ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Illinois – A former sheriff’s deputy accused of soliciting sex from a woman he pulled over was sued in federal court Wednesday, along with the St. Clair County sheriff.
The lawsuit says that Robert Sneed pulled the Cahokia woman over on Feb. 16, 2017. She was driving a newly purchased car, and didn’t have her title, license or insurance with her.
Sneed told her he would follow her home so she could get the title, the suit says. He went inside her home to use the bathroom, then demanded oral sex in exchange for not towing her car or taking her to jail, the suit says.
She refused, and Sneed approached her and grabbed her, the suit says. He was in uniform and armed, and she “was extremely scared,” the lawsuit says. She took him to her bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her, the suit says.
Sneed returned on Aug. 28, pushing his way into the woman’s home and raping her, the lawsuit says.
“We just want to make sure that he’s brought to justice — that this is exposed,” said the woman’s attorney, Louis J. Meyer. He added, “We want to put it out there to see if other people will come forward.”
Sneed, 45, of the 9700 block of Winchester Street in Mascoutah, faces two counts of official misconduct in St. Clair County Circuit Court. He was placed on administrative leave after the charges were filed but has since resigned.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, seeks unspecified compensation from Sneed, Sheriff Richard Watson and the county for alleged constitutional violations, assault and battery and other claims. The woman is not identified in the suit.
The suit says the sheriff’s office knew that Sneed was going through emotional problems after the death of his son in 2016, yet continued to allow him to work.
Watson’s office had not yet seen the suit and declined to comment Wednesday.
Sneed had worked as a deputy for five years and had been an officer on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina, Watson said at the time.