A child protective services investigation of Indianapolis councilman Stephen J. Clay was screened by police and turned over to a prosecutor in 2004, according to a state report obtained by IndyStar.
The new details, which have not been previously reported, show how seriously law enforcement treated the allegation that Clay groped a teenage boy in the early 2000s, years prior to becoming a councilman. Legal experts interviewed by IndyStar said the report shows that a police investigator thought the case was worth sending to a prosecutor for consideration of potential charges.
Clay, a Democrat and longtime pastor at Messiah Missionary Baptist Church, was never charged and has denied the allegations. He has characterized their recent emergence as a political attack motivated by those who did not want Clay to ascend to president of the City-County Council.
IndyStar reported this month that Jonathan Bryant, a 30-year-old former Indianapolis resident, said he was 13 or 14 when Clay touched Bryant's crotch through his jeans while the two were alone in Clay's home. He said Clay had offered to watch Bryant while his mother, Maxine Bryant, who preached at the church, prepared for a sermon.
IndyStar's calls to Clay's church and council phone numbers were not returned Sunday. But when asked previously about Bryant's accounts of what happened, Clay said he denied them unequivocally.
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IndyStar does not typically identify victims or alleged victims of sexual crimes, but Bryant has wanted to share his story publicly. A political agenda did not push Bryant, he said. Instead, he was inspired by the national conversation surrounding Me Too, a movement seeking to stop sexual abuse and harassment and give voices to victims.
Both Bryant and his mother said in separate interviews they reported the incident to state officials in 2004.
The release of the Department of Child Services report confirms that the state opened an investigation.
Case workers became aware of the allegation on June 22, 2004, according to the report.
Six days later, in an interview with a case worker, Bryant recounted the alleged incident, which he said happened a year or two prior to the complaint.
"Child disclosed that about 1 or 2 years ago he was upstairs with his preacher and he was lying on his bed and (Clay) began to rub his chest and worked his way down to his crotch area over his pants and rubbed his crotch for about a minute," the case worker wrote in the report. "Minister never touched him inappropriate since but has made comments to him that has made him uncomfortable."
That same day, a case worker screened the case with an unidentified law enforcement agency.
IndyStar has been unsuccessful in finding a police report tied to the investigation, which would have occurred before the partial merger of the Indianapolis Police Department and Marion County Sheriff's Office. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department does not have a report on file about the alleged incident, a spokesman said.
About a week later, the DCS report notes, the case worker said a police lieutenant would screen the case with a prosecutor.
In the last line of the narrative, the case worker writes what happened next: "(The case worker) finds allegations of sexual abuse substantiated due to statements made by victim. Case referred to prosecutor..."
In state policy, substantiating a case requires a "preponderance of evidence that is sufficient to lead a reasonable person to believe" that child abuse has occurred.
In practice, however, legal experts interviewed by IndyStar cautioned that child protective services workers often substantiate cases based solely off of an alleged victim's story.
In this case, for example, the case worker notes that attempts to find Clay were unsuccessful.
What's more noteworthy, the legal experts said, is that the case moved through both a child protective services investigator and a police investigator, eventually landing on the desk of a prosecutor.
“Those are two legal hurdles that an investigation has to clear,” said Jack Crawford, an Indianapolis defense attorney and former Lake County prosecutor. "It’s the third stage — somebody in the prosecutor’s office decided there wasn’t enough to go forward."
On Sunday, IndyStar asked the Marion County prosecutor's office why the case did not proceed. A spokeswoman said the office would look this week to see if any records exist regarding the investigation in 2004.
At that time, Carl Brizzi served as the elected prosecutor. The current prosecutor, Terry Curry, took office about seven years later.
Given the scarce evidence available, including no forensic evidence, it would be difficult for a prosecutor to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, legal experts told IndyStar.
Clay acknowledged speaking to police about Bryant's accusation.
"I went in as a willing person to provide information," Clay previously told IndyStar. "Anything beyond that, what they did or did not do, all I know is at the end of the day, there were no charges filed against me."
Clay also publicly addressed the incident in front of his congregation when the accusation first surfaced more than a decade ago, which, he has said, should have put it to rest.
Clay, in his first term on the council, represents a district that stretches from 21st Street to 56th Street, bounded by Emerson Avenue on the west and Post Road on the east.
On Jan. 8, Clay bested fellow Democrat Maggie Lewis in a bid to became council president.
Nine Republicans joined five Democrats, including Clay,in supporting Clay's elevation. The new alliance drew sharp criticism from some council Democrats, who hold the majority, as Clay appointed Republicans to lead three committees.
The groping allegation threw another grenade into the brewing political firestorm. Clay blamed Lewis for orchestrating the public accusation, which Lewis has denied.
"The fact that it was politicized didn’t surprise me. That was a very convenient excuse for Clay to use," Bryant said Sunday. "Being that he's a political figure, I guess I should have expected that."
Bryant moved to Savannah, Ga., in July 2012, and now works as a paraprofessional with a mental health agency.
Bryant, who was 16 at the time his allegation was sent to state investigators, first reviewed the DCS report last week, he said. Bryant shared the report with IndyStar.
Seeing his story in a printed state report summoned a "whirlwind of emotions," he said, including some that were unresolved.
"At least DCS believed me and wanted to go forward," Bryant said.
Call IndyStar reporter Ryan Martin at (317) 444-6294. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @ryanmartin.
Call IndyStar reporter James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.
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