Brooklyn Janitor Speaks Out About Dropped Charges

After the Brooklyn DA's office officially dropped charges against him, Francis Evelyn is speaking out. A 58-year-old janitor at P.S. 91 with no criminal history, Francis had been arrested on Monday after an 8-year-old accused him of molesting her in the school basement. He was arraigned and held on $150,000 bail, so Evelyn went to Rikers. But the next day, prosecutors asked for Francis to be released on his own recognizance because the girl's story started to seem inconsistent. And it turned out that the girl had made previous accusations of being abused. Yesterday, the prosecutors dropped charges due to "insufficient evidence."

Evelyn spoke to WABC 7 and WCBS 2 about what he's endured: Being hauled away from work (and in the glare of TV cameras) in handcuffs, being threatened at Rikers ("They were threatening me, and tell me they're going to take me out, they're gonna cut my throat. It's their sister, their niece. It was hell." "The Corrections officers -- they thought I was dirt."), and how going home was hard:

"When I got out Tuesday night, I couldn't even bring myself to go home. I knew cameramen would be out there. On the bus, a woman opposite me was reading the Spanish paper, with me on the cover. 'The rapist.' At first, I covered my head with my hat. But I'm not that man. I took my hat off, and raised my head."

Evelyn worries about the next time someone is falsely accused. His niece told the Daily News that her uncle was hurt badly and mentioned the accuser: "She has something going on with her life and my uncle had to pay the price for it. I hope the child gets the help she needs."

Evelyn's lawyer says he may file a lawsuit. In the meantime, the Department of Education is offering him his old job back. And on Thursday, the Times looked at the incident and said "it seemed likely to become a serious test of stricter requirements for reporting allegations of child abuse."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on March 25, 2007 9:13 AM

Comments [rss]

Missy

It is very unfortunate what happened to this man,and he deserves to be compensated. But child abuse has to be taken seriously. It's a well known fact that child molesters don't wait 20 years before acting on their urges usually they display some act within the first 3 months of contact with children. As the Girl had been molested in the past and had a history of making false accusations she definately needs to get counseling. The childs mental issues need to be addressed right away.

grafittix

The City offers him a janitor position, which is also the same job he had when he was falsely accused, when he's about the sue the living ish out of everyone associated with this case? Man this govt is more stupid and arrogant than I thought. And I agree with you #7 - that "rapist" headline is especially out of line.

bobo

The real down side of this is that this poor guy has "been tried if front of a jury of the NEWS MEDIA". Always guilty until proven innocent. I really feel sorry for this guy.

Samantha T

ABC, I, too, thought it was weird for an 8-year-old to have that knowledge. She's made these allegations in the past. Very strange.

abc

how the hell does an 8 year old even know what molestation is? something funny is going on here.

The Assimilated Negro

felice - black people can discriminate against black people. I do it all the time! I think Al's mission — should he choose to accept it — would be to demonstrate that a caucasian may not have been so efficiently arraigned and shipped out based on the unfounded allegations of an 8-year-old.

felice

actually Lynn, there has been no description of the little girl. She may have been Black as well, and given the description of the school on insideschools.org as primarily African American and Caribbean American, chances are she was.

Joclyn

The 8-year-old and her parent(s) should be arrested for filing a false report. The three (two?) of them can spend a few nights at Rikers. She should also be made to publicly apologize for attempting to ruin Mr. Evelyn's life.

The girl and her family should also be held financially responsible for all the costs associated with the false arrest.

The money can (begin to) be garnished by eliminating the tax deduction that allows anyone to claim this horrible child a dependent.