Report: Detective in Riley Fox case linked to other lawsuits, accusations

A suburban Chicago detective involved in the discredited prosecution of Kevin Fox has been linked to other cases that have gone awry, according to a published report.

Will County Sheriff's Sgt. Edward Hayes, the focus of a recent successful lawsuit filed by Fox and his wife, also features in three other major cases that ended in acquittal, failed appellate review or collapsed before trial, according to published reports.

The newspaper also reported that Hayes, who still works for the sheriff's department, was fired by the Alsip Police Department the 1980s after allegedly hitting two handcuffed men.

He and several of his fellow detectives came under scrutiny after Kevin Fox and his wife accused them of fabricating evidence in the slaying of their 3-year-old daughter, Riley. Kevin Fox spent months in jail for that crime before being freed by DNA evidence.

Last month, a jury sided with the Fox and his wife, awarding them more than $15 million in damages. Defense attorneys are appealing that decision.

Hayes, who once won the department's "Deputy of the Year" award, declined to be interviewed by the Tribune for its report. And a message left on Hayes' office voice mail by The Associated Press on Sunday was not immediately returned.

But a Will County sheriff's spokesman defended the 19-year department veteran, saying that detectives in the thick of so many cases often become the target of criticism.

"If you work a lot of these things, you are going to be accused of a lot of things -- Monday morning quarterbacking," Pat Barry said in reports.

Hayes oversaw other detectives who also were held liable in the Fox lawsuit. He also participated in an interrogation in which police allegedly coerced Fox into a false confession.

One of the other cases cited by the paper was "Operation Sleepover."

In that case, in which four Joliet-area hotel owners and the wife of another were accused of selling customers' credit-card numbers, Hayes also served as a supervisor.

That case fell apart last year before the dozen people eventually charged went to trial. Defendants claimed an informant duped investigators.

As a result, Will County now faces multiple lawsuits, according to reports.

Earlier, in the 1990s, Hayes was a detective in two murder cases in which the suspects eventually went free.

In a 1999 case, a man was freed after an appeals court overturned his murder conviction. He alleged he was beaten during interrogation. The court said Hayes and another detective failed to prove the man was not beaten.

And in 1997, a man acquitted of killing his wife claimed in a civil rights suit that Hayes withheld evidence and misled witnesses and others involved in the case. A judge, however, dismissed the allegations before trial, saying there had been probable cause to arrest the man.