Custodial Sexual Misconduct Alleged In Edgar County Sheriff’s Department –

Edgar Co., IL. (ECWd) –

We recently became aware of allegations of Custodial Sexual Misconduct, Bringing Contraband into a Penal Institution, and Official Misconduct against now-former Edgar County Corrections Officer, Mark C. Holloway.

This involved one suspect, two victims, five witnesses, and four employees were also questioned. It was initially disposed of in an “internal investigation” by the Edgar County Sheriff’s Department with Holloway resigning – which obviously had not reported it to the Illinois State Police as they had been forced to do in a previous incident of custodial sexual misconduct where two corrections officers were found guilty and sentenced to time in jail. The previous incident saw then-deputy Roger Hopper offering for them to “resign with dignity” instead of prosecution – which worked…until the State Police became involved.

This most recent incident(s) happened in mid-2015, was reported to the Edgar County Sheriff Jeff Wood, in mid-2016 and came to the attention of the Paris Police Department in January of 2020 while they were working on a separate case. The PPD then undertook their own investigation of the allegations and asked for a warrant for the arrest of Holloway.

After the PPD investigation, they requested a warrant for the arrest of Mark C. Holloway for the offenses of Custodial Sexual Misconduct and Bringing Contraband into a Penal Institution. We can find no evidence of an arrest warrant actually approved, nor of any charges leveled against Holloway by the Edgar County State’s Attorney, Attorney General, or the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office.

Here are the allegations from the redacted police report: – (please remember these are allegations and the suspect should be considered innocent until proven guilty in court)

• There were six video-taped interviews with five separate women
• One indicated Holloway passed notes among female and male inmates
• Another said she was told by the victim that she had had sex with Holloway on the stairs and in the patrol car
• Another repeated the story of the victim having sex with Holloway in the patrol car and upstairs in the jail – and appeared to be hearsay and not first-hand knowledge
• Another indicated when she was incarcerated, Holloway would provide her with cigarettes, was kissed by Holloway when he got her out and they kissed by the soda machines and the side entrance to the kitchen, and that Holloway would provide her with an extra dose of Xanex. She called Holloway a “pig” and a “dog” for what he did to her and other inmates
• Another indicated that while an inmate, she had sexual intercourse with Holloway between April and July of 2015 in the “bullpen” through the bars of the cell along with other sexual contact, said they “made out” through the bars almost every night, she gave him oral sex through the bars, while he transported her to Marshall for a jail and court he asked if he could pull the car over for sexual favors, and that he would wake her up in the middle of the night while the other inmates were sleeping – with his most recent attempt to wake her up was the night before her interview
• Another person interviewed mentioned a night when Holloway was caught retrieving a cup of tobacco he had hidden outside the jail for an inmate
• Another female indicated her, and Holloway would frequently be kissing each other, she received controlled substances (Klonopin – from an inmate who was no longer in custody but left his prescription behind) from Holloway while she was incarcerated, he gave her cigarettes, had sex with Holloway at the rear wall of the bullpen (twice), Holloway let her use his cell phone to use Facebook and to message people