SHARE Ladmarald Cates

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A fired Milwaukee police officer was charged Tuesday with raping a woman after he responded to her 911 call in July.

Ladmarald Cates faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison if convicted of the two federal felonies, which include violating the woman's civil rights while acting under the color of law and using a firearm in the commission of an act of violence, the indictment says.

The first count includes enhancers for causing bodily injury and aggravated sexual abuse, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Johnson, who is handling the case.

Attorney Robin Shellow, who represents the victim, called Johnson "my hero."

"With a kind and gentle hand he has made my client's cry in the dark the beam of justice in the future," she said. "On behalf of my client, I want to thank the U.S. attorney's office and those who worked with them for treating her with respect and dignity."

Cates' attorney, Bridget Boyle, said she has been aware for some time that federal prosecutors were considering an indictment. Cates plans to fight the charges, she said.

"Mr. Cates has every intention to proceed to a jury trial to have them decide whether he violated the law," she said.

Shellow's client said Cates raped her and forced her to perform oral sex after he responded to her 911 call about teenagers trying to kick in the door of her north side home.

In an earlier interview with the Journal Sentinel, the woman said numerous officers - on the scene and at the police station - accused her of lying when she begged for help and asked them to take her to the hospital. She spent about 12 hours in jail before being interviewed by internal affairs, the newspaper reported in January. Only after that was she taken to the hospital for treatment and evidence collection.

Cates first denied any sexual activity between them but later admitted to internal affairs investigators they had sex, according to records.

Police Chief Edward Flynn ultimately fired Cates for lying and for "idling and loafing" because having sex on duty is against department rules.

The Journal Sentinel does not name victims of sexual assault.

DA declined to prosecute

The U.S. attorney's office and FBI began investigating Cates after the Milwaukee County district attorney's office declined to charge him.

In a letter to Flynn, Assistant District Attorney Aaron E. Hall said he believed the woman's account but didn't think he would be able to prove a sexual assault case in court.

"While I did find the victim's version of events credible, I did not believe that her testimony would be strong enough to successfully prosecute Officer Cates," Hall wrote in October.

The district attorney's office also considered, but ultimately rejected, a state charge of misconduct in public office, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern said at the time.

On Tuesday, Lovern said his office has prosecuted numerous police officers for various offenses, including Steven Lelinski, a former officer now in prison for on-duty sexual assaults.

"There are cases that could be subject to state jurisdiction that are more appropriate for prosecution by federal authorities," Lovern said. "This (the Cates case) is a case where we were unable to bring state charges, but the U.S. attorney was able to bring federal charges. That is the way the system is supposed to work."

Federal investigators believe the woman's allegations are both true and provable, Johnson said Tuesday.

"It seemed to us from the very beginning to be credible and serious enough to be worth investigating," he said. "We got to the point, after further investigation, where we felt we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt."

Cates, 43, was fired in December. No other officers were disciplined in connection with the incident.

In February, a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed Cates had been accused of breaking the law five times before. Three of the previous allegations involved sexual misconduct - two with female prisoners and one with a 16-year-old girl. The incidents date to 2000, three years after he was hired by the department.

Internal investigators referred Cates to the district attorney's office for possible charges in two cases. The district attorney's office did not prosecute Cates on allegations of having sex with the 16-year-old. In the second case, a domestic violence battery in which his then-girlfriend said Cates shoved and choked her, prosecutors offered a diversion agreement.

A conviction on a domestic violence charge would have prevented Cates from carrying a gun under federal law and resulted in his removal from the force. The one-year diversion agreement allowed Cates to avoid charges by refraining from criminal activity, avoiding violent contact with the victim and undergoing counseling.

Flynn, who took over as chief in 2008, acknowledged in February that a computerized early-intervention system designed to identify potentially troubled officers didn't flag Cates.

"It is clear to me looking at this employee's record that from a management point of view an obvious pattern was overlooked," Flynn said at the time. "The department did not see the forest for the trees here."

Department managers now analyze employee behavior the same way they analyze crime, using data to evaluate officer performance. Weekly, they review indicators such as sick time. Quarterly, they delve into issues such as citizen complaints, Flynn said in February.

Shellow said both the Police Department and the district attorney's office should be "ashamed and embarrassed" for failing to protect the public from Cates.

"Each of those agencies knew the officer had committed acts of sexual misconduct with women and did nothing," she said. "Had they done something, my client would not have been raped."

It's a conflict of interest for the Milwaukee Police Department to investigate its own members, Shellow said.

In an email Tuesday, department spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said: "The first time then-Officer Cates came before Chief Flynn for a fireable offense, he was fired."

Cates, who is not in custody, is expected to make his first court appearance Sept. 30, Johnson said.

Jesse Garza of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.