Ex-Lake Co. cop gets prison for misconduct

A former Waukegan police officer acquitted of the most serious charges against him after a woman accused him of raping her in his squad car was sentenced to two years in prison Friday.

Although Delatwan Haynes was found not guilty of rape and kidnapping charges after a jury trial in March, that same jury convicted him of official misconduct.

Haynes, 34, was on patrol in the early morning hours of Jan. 6, 2008 when he stopped a woman for jaywalking in downtown Waukegan.

The woman said Haynes took a crack pipe away from her and told her to go home, then stopped her a few blocks away and ordered her into his car. Haynes drove the woman to a parking lot behind a truck rental lot, had sex with her, threw a condom out of the car and drove the woman home.

The woman called Waukegan police to report what had happened and returned to the lot to retrieve the condom, which tested positive for her DNA and Haynes'.

Haynes, a seven-year veteran who resigned from the department a short time later, admitted he had sex with the woman but said it was consensual.

A second woman testified at the trial that she had a similar experience with Haynes, but no additional charges were brought against him.

He was acquitted of aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The jury found him guilty of official misconduct for using a squad car for personal use, leaving his assigned patrol zone and filing false police reports.

Friday, Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Fix asked Associate Judge Christopher Stride to sentence Haynes to up to three years in prison because of the seriousness of the offense.

Waukegan attorney Jed Stone argued the offense was not serious enough to warrant prison, and "No one should go to prison for driving outside of his zone."

Stride said he believed Haynes' violation of public trust was very serious indeed.

"If I were to buy into that (argument) it would not be a slippery slope, it would be a perilous one," Stride said. "When a police officer decides what rules he will follow and what rules he will not, the result is chaos."

Haynes spent nearly 10 months in jail on a $1 million bond before being released on bond following his trial.