ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (KTVI) – A licensed police officer has a history of claims by women alleging abuse. Some claim the officer drugged and raped them.
Steven Blakeney quickly rose through the ranks of Pine Lawn PD, graduating the police academy in 2009 and becoming commander of the entire department in 2014.
As pine Lawn promoted him, women complained to police about harassment and rape.
Our Fox Files investigation has uncovered police reports and arrest warrant applications. The cases span nearly a decade, from St. Louis City to St. Charles County, involving at least four women. Some said Blakeney harassed them and others who told police he drugged them.
As indicated in a St. Louis City police report, from September of 2014, Billy Baker watched the officer in an unmarked car. Baker said the man was waiting outside of the Flamingo Bowl on Washington Avenue at 3 am.
Baker said, “The guy was obviously out there to prey on women that he thought were drunk.”
Baker remembers the September 2014 morning so clearly that he drew a diagram. It showed how the off duty officer’s unmarked car was parked so women would have to walk right by him. Baker was getting ready to drive three women home. Baker said, “He wanted them to get in the car, ‘Hey get in the car. I want to talk to you girls!'”
Reporter Chris Hayes followed up, “All three of them?”
Baker answered, “All three of them were walking out.”
(Hayes) “And your antenna is on.”
(Baker) “Yeah, I`m on high alert already. I was looking after them anyway. I wasn`t drinking.”
Baker said Blakeney didn`t see him until he spoke up to say, “The girls are safe. I`m driving them home.'” Then Baker said Blakeney “punched me in the face.”
As it’s also described in the police report, Baker said Blakeney also punched one of the girls. He said, “She fell down and basically was bleeding out of her mouth.” He added, “It’s scary to think of anybody forcing any person into doing something. I just had a really bad feeling about the guy.”
Baker snapped a photo of Blakeney’s license plate and police put out a `wanted` on it. Two weeks later, according to the police report, St. Louis Police saw the plate on an “unmarked” car that “activated a police siren” at “14th street and Spruce.” Police said it was Pine Lawn officer Steven Blakeney.
Blakeney had a different story. According to the same police report, he told police Baker and the women “approached his vehicle” after Blakeney “(pulled) onto Washington Avenue” and he said they were so aggressive that he “swatted” them away.
A few months later, Pine Lawn fired Blakeney after investigating statements from two other women about an incident in November, 2014. Both women said they woke up in his home and don`t know how they got there.
One woman described waking up to bruises on her thighs. She wrote, “I have no explanation as to where all these bruises came from.”
That was not the first time the City of Pine Lawn learned of complaints from women.
In 2012, St. Louis police investigated Blakeney for “forcible rape” after a 21 year old woman reported she “(might) have been drugged.” In the police report, she said she feared giving the suspect`s name because he was a police officer.
St. Louis police officers even brought in internal affairs, because they believed the officer was their own colleague. They pressed her and assured the victim what happened to her “was a crime.”
She gave the name Steven Blakeney. The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office declined to prosecute. A spokesperson told me they had insufficient evidence to prosecute.
Steven Blakeney declined to talk on camera, but by phone he denied every allegation and attacked the credibility of each woman. When I started asking about previous allegations against him, he e-mailed me a cease and desist order.
The previous cases involve other women described in police reports from 2006. The St. Charles County Police Department investigated and ultimately applied for warrants on Blakeney for statutory sodomy, sexual misconduct and giving alcohol to a minor. Though he was never charged, dozens of pages of investigative reports describe several victims, including an 18 year old who said “Blakeney gave her … a pill” and she woke up with “Blakeney`s… hands down (her) pants,” while on the stage at a bar.
Blakeney managed a bar at the time.
The St. Charles County Police investigation grew to include other accusations and led detectives all the way to the City of St. Louis.
In police reports, a manager at Hrabosky’s in St. Louis described a couple of women who thought Blakeney used “a date rape drug” on them.
Several women wrote police statements. One described waking up and feeling like she`d been sexually assaulted. She told police she “saw Blakeney in bed on top of (her friend) who believed that Blakeney had drugged (her friend) and had sex with (her) while (she) was passed out.”
Blakeney’s old boss at Hrabosky’s told police, “It is well known in the bar industry that Blakeney had drugged and raped many other girls.”
The report says “Blakeney did not deny sexual misconduct” and towards the end of the police interview, Blakeney admitted he lied about several things saying “I just think the cards are stacked against me.” The report also quotes him saying “I`m not going to own up to this. I`ll spend five years in jail.”
Then St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas did not press charges. Banas said he could not comment, because of his current position as a judge. Current prosecutor Tim Lohmar pulled the old file and said the lack of charges was not about whether they believed the women. He said problems came from what prosecutors thought they could prove at that time. He said it would’ve been a tough case with the women’s statements alone. He added that the women did not come forward early enough to detect “date rape” drugs in their systems. That testing was not done since it requires blood tests within 24 hours, Lohmar said.
Though Pine Lawn fired the officer, Blakeney currently holds a police license and could be hired by another department. Our investigation is continuing as we look at how he was able to get a police license.
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