Cleveland ignored dozens, perhaps hundreds, of juvenile rape and sexual assault cases for months and even years, said newly-elected Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley.
O'Malley said more than 70 rape and sexual assault cases dating back to 2014 weren't tracked and no charges were filed, reported Cleveland.com.
"To date, we have located more than 70 sexual assault cases committed against children in which no charges have been filed and no one has been held accountable," O'Malley told WJW-TV. "We also have learned that more than 1,900 cases have been placed in an inactive list since 2013 where no charges were filed and nothing has been done on the cases. This is completely unacceptable."
O'Malley said he has appointed staff members in his office to begin going through the cases.
"It's incomprehensible," O'Malley said. "There was a complete breakdown within this unit. These juveniles, including a victim as young as 3, didn't receive the proper attention or justice."
Cleveland.com reported that three prosecutors were forced to resign last week after the discovery of the idle cases. O'Malley charged that in some cases, suspects had confessed to the crimes and later went on to allegedly commit other offenses.
According to The Associated Press, O'Malley said it was hard to believe his predecessor, Tim McGinty, who he defeated in last year's Democratic primary for county prosecutor, would have allowed those cases to sit.
O'Malley said he was not sure why prosecutors didn't move forward on many of the cases or even file them in the office's case management system.
The former chief of the county prosecutor's juvenile division, Duane Deskins, told Cleveland.com that he was not aware of any delays or mishandling of cases.
Deskins was appointed last month by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to the new position of Chief of Prevention, Intervention and Opportunity for Youth and Young Adults. He said he stood by the work the office did, per Cleveland.com.
"We did an aggressive job," Deskins said.
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