Mar 21, 2007 5:49 pm US/Eastern
Janitor In P.S. 91 Rape Case Released From Custody
Investigators Wary Of Changes In Victim's Story
by Pablo Guzmán
BROOKLYN (CBS) ―
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Francis Evelyn was arrested and charged in the assault, which allegedly occurred multiple times inside the school over the past month.
CBS
The 58-year-old janitor arrested in the rape and sexual assault of an 8-year-old female student at a Brooklyn school has been released from police custody.
Francis Evelyn, who has been accused of raping the child multiple times since Feb. 1 in the basement of P.S. 91 in the Wingate section of Brooklyn, was released on his own recognizance Wednesday. Despite the news of his arrest, many of those who know Evelyn, who has worked as a janitor at the school for nearly 20 years, couldn't believe that he could have committed such a crime.
"This is impossible," said neighbor Lorna Elliott. "He's not that stupid, that's just crazy."
Investigators have apparently grown increasingly uncomfortable with Evelyn's arrest due to inconsistencies in the girl's story. CBS 2 learned Tuesday that the school's principal had been reassigned after not reporting a similar incident reported by the same victim, however with a different suspect.
"He seems to be a very honest, loving respectable man," said another neighbor. "So when I saw it on the news I was very devastated. This cannot be."
A source close to the investigation said that the reassignment of the school's principal is a matter between the principal and the education department, but it is not a part of the criminal case.
Evelyn, who lives with his wife and daughter, was charged with rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
The Department of Education says Evelyn has been with the department since 1988 without incident. He has been suspended without pay.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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