cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7023515
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/13280
Content warning: intimate partner abuse, police violence
A new federal lawsuit details a years’ long pattern in which leaders in the Chicago Police Department ignored complaints that an officer had “repeatedly physically, mentally, and sexually abused” a fellow detective.
Attorneys for the victim, identified only as Jane Doe for her safety, allege Chicago police detective Marco Torres viciously abused her and threatened her life. They also claim high-ranking officials, including then-chief of the Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) Yolanda Talley, not only failed to protect Doe, but also retaliated against her for reporting the abuse. Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti are also named defendants.
According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Thursday, Torres relentlessly tried to find Doe’s new home address despite an order of protection against him.
In one text exchange with a fellow officer submitted as evidence, he allegedly writes from a burner phone that he needs her address because he has a “guy from gangs” who “can get rid of her” for “a grand:”
Screengrab of a text message allegedly from Marco Torres to another CPD officer. Source: Court filing
The complaint also states that CPD officials were aware of the text message, which the recipient sent to investigators at BIA, but they never warned Doe of the threat or launched an investigation.
Attorneys say the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) also failed to properly investigate the incidents of abuse—and their client received “what amounted to a form letter” from Deputy Corporation Counsel of the Employment Litigation Division for the City’s Department of Law when they tried to escalate their complaints.
Just last month, attorneys say, Doe also found a GPS tracking device on her car which she believes Torres used to stalk her.
Torres is currently under court mandated electronic monitoring after he was convicted of assault in December 2024 over his previous threats to kill Doe.
As a result of that conviction, he was placed in court supervision, ordered to wear a GPS ankle monitor for one year, and Doe was granted a one year order of protection. The GPS monitor provides real-time alerts to survivors of domestic violence when their abuser is detected within a set proximity.
Around Thanksgiving, just days before Torres’ court mandated electronic monitoring was set to expire, Doe received numerous alerts while driving on the expressway. Concerned about how Torres could know where she was, she had her vehicle inspected and found a tracking device behind the wheel well.
The lawsuit expands upon allegations originally detailed in a whistleblower complaint filed by the same Jane Doe in the Cook County Circuit Court in 2023, and follows an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determination that there was “reasonable cause” that the department discriminated and retaliated against Doe based on gender.
“The City chose to put her life in danger”
Chicago police detective Marco Torres, March 14 2024.
The complaint describes a pattern of ambivalence, retaliation, and misogyny within the City and police department’s leadership.
Doe formally reported Torres’ abuse to BIA in November 2022. After sitting for an “hours-long” interview with BIA and members of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, providing documentation, witness information, and describing specific evidence on Torres’ phone, the officials “refused” to investigate further, closing the case in December 2022. Doe was then reassigned to another unit.
Allegedly, Torres warned Doe that if she reported him, he was involved in another “sexual relationship” with a BIA officer who “would lie for him and who could get Doe fired.” He also detailed how he planned to kill her with her own gun to make it look like a suicide, and repeatedly threatened to kill himself as well. One of those threats, included in the filing, was sent from his Chicago Police Department email address:
Screenshot of an email from Marco Torres. Source: Court filing
In February 2023, concerned about Doe’s safety, her attorneys say they sent additional details and documentation about Torres’ alleged abuse to the Chief of Constitutional Policing and Reform, Angel Novalez. They received no response.
Doe’s attorneys tried Talley again in March 2023, asking her to re-open the closed BIA investigation. After no response, they emailed her again, asking her to confirm receipt and to confirm that she would re-open the investigation.
According to the complaint, Talley responded with one word: “Received.” The investigation was not re-opened.
At least two other CPD officers reportedly submitted written reports about Torres, one of which described violence and stalking against a different female officer years earlier. During this time, again, Talley allegedly did not investigate or recommend any disciplinary action against Torres.
While CPD was ignoring the problem, attorneys say, Torres continued to harass and stalk his fellow detective. After filing an EEOC complaint in April 2023, and subsequently filing “more than a dozen” police reports about Torres’ actions, Doe petitioned the courts for a civil Order of Protection in September 2023, which was granted.
At that time, CPD stripped Torres of his police powers—not over alleged abuse or criminal conduct, but because he was prohibited by Illinois law from possessing a firearm due to the Order of Protection against him. Torres took a leave of absence, but otherwise faced no discipline.
Doe alleges that after reporting multiple violations of the Order of Protection to CPD, they still took no action to investigate or discipline Torres. The first breakthrough finally came after two events: Doe’s attorneys requested that personnel from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office participate in any subsequent interviews with BIA, and after that, Torres showed up at Doe’s workplace at 1:00 a.m., at the end of her shift, which another detective reported to BIA.
An Assistant State’s Attorney began investigating the case. They interviewed a witness who had personally witnessed Torres’ physical abuse and death threats in September 2022. Finally, in March 2024, Torres was arrested and charged with assault and domestic battery. At that time, he was also ordered to wear an electronic monitor.
According to the complaint, however, the electronic monitoring did not dissuade Torres from continuing to terrorize his victim. As Cook County Sheriff’s deputies were at Torres’ home fitting him with his new ankle monitor, Torres “repeatedly and aggressively” asked deputies to tell him Doe’s home address, referring to Doe as a “bitch.”
