Woman sues after upstate N.Y. cop avoids rape charges
BY KERI BLAKINGER REUVEN BLAU
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, May 16, 2016, 4:00 AM
She'd called the police to report her teenage daughter missing and hours later Maleatra Montanez was being compelled by the responding officer to have sex with him in her living room.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't have to do this," Montanez, 40, said she pleaded with Syracuse police officer Chester Thompson, 47, during the alleged encounter on Valentine's Day 2015.
The officer, according to a sworn deposition Montanez gave in February, ignored her pleas. She gave the Daily News permission to use her name and she is identified in the court papers.
The veteran cop initially forced the mother of four to perform oral sex, and then ordered her to get a condom from an adjacent bedroom.
When she returned, Thompson demanded she turn around-looking right at her newborn son — while he raped her from behind, according to a sworn court deposition Montanez gave in February, obtained exclusively by The News.
A day after the incident occurred she went to the hospital and reported it to Syracuse police.
Thompson was arrested and criminally charged in March.
In December 2015, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct for having sex with Montanez — and another woman in three unrelated incidents — while on duty. He was booted off the police force and sentenced to three years of probation under the agreement.
He skated away with what amounts to a slap on the wrist without jail time, according to Montanez, who protested outside the courtroom when the sentence was formally announced.
Syracuse assistant district attorney Jeremy Cali has said he believes Montanez was intimidated and scared during the meeting.
But an apparent quirk in New York State law protects police officers from being charged with rape unless the alleged victim expressly says no and refuses.
Still, Montanez and her supporters believe the DA should have done more.
He skated away with what amounts to a slap on the wrist without jail time, according to Montanez, who protested outside the courtroom when the sentence was formally announced.
Syracuse assistant district attorney Jeremy Cali has said he believes Montanez was intimidated and scared during the meeting.
But an apparent quirk in New York State law protects police officers from being charged with rape unless the alleged victim expressly says no and refuses.
Still, Montanez and her supporters believe the DA should have done more.
Outside her front door, she saw Thompson, a white officer in uniform, fidgeting wildly, Montanez, who is black, testified.
"When I opened the door, he told me that I was pretty," Montanez recalled.
Still, she tried to calm him by pointing out no one else, aside from the newborn, was home to be worried about.
"I thought he was afraid…[there] might be a black man or somebody," she said.
That didn't help.
"He couldn't stand still," she said. "He just kept moving, biting on the bottom of his lip."
The sexual advances began immediately, she alleges.
Thompson told her she was "pretty," her butt was big, and that her "lips looked like it can hold…a penis," according her deposition.
He then allegedly began to rub his private parts with his hands while he looked at a photo of a younger Montanez near the couch.
After a brief phone call with her sister, Montanez says Thompson removed his penis and ordered her to perform oral sex.
"All I know is I said, 'Whoa!'" she recalled. "I noticed on his penis…he had a mark on his testicle and he had a mark on his penis…like a mole or a sore or something."
They were interrupted when a neighbor came over to help clean the apartment, Montanez said.
But Thompson answered the door and told the man to come back later because she was busy filing a police report.
When the man left he ordered her to "frisk me" — and during the pat down moved her hand over his pants covered penis.
"And he asked me do I love my son," Montanez testified. "So I had an idea of maybe what was getting ready to happen."
She thought about trying to choke him to death.
But decided against it due to fears she'd be unable to "choke him tight enough."
"I had millions of thoughts in my mind, but I didn't do it," she said.
Thompson then demanded she get a condom from her bedroom.
"We don't have to do this," she repeatedly pleaded through tears.
"He put the condom on and told me to face my son-to look at my son," she said.
Before leaving, Thompson noted he had a wife and children and asked several times if she was going to report him.
During the encounter Montanez said she kept on looking at Thompson's gun.
Still, she has blamed herself for not fighting back.
"I can't accept it," she said. "I can't accept it because I just feel like…I should've done more. And I can't accept that I just didn't do more."
"Why didn't I stab him?" she asked. "Why I didn't scream out my front door. Why I didn't do nothing."
She's not the only civilian to accuse an officer of rape or other sexual misconduct.
A yearlong investigation by the Associated Press found over 1,000 police officers nationwide were kicked off the force over the past six years for offenses including rape, sexual assault and possession of child pornography. The actual number of cases is believed to be higher but it is difficult to track because comprehensive data does not exist.
On Thursday, Montanez filed a $7 million suit against Thompson and several higher ups in the Syracuse Police Department. The suit alleges Thompson had a known history of abuses that should have been reviewed earlier. The case was first reported by Syracuse.com.
"We've had information from several sources that this is not the first time that Chester Thompson has engaged in this type of malfeasance," her lawyer, Sivin, said. "And it appears that this may have been going on for a period of years. And that people high up in the Syracuse Police Department knew about it and didn't take prompt remedial measures against him."
Thompson's criminal lawyer, the Syracuse District Attorney, and the Syracuse Police Department did not return calls seeking comment.
