A former Chicago police sergeant who faced up to life in federal prison on charges stemming from the alleged on-duty sexual assault of a transgender woman pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor civil rights violation that could mean he avoids jail time.
James Sajdak, 65, entered his plea to a misdemeanor count of violating the victim’s civil rights on March 5, 2019, in a hearing before U.S. District Judge John Tharp
Sajdak, who retired from the force four years ago, had been scheduled to go to trial on a felony civil rights charge this week.
Instead of proceeding to trial, the U.S. attorney’s office amended the one-page indictment to a misdemeanor, striking specific allegations about kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault.
Sajdak faces up to a year in prison but would also be a candidate for probation. Tharp set a sentencing date of Feb. 23.
His attorney, Tim Grace, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Grace previously had said Sajdak was a recipient of the Police Department Medal of Valor and “represented the people of Chicago for more than 30 years.”
According to Sajdak’s plea agreement with prosecutors, he was on-duty, in uniform, and driving a marked squad car on the night of the incident when he spotted the victim walking near West Fifth and Kolmar avenues “and briefly activated his sirens.”
Sajdak demanded that the victim get into his car, and after the victim initially refused, he threatened her with arrest, saying words to the effect of, “‘You can get in the front or you can get in the back,’” according to the plea agreement.
The victim got in the front passenger side of the squad car and Sajdak drove to an abandoned lot in a secluded area, where he “locked the car doors, closed his police laptop, and turned off his police radio,” the plea stated.
He held the victim in the car “for the purposes of his own sexual gratification,” at one point biting the victim and causing an injury. “After the sexual assault, Sajdak attempted to give cash to Victim A,” the plea stated.
According to police reports reviewed by the Tribune at the time, the victim reported the sexual assault at Rush University Medical Center shortly after the alleged incident and also handed over what she said was DNA evidence implicating Sajdak.
But police weren’t able to talk to her until several weeks later. She told detectives that she had been sexually assaulted by a “white shirt,” a common reference to Chicago police supervisors because of their uniform.
The department stripped Sajdak of his police powers on April 6, 2019, based on the findings of an internal investigation. A little more than a week later, the sergeant retired after 30 years on the force.
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The lawsuit filed by the victim was quickly settled by the city for $100,000, records show
According to a recent filing by Sajdak’s lawyers, the complaining witness “entered Mr. Sajdak’s squad car voluntarily and with the intent to perform a sex act with Mr. Sajdak.” The filing stated they agreed upon a price for oral intercourse, and that “the complaining witness was paid for her services.”
The defense planned to argued the alleged victim went to the hospital not for medical treatment “but for evidence preservation.”
The incident was not the first time Sajdak had been accused of wrongdoing. Documents obtained by the Tribune through a public records request showed Sajdak had been recommended for firing more than 20 years ago after an investigation by the department’s internal affairs division.
That investigation found Sajdak and a partner had threatened to throw a convicted felon back into prison on bogus drug charges unless he handed over an illegal gun. Sajdak was ultimately given just a 30-day suspension.
Sajdak had previously been named in a 2013 federal lawsuit alleging that he and several other officers arranged for a woman to be strip-searched without justification. That suit was settled for $200,000, records show.