Cook Co. officer charged in rape transferred to Kankakee jail

A Cook County correctional officer charged in the 1997 rape of a 10-year-old Harvey girl was released on bond from the Cook County Jail this afternoon, the Cook County Sheriff's Office announced.

Robert Buchanan, 45, had been transferred to the Kankakee County Jail Friday morning for his safety, officials said. He was transferred back to Cook County Jail once he paid his bond.

Buchanan was charged Wednesday with predatory criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony. The arrest was made possible through DNA obtained from untested rape kits that the Cook County state's attorney's office and the Cook County Sheriff's Department seized during a 2007 raid of the Harvey Police Department.

On Friday, Steve Patterson, spokesman for the Cook County sheriff's office, said that Buchanan underwent physical and psychiatric evaluations by staff at Cermak Hospital before being transferred to the custody of the Kankakee County Jail.

"Given that Buchanan once worked as a correctional officer at our facility, we have deemed it in the best interest of our security to have him held there while awaiting trial," Patterson said. "If a bond is posted for him, Buchanan will be transferred back to Cook County Jail and processed for release."

Buchanan allegedly sexually assaulted the girl over the course of seven months in the Harvey home where he lived with the child and her mother. In August 1997, the child told her mother about the assaults and was taken to a hospital where a rape kit was used and DNA of the offender obtained.

The girl's mother contacted the Harvey Police Department. Investigators there questioned Buchanan and released him without charges, according to the state's attorney's office, and the rape kit was never sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab for testing.

Buchanan worked as a Cook County correctional officer but has been on disability leave since November. The sheriff's office has started proceedings to take action on his employment, the state's attorney's office said.