BY KERI BLAKINGER REUVEN BLAU
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, May 16, 2016, 4:00 AM
She'd called the police to report her teenage daughter missing and hours later Maleatra Montanez was being compelled by the responding officer to have sex with him in her living room.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't have to do this," Montanez, 40, said she pleaded with Syracuse police officer Chester Thompson, 47, during the alleged encounter on Valentine's Day 2015.
The officer, according to a sworn deposition Montanez gave in February, ignored her pleas. She gave the Daily News permission to use her name and she is identified in the court papers.
The veteran cop initially forced the mother of four to perform oral sex, and then ordered her to get a condom from an adjacent bedroom.
When she returned, Thompson demanded she turn around-looking right at her newborn son — while he raped her from behind, according to a sworn court deposition Montanez gave in February, obtained exclusively by The News.
A day after the incident occurred she went to the hospital and reported it to Syracuse police.
Thompson was arrested and criminally charged in March.
In December 2015, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct for having sex with Montanez — and another woman in three unrelated incidents — while on duty. He was booted off the police force and sentenced to three years of probation under the agreement.
He skated away with what amounts to a slap on the wrist without jail time, according to Montanez, who protested outside the courtroom when the sentence was formally announced.
Syracuse assistant district attorney Jeremy Cali has said he believes Montanez was intimidated and scared during the meeting.
But an apparent quirk in New York State law protects police officers from being charged with rape unless the alleged victim expressly says no and refuses.
Still, Montanez and her supporters believe the DA should have done more.
He skated away with what amounts to a slap on the wrist without jail time, according to Montanez, who protested outside the courtroom when the sentence was formally announced.
Syracuse assistant district attorney Jeremy Cali has said he believes Montanez was intimidated and scared during the meeting.
But an apparent quirk in New York State law protects police officers from being charged with rape unless the alleged victim expressly says no and refuses.
Still, Montanez and her supporters believe the DA should have done more.
Outside her front door, she saw Thompson, a white officer in uniform, fidgeting wildly, Montanez, who is black, testified.
"When I opened the door, he told me that I was pretty," Montanez recalled.
Still, she tried to calm him by pointing out no one else, aside from the newborn, was home to be worried about.
"I thought he was afraid…[there] might be a black man or somebody," she said.
That didn't help.
"He couldn't stand still," she said. "He just kept moving, biting on the bottom of his lip."
The sexual advances began immediately, she alleges.
Thompson told her she was "pretty," her butt was big, and that her "lips looked like it can hold…a penis," according her deposition.
He then allegedly began to rub his private parts with his hands while he looked at a photo of a younger Montanez near the couch.
After a brief phone call with her sister, Montanez says Thompson removed his penis and ordered her to perform oral sex.
"All I know is I said, 'Whoa!'" she recalled. "I noticed on his penis…he had a mark on his testicle and he had a mark on his penis…like a mole or a sore or something."
They were interrupted when a neighbor came over to help clean the apartment, Montanez said.
But Thompson answered the door and told the man to come back later because she was busy filing a police report.
When the man left he ordered her to "frisk me" — and during the pat down moved her hand over his pants covered penis.
"And he asked me do I love my son," Montanez testified. "So I had an idea of maybe what was getting ready to happen."
She thought about trying to choke him to death.
But decided against it due to fears she'd be unable to "choke him tight enough."
"I had millions of thoughts in my mind, but I didn't do it," she said.
Thompson then demanded she get a condom from her bedroom.
"We don't have to do this," she repeatedly pleaded through tears.
"He put the condom on and told me to face my son-to look at my son," she said.
Before leaving, Thompson noted he had a wife and children and asked several times if she was going to report him.
During the encounter Montanez said she kept on looking at Thompson's gun.
Still, she has blamed herself for not fighting back.
"I can't accept it," she said. "I can't accept it because I just feel like…I should've done more. And I can't accept that I just didn't do more."
"Why didn't I stab him?" she asked. "Why I didn't scream out my front door. Why I didn't do nothing."
She's not the only civilian to accuse an officer of rape or other sexual misconduct.
A yearlong investigation by the Associated Press found over 1,000 police officers nationwide were kicked off the force over the past six years for offenses including rape, sexual assault and possession of child pornography. The actual number of cases is believed to be higher but it is difficult to track because comprehensive data does not exist.
On Thursday, Montanez filed a $7 million suit against Thompson and several higher ups in the Syracuse Police Department. The suit alleges Thompson had a known history of abuses that should have been reviewed earlier. The case was first reported by Syracuse.com.
"We've had information from several sources that this is not the first time that Chester Thompson has engaged in this type of malfeasance," her lawyer, Sivin, said. "And it appears that this may have been going on for a period of years. And that people high up in the Syracuse Police Department knew about it and didn't take prompt remedial measures against him."
Thompson's criminal lawyer, the Syracuse District Attorney, and the Syracuse Police Department did not return calls seeking comment.
can't knock dude's hustle. Fucked up situation for her though 
