Former Markham Deputy Police Chief, Tony D. Debois, Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Lying to FBI About Raping Woman in Police Custody

The former deputy police chief in south suburban Markham was sentenced to the maximum of five years in federal prison after a judge ruled that he sexually assaulted a woman in police custody in 2010. The defendant, Tony D. Debois, pleaded guilty last September to lying to FBI agents in 2012 about having had sex in his office, but he contended at a lengthy sentencing hearing last month that the woman he had sex with was not the victim and the sex was consensual.

“It is a case about lying about a rape that occurred under the most egregious circumstances that law enforcement could imagine,” Assistant U.S. Attorney April Perry argued today before the sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow. “The seriousness should not be underestimated,” Judge Lefkow said, adding that she found Debois’ conduct “revolting.”

Debois, 42, of Frankfort, was also placed on supervised release for three years following his sentence, which he was ordered to begin serving on June 10.

Judge Lefkow ruled that the government established that Debois raped the 21-year-old highly vulnerable victim by a “considerable” preponderance of the evidence presented at the hearing last month, including the victim’s testimony, which the judge said was corroborated by other factors. The victim and a man were arrested by Markham police officers on September 23, 2010, after the man was suspected of engaging in a counterfeit currency transaction. The victim, who had no prior contact with law enforcement, was handcuffed, taken to the Markham Police Department, and placed in a holding cell for about 30 minutes. One of the arresting officers then took her to Debois’ tactical office, where, according to Judge Lefkow’s ruling, “he insinuated she could escape further trouble if she engaged in sex with him.” The judge found that Debois’ conduct was rape and that he later obstructed justice to avoid punishment for the sexual assault.

DeBois served as deputy chief in Markham between 2008 and 2011 and also served as the department’s head of internal affairs until 2011, when he became Markham’s inspector general until 2012. DeBois began his law enforcement career with the former Chicago Housing Authority Police Department in the 1990s, and he was a police officer in south suburban Harvey from 1999 to 2007, when he joined the Markham department.