Shelby Co. (ECWd) –
In our first article on the alleged child rapist, I closed it out with one statement.
“The only information we have at this point is the case was administratively closed yet no one even questioned the alleged perpetrator of the crime at that time.”
We now have some more definitive answers and they are troubling.
The alleged criminal acts took place clear back in 2016 according to the information filed in the case.
The case was administratively closed by former Under Sheriff David Pruitt in July of 2022. We asked Shelby County Sheriff Brian McReynolds if he was aware of the case and its closure in July of 2022.
“I had no involvement in that case and was not part of the decision on it.” -Brian McReynolds
Note he did not answer the question pertaining to awareness of the case and its closure. He simply stated he was not involved or part of the decision on it. That does not tell us if he was aware of the case. If he had no knowledge of a case like this it points to serious internal control issues as one would think the Sheriff would be kept informed on all criminal matters, including an alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl.
McReynolds also indicated there does not appear to be any record of the defendant being questioned after the initial complaint nor is there any knowledge or documentation that the matter was ever sent over to the State’s Attorney at the time.
We asked McReynolds if the defendant confessed to the crimes. We asked because logic would indicate yes since he was arrested for an alleged crime that on the surface would be a he said-she said case since it happened in 2016 when the girl was 10 years old and no real investigation took place by law enforcement. Did he confess?
“We assume he did since he’s in custody. However, we can not say for sure since ISP conducted the interview and we do not know the results of it.”
We asked if there was going to be an internal investigation to determine why the case was closed and this child was not protected from what appears to be a rapist.
“Undersheriff Pruitt left the Dept., I can only conclude it was due to DCFS/CAC closing the case. This is a valid concern as Crimes Against children should be one of our highest priorities.”
My response to his statement: “So since Pruitt left the department there is not going to be any investigation as to how this happened?”
“No that is not what I meant. We have already started looking into this and are wanting to learn from this for future cases. Thank You, Sheriff Brian McReynolds”
While I agree they should want to learn from this for future cases, the question we believe that must be answered is how can one person administratively close an alleged rape case without the knowledge of his boss and do so without ever questioning the alleged rapist? Will he ever face any accountability to his actions on this matter?
We have been told this investigation is ongoing so we do not know who took the original complaint years ago and never investigated it as one would expect.
David Pruitt left Shelby County in March of this year and now works for the city of Decatur at the Police Department but not in a law enforcement position.
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