Andrew Holmes fired from Chicago Survivors crime victim advocacy group over sexual assault claims
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Community activist and Dolton village board trustee Andrew Holmes has been fired from the nonprofit Chicago Survivors crime victim advocacy group, after a former Dolton employee accused him of sexual assault.
Fenia Dukes has said Holmes sexually assaulted her while on a village-funded trip to Las Vegas last year, and has filed a lawsuit against the village, accusing Mayor Tiffany Henyard of covering it up.
On Wednesday, Chicago Survivors executive director JaShawn Hill confirmed the group has fired Holmes, who has frequently spoken to the media on behalf of crime victims at crime scenes.
"Our mission is to provide crime victim services to family members of homicide victims so our relationships with those families and our community is paramount. Without compromise, there needs to be strong mutual trust and an assumed high-level of safety for the adults and children we serve. For those reasons, we terminated his employment in April upon learning of the serious allegations," Hill said.
In April, Dukes filed a civil lawsuit claiming Holmes sexually assaulted her while attending a conference for the village in Las Vegas in May of last year.
According to the lawsuit, Henyard, Holmes, and more than a dozen others attended the conference. On May 26, after a group dinner, Dukes went out with Holmes.
She said at some point, she felt disoriented, lightheaded, and felt as if the ground was moving, and then blacked out.
That same night, according to the lawsuit, Holmes called the mayor's security detail, who is also a Dolton police officer, to discuss his alleged sexual advances.
According to the lawsuit, that officer had reason to believe Holmes was drunk since the conversation was out of the ordinary. The officer then started to record Holmes before talking with him on Facetime.
On the Facetime video, he saw Homes shirtless and the alleged victim partially undressed. Holmes pointed the camera toward her, according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the officer said he couldn't tell whether she consented. The next morning, she allegedly woke up fully dressed and unclear of what happened.
The lawsuit claims Holmes talked to the officer again after returning from Las Vegas, admitting he had sex with the village employee on the trip. The officer said in the lawsuit he then advised her to seek medical attention.
Dukes requested a meeting with Henyard. Henyard met with the officer and Dukes, even questioning the officer why Holmes would reveal this information to the officer, according to the lawsuit.
During that meeting, Henyard advised Dukes if the information got out, Henyard would be ruined, the lawsuit claims. She concluded the meeting by telling the alleged victim she'd take care of it. That meeting allegedly resulted in the village employee being terminated, along with the officer being demoted and removed from the mayor's security detail.
Holmes has not responded to requests for comment on the allegations.
The Las Vegas Police Department confirmed they are conducting an ongoing investigation involving Holmes. They did not confirm whether it involved sexual misconduct.
The allegations have led to calls for Holmes to resign from the Dolton village board.
The village board voted last month to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot – who is also a former federal prosecutor – to investigate Dukes' allegations, as well as Henyard's alleged misspending of public funds. But Henyard later vetoed the board's hiring of Lightfoot. It's unclear if the board will vote to override that veto.
