Fatz, director of NIU information security and operations, also testified Tuesday and said he met with Thahab along with Acting Director of Public Safety Bill Nicklas on Nov. 12 after learning about the meeting.
See CHARGES, page A5
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
Cindy Bocklund frosts cakes Tuesday in the Voluntary Action Center’s kitchen as Helen Teagues (right) assembles food trays for Meals on Wheels in Sycamore.
Voluntary Action Center plans expansion By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The DeKalb County Volunteer Action Center could begin work on a $15 million facility this summer that would allow it to offer expanded bus service, including a shuttle to the Elburn Metra Station. Tom Zucker, executive director of the center, said the agency is closer to beginning plans for a 83,000 square-foot facility near the intersection of Peace and County Farm roads. The county has authorized 12 acres of land for the agency’s use and multiple grants have been identified, Zucker said. The facility would be more than six times the size of the existing 13,000 square-foot operation. The increasing demand for services such as Meals on Wheels, transportation to Kishwaukee College and stops at more than 80 locations on DeKalb and Sycamore bus routes have made expansion a necessity, Zucker said. “We’ve known here the facilities have been overcrowded for several years,” Zucker said. “Ultimately, the size of facilities we’re able to build will depend on our ability to raise funds.” VAC has provided public and community transportation services for 38 years, starting in 1974 when it gave 7,111 rides. The or-
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
A parking lot with all the spaces filled is seen through a full-sized bus that cannot fit inside the Voluntary Action Center’s garage Tuesday in Sycamore. Limited parking and garage space are just a few of the issues VAC currently works around. ganization provided 208,196 rides last year. During the years of increased demand, the agency has operated out of a building that opened in 1988 and was built to house about 25 vehicles, not the 41 in the current fleet. To fund the expansion, Zucker said he has worked with county and city leaders to pursue state and federal grants that would require no local matching funds.
DeKalb has received a $2 million Federal Transit Administration grant that will go toward the project, and both the city and county hope to receive a $3 million Illinois Department of Transportation grant, which would account for $8 million of the $15 million needed. Zucker said he is confident VAC could make up the balance through federal grants as a lobby-
ist with the State Transportation Association is working at no cost to VAC to secure money for the project in the highway bill. “We only targeted grants that do not require local matching funds because most local governments would be hard-pressed to step up and provide that,” Zucker said.
See EXPANSION, page A5
District 428 official says land swap still in works By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Although DeKalb School District 428 has withdrawn a proposal to rezone property it intends to swap with homebuilder ShoDeen Construction, the land swap plan is still on track, officials said Tuesday. A public hearing on rezoning part of Kiwanis Park for commer-
cial use scheduled for the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting today was canceled after the school district withdrew the petition Monday. District 428 Superintendent Jim Briscoe said the district had given ShoDeen permission to see how the land, located south of Huntley Middle School and west of the intersection of Fourth Street and Fairview Drive, could be zoned. That will not
happen for the foreseeable future, Briscoe said, in part because district officials do not want people to think the developer already owns the land. “It’s to resolve any confusion from the public about the land,” Briscoe said. Both Briscoe and ShoDeen President David Patzelt said they still want to go ahead with the landswap plan, in which District 428
would trade the roughly 41-acre park for about 34 acres of land ShoDeen owns around DeKalb High School. District officials see the land near the high school as more valuable because it could be used for future expansion. The primary use of the Kiwanis Park property is for community soccer fields.
See LAND SWAP, page A5
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