ST. LOUIS • A former St. Louis police officer has been charged with sodomy after a woman says he forced her into a sex act while he was on duty in 2015, according to court documents.
The victim said she called police because her car had been stolen from her home about 10 p.m. on June 12, 2015, in the 3600 block of Kosciusko Street, according to court documents. The woman was six months pregnant at the time.
Officer John Stewart responded in uniform and in a marked police car.
Sources confirmed to the Post-Dispatch that Stewart resigned from the police department less than a week after allegations of inappropriate sexual contact surfaced, so an internal affairs investigation was never completed. A department spokeswoman said Stewart was on the force from Jan. 3, 1989, to June 13, 2015.
Former Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce’s office declined to issue criminal charges against Stewart.
It’s unclear what led current Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to charge Stewart, 51, of O’Fallon, Mo., with sodomy on Jan. 31.
Her spokeswoman, Susan Ryan, said she could not discuss what caused prosecutors to change course because it is an open investigation.
In a statement, Ryan wrote: “Based upon our investigation over the last several months, Mr. Stewart has been charged with one count of Felony Sodomy or Attempted Sodomy in the 1st Degree. This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information about this incident should call the Circuit Attorney’s Office.”
Stewart posted a $60,000 bail, according to court records.
His attorney, John Rogers, refused to comment.
The Post-Dispatch does not name victims of sexual assault. In this case, the alleged victim, who was 25 at the time of the alleged assault, wrote the probable cause statement and is named in the court documents.
Having the alleged victim author the probable cause statement is “not common, but not unusual,” Ryan said. “It’s another way to bring these cases forward,” she said.
The victim alleges that she and Stewart discussed her stolen car while he was standing outside the doorway to her apartment.
“After the defendant concluded his official duties as a police officer, he requested to enter my apartment,” according to the statement. He then began complimenting the victim’s physical appearance.
The victim wrote that she refused to let him touch her and that he then exposed himself to her, according to the documents.
“I did not consent to the defendant’s sexual advances, but complied as I was in fear of serious physical injury to myself and my children, who were present at the time,” she wrote.
The victim said she preserved some of the evidence following the alleged assault, and the crime lab later confirmed the presence of Stewart’s DNA on a garment and a cup.
Her cousin filmed a 10-minute documentary about the ordeal, interviewing her in a hospital bed where she was battling cancer. She said she had just put her four children to bed for the night and feared Stewart might kill her if she didn’t comply given that the shootings of Michael Brown and VonDerrit Myers had recently happened. Both were black men killed by white police officers .
Stewart’s alleged victim is black and Stewart is white.
“I did what I thought was best and that was being compliant,” she said in the video. “Obviously, he knew that I didn’t want to do it.”