Woman accusing south suburban village trustee of sex assault speaks outside board meeting
DOLTON, Ill. (CBS) -- Confrontations grew fiery in south suburban Dolton Monday night, as embattled leaders faced angry residents—and members of their own village board.
Meanwhile, for the first time, a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by a village trustee spoke publicly.
Residents came out early for the scheduled meeting of the Dolton Village Board of Trustees Monday night. They have a slew of concerns – including spending, FBI subpoenas, and a lawsuit from the former village worker—who claims she was sexually assaulted by Trustee Andrew Holmes while on a village-funded trip to Las Vegas.
Outside the village hall, angry residents rallied—and surrounded the woman, Fenia Dukes, who said she was the person who was sexually assaulted on the trip last year.
"I was not prepared to talk today, but to see you all—this is very overwhelming," Dukes said. At first, it was just like I was by myself—and a year later, for me to see y'all standing with me."
Dukes filed a civil lawsuit claiming Holmes—also a well-known community activist—violated her while attending the conference for the village in Las Vegas in May of last year.
The allegations have led to calls by those in the community, and other activists, to demand that Holmes resign at once.
The concerns in Dolton are wide.
Before the meeting Monday night, the community waited for more than an hour to speak out. This was the first meeting since the FBI served two subpoenas to the village—in a probe many believe centers around the embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard and her lack of transparency.
"You're going to jail," one woman said, addressing Henyard. "The FBI came down and raided this place. You can keep lying on TikTok and everything else and saying you didn't get raided. But you did get raided."
One by one, Henyard listened as people expressed their outrage with her and her administration.
"The nerve of you all to put your asses in front of us when you disrespect us," a resident said.
Many who wanted to speak were forced to wait outside, because the room was completely full.
"As a trustee, We want to continue to demand transparency, no matter how frustrating things could get," said Dolton village Trustee Brittney Norwood.
Mayor Henyard offered a slideshow as she tried to highlight her accomplishments. Some walked out as the slideshow was displayed, while others turned their backs.
"So you can understand that your village is in jeopardy because of people's hatred for your mayor," said Henyard.
Henyard said the FBI probe and the outrage from some in the community are nothing more than outsiders trying to make her look bad.
"At the end of the day, guys—I say this and I mean it—we still have to still live here," Henyard said. "When they leave, we have to fix what's broke."
Holmes did not attend the meeting. He previously said he cannot talk about the lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault.
Meanwhile, there was one order of business Monday night that the mayor did handle. She quickly vetoed the board's decision to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate her, saying: "How dare you think you can come into someone's town and investigate? You will not get paid."
