Child rapist was fired for misconduct as East St. Louis police officer 27 years ago
A Missouri man went from being a protector to a predator.
Keith L. Hare was a rookie East St. Louis police officer in 1995, when he was fired from his job for having sex with a prostitute who claimed he raped her while on duty. He later was convicted of official misconduct, a felony that ended his career in law enforcement.
On Wednesday, a Madison County judge sentenced Hare to 60 years in prison for raping a 6-year-old girl in 2019 at an Alton park. She and her friend testified at his bench trial in November.
State’s Attorney Tom Haine called the children “courageous.”
“While nothing can undo the terrible abuse that the victim experienced at the hands of the defendant, the bravery that she and the other young witnesses displayed on the witness stand was nothing short of extraordinary,” he said at the time.
Former State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons charged Hare, now 52, of Cool Valley, Missouri, a north St. Louis suburb, on Nov. 27, 2019, with three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony.
Gibbons also charged Rashonda Barnes, now 26, who has East St. Louis, Godfrey and Alton addresses in court records, with one count of indecent solicitation of an adult and one count of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, both Class X felonies. The complaint stated that she arranged for Hare to rape the 6-year-old and also took part in the sexual assault.
Barnes later agreed to testify against Hare at his Edwardsville trial as part of a plea agreement. She pleaded guilty to indecent solicitation of an adult at the Class 2 felony level and received a sentence of three years probation. The sexual assault charge was dismissed.
Official misconduct
Hare was a 26-year-old patrolman in August, 1995, when he had sex with a 40-year-old woman he met while on duty in East St. Louis. She went to former Police Chief Isadore Chambers afterward, alleging that he had raped her, the BND reported at the time. Chambers fired him soon after.
Hare claimed at his 1998 trial that he encountered the woman on the street and met her later for consentual sex, and that she called it rape after he refused to give her money.
”I’m not asking you to condone Mr. Hare’s behavior,” defense attorney Paul Storment III said during closing arguments. “He wasn’t holding a gun to her head, he didn’t stab her and he didn’t threaten her.”
St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa Porter told jurors that the woman, a former substitute teacher with a history of prostitution and drug addiction, wouldn’t have exposed herself to a public trial out of spite.
The jury deliberated less than four hours before acquitting Hare of predatory criminal sexual assault but convicting him of official misconduct. Associate Judge James Radcliffe sentenced him to two years of probation and 300 hours of community service.
”His actions clearly disgraced himself and his uniform,” Radcliffe said. “It’s an insult to the city of East St. Louis.”
Sodomy acquittal
Hare was acquitted in 2016 of first-degree attempted statutory sodomy with a child under 12 in St. Louis County Circuit Court, according to a background check by Madison County investigators.
Three years later, Alton police received a report of a 6-year-old being raped on Nov. 16, 2019, in Rock Springs Park and arrested Hare. A grand jury indicted him on Dec. 19.
The prosecution gathered witness statements, DNA evidence and police reports showing “prior sexual acts or conduct toward children,” filed by the daughter of Hare’s roommate in 2006, the daughter of his girlfriend in 2008 and a friend of his daughter in 2009.
Hare waived his right to a jury trial in Madison County Circuit Court. Witnesses at a bench trial on Nov. 16 and 17, 2021, included the victim, her friend, Barnes and others. That was despite a defense argument that Barnes was mentally unstable and had been deemed untrustworthy by a court psychologist.
Assistant State’s Attorneys Jacob Harlow and Cara Tegal prosecuted the case. Judge Kyle Napp convicted Hare on Nov. 17 on two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child.
On Wednesday, Napp handed down the maximum sentence of 30 years for each count to be served consecutively for a total of 60 years. Hare must spend at least 85% of that time in prison under state law.
Victim support
Napp had agreed to the prosecution’s request that the courtroom be cleared of spectators not directly involved in the case during the minor victim’s testimony, except for the media.
Officials utilized Fitz, a Madison County Courthouse facility dog that has been specially trained by Duo Dogs in St. Louis to provide support and comfort to children going through the court process, The Telegraph newspaper in Alton reported.
In the past two years, Hare’s attorneys filed several motions to reduce his $250,000 bond so he could be released from Madison County Jail with electronic monitoring. All were denied.
Hare initially argued that he had a supportive family and longtime employment as a supervisor with a St. Louis company. He later referenced a heart condition, hepatitis and other health problems that made him vulnerable to COVID and claimed that jail officials weren’t getting him proper medical treatment.
Hare filed a formal complaint against his Edwardsville attorney, Jessica Koester, after she asked to withdraw from the case due to “irreconcilable differences” and his inability to pay legal fees. The court eventually appointed attorney Donna Polinske, acting as a public defender.
Barnes’ plea agreement signed on Nov. 29, 2021, provides a two-page list of details on what’s expected of her.
She must register as a sex offender and undergo evaluation and treatment; submit to periodic searches; get permission to possess any device capable of internet access; follow strict use and monitoring rules if a device is approved; not engage in social networking or online chats; obey curfews set by her probation officer; have no contact with the victim or other minors without permission or approval; not purchase, use or possess sexually explicit materials; and stay out of strip clubs and adult bookstores.
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
