State Cops Admit to Screw Up in Sex Offender Case

A state police employee admitted under oath that her agency screwed up when they mistakenly put a Joliet man on the sex offender registry in 2008.

The deposition testimony from Tracie Newton, the supervisor of the state police's sex offender registration unit, contradicts the claims of a state police captain who put the blame squarely on a Shorewood cop who ended up getting sued for the mistake.

The state police captain, Scott Compton, denied that his agency bore any responsibility for putting Scott Ibarra on the sex offender registry when asked about the matter in October 2009.

"We don't do the registry. That happens at the local agency," Compton said. "We received notification from the Shorewood Police Department that Mr. Ibarra committed an offense" that would require him to register as a sex offender.

Soon after Compton made these statements, Ibarra sued Shorewood police Lt. Jeff Hanley for allegedly placing him on the sex offender list in error. Hanley was retired from the department by the time Ibarra took the legal action.

But while Ibarra was going after Hanley, Newton said during a deposition last month that it was her agency and not Hanley who messed up.

Newton confirmed that the state police conducted an investigation of Ibarra after being contacted by Hanley.

But even though the state police probed Ibarra's criminal history, its investigators apparently failed to do a very thorough job. The state police also neglected to contact Ibarra before putting him on the list.

The state police started the investigation after Hanley notified them that Ibarra was convicted of rape while serving in the Navy in 1997. Hanley learned of this after Ibarra's ex-wife, who lived in Shorewood, told a police officer about it.

The state police determined the conviction was enough to make Ibarra a registered sex offender, but failed to realize the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals had overturned the conviction and cleared Ibarra's record.

Confronted with his past statements in light of Newton's testimony, Compton claimed to have forgotten all about Ibarra and Hanley.

"I don't remember any of this," Compton said on Wednesday. He added that he would look into the matter and call back to discuss it further. He has yet to call.

The state police apparently knew they were at fault a year before Compton denied it was the state police's responsibility. In an Oct. 15, 2008, e-mail from Newton to a Christopher Campbell of the state police, she said, "Just an FYI, I have a feeling we will be hearing from his lawyer regarding him being placed on our website in error."

Then, in a Nov. 3, 2009, e-mail from Newton to state police Cmdr. Mark Henry, she mentions Compton's involvement with the media and says, "We were quite vague in our response" to a reporter.

In the same e-mail, Newton said she "spoke to (legal counsel) John Hosteny and Scott Compton regarding the whole situation. John Hosteny told me not to be too concerned with this, we made an error. More than likely we will be named in the lawsuit if there is one and we will deal with it then. But he wasn't overly concerned."

Ibarra's attorney, John Schrock, dropped the lawsuit against Hanley on Thursday. Schrock said going after the state police is not an option as the statute of limitations on the case has lapsed.

Hanley failed to return calls for comment. His attorney, James Murphy, said his client was completely in the right, as evidenced by Newton's statements.

"It's an unfortunate event. Certainly, Jeff Hanley did everything right and everything that would be expected of a police officer in his situation," Murphy said. "It's the state police that screwed up and they didn't take responsibility for it."