Lake County prosecutor's initiative to review glut of untested rape kits leads to charges

Lake County prosecutor's initiative to review glut of untested rape kits leads to charges against three men for 2014 sexual assault

CROWN POINT — Three men were charged this week in the 2014 rape of a woman at a Merrillville apartment after rape kits were discovered by a detective and deputy prosecutor spurred on by a recent policy change to resolve a glut of untested kits.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter said the new charges were the direct result of his initiative to reopen 240 cases where evidence was gathered in Lake County assault kits but never submitted to state police for testing.

Carter credited the filing of the new case to the work of Deputy Prosecutor Nadia Wardrip and Merrillville Detective Allison Ellis, who found the victim's untested rape kit during an inventory of evidence at the Merrillville Police Department.

Ellis asked members of the public who know of any other possible sexual assaults involving these defendants to call her at 755-3531.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lake-county-prosecutor-s-initiative-to-review-glut-of-untested/article_3039a1e0-143a-565f-990f-50cc3ad12153.html