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March 29, 2024

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

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On March 28, 2022

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
PPD-ECS Custodial Misconduc t-Kraft FOIA_Redacted

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4 Comments
  • Donna Throneburg
    Posted at 12:14h, 28 March

    Funny thing about truth, no matter how deep one tries to bury it, the truth always surfaces seeking the light.

  • John Doe
    Posted at 12:46h, 28 March

    We can’t say anyone is guilty cause there’s been no warrants issued. Wait! Wasn’t there warrants going to be issued a couple of years ago in the big overtime billing fiasco that were somehow done away with at the last minute?? .Hey…it’s Edgar County. What do you expect? “Nothing to see here, folks. Just some jail scum running their mouths ’cause they’re pissed off at staff and the system that put them here.” The dirt will always be swept under the rug and the people in power will never answer for their misdeeds. That’s just the way it is here. What a shame.

  • Cindy
    Posted at 06:50h, 29 March

    Check out Delete Lawz. He’s all over this kind of corruption that goes on everywhere in the prison system. It’s endemic.

  • Robert O Bogue
    Posted at 09:13h, 29 March

    Humph, Sheriff Jeff Wood…..and the Sheriffs Office, again. The jail is full of those accused of and convicted of crimes, but, it appears, that Sheriff Wood doesn’t follow the same rules when dealing with his officers. Why not? Too much paper work to process?
    And since it’s Sheriff Wood and his leadership again, recall the firebombing at the Edgar County Airport with Jimmy Wells and Chris Patrick as leading suspects.
    (No longer me, I volunteered and passed my polygraph).

    Documents created by Derek Weston as an ISP officer: one and the same, now working as an EC sheriff’s lead deputy: .are missing..
    Wood, Issaf and the gang couldn’t find them under a FOIA request and convinced an EC judge of the same in a FOIA hearing, They’d looked hard enough. Poof! Once they were there in Sheriff Jeff Woods Office and now, they’re missing. No effort to replace them either.
    FYI….FOIA ed documents received from the ISP demonstrated copies of the 200+ page final report were sent to the Edgar County Sheriff Wood’s Office and now, half of that file is missing. Proven facts. Woops again.
    It certainly appears as though sexual favors given to deputies are not frowned upon under Jeff Woods leadership. It also appears when your friends are suspects in a firebombing case, lost documents are just a coincidence.

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