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Attorney for Rollins’ Victims Said APD Knew About Serial Rapes
Alleges police department did nothing to stop attacks
By Grace Jang
Bio | Email | Follow: @GraceJangKTVA

ANCHORAGE - A jury last year convicted former Anchorage police officer Anthony Rollins of serial rape.

More than a year later, his victims are locked in a battle with the municipality as they try to get answers as to why Rollins wasn't pulled off the streets sooner.

And now an attorney for some of Rollins' victims said the police officer had raped many, many other women. And she said APD knew about the attacks and did nothing.

"You cannot have consent with a gun to your head or a badge in your face, ladies and gentlemen. Tell these six women you heard them when they said no. Thank you," said Chief Assistant District Attorney Sharon Marshall during Rollins February 2011 trial.

Last February an Anchorage jury agreed, and found Rollins guilty of sexually assaulting five of six women and abusing police power by using APSIN – the Alaska Public Safety Information Network – to stalk his victims.

“I have trouble believing Rollins was the only one,” said Christine Schleuss, the attorney for Rollins’ victims.

Schleuss represents five of Rollins' victims who are now suing the municipality and the Anchorage Police Department.

“If a jury determined that a fair amount to attempt to compensate them was a million dollars, 10 million dollars, every one of them would tell you: I would not take the money if I could go back and have this not happen to me,” Schleuss said.

The women declined to speak with us but told their stories on the stand.

"I should have said, 'no.' I should have told him to stop. Like, I don't know. I really didn't feel like I could do anything,” one victim said on February 1, 2011.

“Why did you feel like you couldn't do anything?” the district attorney asked.

“Because he has so much power and he could, like, cause problems for me, I guess,” the victim said, crying.

On February 2, 2011, another victim testified, crying, “He unzipped his pants and he took his thing out, he grabbed my hand, he took my hand and put it on himself.

Schleuss said they aren't the only women to share the nightmare.

“There were many more, many more,” she said.

“I cant tell you how many there are – 20, 30,” Schleuss said. “I can't finish reading them all so I can't tell you… because how many transcripts of women who were raped can I read at one time?”

In court documents, the municipality states it “did not have a legal duty to protect” the women from Rollins.

The municipal attorney's office goes on to say the women's “injuries, if any, are the result of pre-existing conditions.” It also said the women “failed to mitigate damages.”

Those are confusing claims that municipal attorney Dennis Wheeler refused to explain, saying Schleuss is “trying her case in the media.”

But Schleuss said it's obvious to her what the city means.

“Blame the victim – that's what they said in every single case.”

Schleuss said it's clear the municipality could have and should have stopped Rollins sooner.

On February 23, 2011, KTVA asked Police Chief Mark Mew when APD was first made aware Rollins was having sex on the job. Mew answered he could not give a specific date, but it was in the mid-2000s.

According to a search warrant, though, it was earlier than that – in 2001, when police investigated a rumor that a black APD officer received oral sex from a woman in the hall of a Russian Jack apartment. That investigation determined the officer was Anthony Rollins.

Regardless of the exact timelines, APD knew there was a problem with Officer Rollins and, for five years, Schleuss said, did nothing about it except to watch him.

“They had two search warrants on this guy to track his car. They had one in 2003, 2004, and they had another one in the summer of 2008,” Schleuss said.

During that time at least one of Rollins' supervisors tried to dismiss him, telling superiors, "He needs to be out of there. He cannot be in a unit where he's not supervised."

But Rollins remained on the job, and even had a year-long affair during his shifts with a married woman from his church that he said was consensual.

An internal affairs investigation found his conduct ”unbecoming of an officer,” but still he stayed on the job.

APD said Rollins had other problems that were investigated but never prosecuted.

On February 23, 2011, Chief Mew said, “There was a previous allegation that was also investigated. We couldn't make a criminal case out of that and he was disciplined for that. It's a personnel matter and they won't let me tell you, but I’ll tell you it was severe.”

Schleuss said, “Getting the records from CourtView showed that year, Rollins' salary was $150,000. Doesn't sound like discipline to me.”

Schleuss is convinced there were many other incidents since Rollins joined the department in 1996, but the municipality, she said, isn't cooperating by giving her the information she needs.

“For example, I’ll have a computer printout that said: IA see internal affairs, see the IA file, see the case file – there’s no case file, pieces are missing. They're just missing,” Schleuss said.

It’s now Schleuss's mission to fill in the gaps.

Meanwhile, there are dozens of women who will think twice before calling the police for help.

Eleven separate civil lawsuits have been filed against the municipality, APD and Rollins.