Sheriff’s deputies found his behavior so concerning they notified their supervisor, who then contacted Doe to warn her. She filed a police report about the incident.
On May 20, 2024, less than two months later, Torres allegedly texted a fellow officer from a burner phone asking for Doe’s address, saying he needed it for his gang contact to “get rid of her” for “a grand.” The recipient provided BIA with a copy of the text and warned Doe that Torres had made a threat, but did not send her the text. Despite attorneys’ repeated requests for a copy of the text to assess the threat, CPD ignored their requests, never investigated, and never notified Doe of the direct threat against her life.
“When the City became aware of the text message seeking Doe’s address for the purpose of having her killed, it did nothing—not one thing—to alert her to this grave threat,” attorneys write in the filing. “By choosing not to inform Doe that a hit man may have been hired to kill her, the City made a deliberate choice to intentionally place Doe in harm’s way.”
Only after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office investigated Torres’ earlier harassing text messages and calls to potential witnesses were they able to correlate cell tower pings for Torres’ burner phone with the same location as Torres’ ankle monitor.
In March 2025, Torres was arrested and indicted on yet another charge: felony harassment of a witness.
In that case, prosecutors allege Torres told a witness to his abusive behavior that he could get his commander, Arleseuia Watson, to fire her if he wanted. Watson was a Lieutenant in the Confidential Section of BIA in November 2022.
She previously worked with both Torres and Doe before she joined BIA, and failed to recuse herself from the Torres investigation, Doe’s attorneys say was involved in summarily shutting down the initial investigation into Torres and not long after, was promoted to Commander of Area 1 Detective Division, where Torres was assigned.
Torres’ electronic monitoring has been extended until a February 2, 2026 hearing to determine whether violated the terms of his probation.
A pattern of inaction and retaliation
Chicago police officer Krystal Rivera was shot and killed by her partner Carlos Baker in June 2025. Source: Chicago Police Department
The pattern of protecting officers—in particular, male officers—is so common, it has a name: The Code of Silence. Doe’s complaint cites several similar cases where CPD failed to take action against domestic abusers on the force and others where police brass retaliated against whistleblowers.
One of the most recent examples of the department’s alleged failure to act swiftly against an officer with a history of excessive force and domestic violence is not cited in the complaint—because the allegations were just made public the same day Doe’s federal lawsuit was filed.
The family of Krystal Rivera, who was fatally shot by her partner, Carlos Baker, filed a lawsuit this week alleging Rivera had recently broken off a romantic relationship with Baker and that she believed he posed a threat to her. Attorneys point to Baker’s previous history of misconduct and domestic violence allegations, which the department failed to address even when he was a probationary officer and could have been summarily dismissed.
Another relatively recent case includes a domestic violence investigation where the Office of the Inspector General recommended the police department fire Officer Tri Tran. Investigators concluded there was ample evidence he threatened to kill his girlfriend and her entire family.
Instead, police brass chose to give Tran a two-month suspension.
Tran has since served his suspension, and he is now working as a Community Policing Officer in the 1st District.
Since 2018, the department has moved to terminate only nine officers with sustained domestic violence allegations, according to public records. In total, 66 officers had domestic violence allegations sustained in the same time period.
Of seven other officers COPA has recommended for termination, four resigned before the department took action, and three are still awaiting action from the Superintendent.
Often, these investigations take years to complete.
In another instance, COPA recommended a six-to-twelve month suspension for Enrique Delgado Fernandez, an officer with an extensive history of violence. The agency’s investigation into an incident where he forced an ex-partner into his squad car and held her captive for hours while driving on the highway took nearly five years to complete. In the end, Superintendent Snelling issued Fernandez a suspension of six months, which he then appealed via arbitration. Fernandez is currently assigned to the 7th District in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.
The president of the Chicago police union FOP Lodge 7, John Catanzara, received only a 30-day suspension after stalking a woman, breaking into her home, and violating an order of protection.
In another case, officer Laura Kubiak was working in CPD’s Office of News Affairs in 2012 when she was assaulted and threatened by fellow officer Veejay Zala. One officer who witnessed the incident later said they thought Zala was going to pull his gun and shoot Kubiak.
During the altercation, Zala shouted, “You are nothing, you are a stupid bitch, you don’t know how to be the police, I am the police, I am the real police.”
Their boss would prove Zala right by later reassigning Kubiak to work the midnight shift in the South Chicago district. A jury awarded Kubiak nearly $2 million in 2019. The case eventually cost taxpayers over $5 million in legal fees and interest.
Doe’s lawsuit is seeking compensation for lost wages and benefits, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, and an injunction to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against women and against whistleblowers.
Upon learning of the suit filed Thursday, attorney Michael Leonard, who is currently representing Torres, told Unraveled: “in my opinion, it appears to be a meritless case.”
A Chicago Police Department spokesperson confirmed that Torres is not currently on duty. He has not been separated (fired) from the department, but is listed as “inactive.”
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