Ex-NIU police officer Andrew Rifkin takes the stand in rape case

SYCAMORE – She said he did. He said he didn’t.

Five years after being charged with rape, Andrew Rifkin told a jury Wednesday that it never happened.

The former Northern Illinois University police officer accused of sexually assaulting a student in 2011 said the sex was consensual.

He also said he never read the police statement that he signed and was tricked into confessing to the crime by his superior officers in an attempt to get his job back after being fired.

On the stand, Rifkin said that he never used any force or threat of force. He said he had sex with the 18-year-old NIU freshman at his off-campus apartment twice. During the second encounter, he said he tried to engage in a specific sexual act with the woman, but said he stopped when she said it was painful and told him to stop.

Rifkin, who lives in Northbrook and works as an independent food broker, said he knew fraternizing with students wasn’t allowed and that he could get fired if caught.

He detailed the steps he took to hide his relationship with the woman, including deleting her text messages and meeting her away from residence halls where he knew his fellow officers might see him with a student.

After having sex with the woman twice, Rifkin decided to end the relationship and never responded to her subsequent text messages.

“At that point I came to a realization that fraternization with students was probably not a good idea, so I decided to completely cut it off,” he said.

Rifkin, 28, is charged with sexually assaulting the woman in October 2011. If convicted of criminal sexual assault, Rifkin could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Probation would not be an option.

On Oct. 28, 2011, the woman contacted NIU police to report the alleged rape, which she said took place Oct. 14, 2011, in Rifkin’s Cortland apartment.

Rifkin was fired from the university’s police department a few days later; he had graduated from the police academy Sept. 23, 2011.

Rifkin said that when two NIU police officers showed up at his door with a termination letter, they told him to come into the office the following Monday to talk with them and that he might be able to get his job back.

Rifkin, wearing a suit, returned to the NIU police department and said he was taken to an interview room and told to write a statement about his relationship with the student.

He said it took him five minutes to write his initial statement – which made no mention of sex. The jury had watched a video of Rifkin’s 2 1/2 hour interview with police on Tuesday. Most of the video was silent because of what police said was a malfunction. About 40 minutes of audio from the interview was played for the jury. NIU police Cmdr. Jason John told the jury Tuesday that he forgot to turn the recording device back on after leaving the interview room at one point.

On Wednesday, Rifkin said the missing audio included him denying that he continued to engage in the sex act after the woman told him to stop. He said he only read the first two sentences of the typed statement that NIU police officers prepared for him.

“I skimmed the first two lines,” he said. “ ... Because I assumed it was a summary of everything.”

He signed the statement and initialed it. He said that when he later read a copy of his statement, he called NIU police officials to try to correct the problem only to find out that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. On the stand, he denied key parts of the statement.

The woman testified Tuesday that Rifkin forced her to engage in the sex act. She told the jury "it was horrible. I've never felt that kind of pain before." As she did Tuesday, the woman sat in the gallery with two supporters for portions of the trial Wednesday. She was not in the courtroom when Rifkin described the sexual encounters, but did observe some of his testimony.

Presiding Judge William Brady excused the jury after Rifkin’s direct testimony. After the jurors left, he told First Assistant State’s Attorney Stephanie Klein that he was concerned about the woman’s condition.

“She’s sitting there shaking uncontrollably,” the judge said. He also told prosecutors that her reaction to some of Rifkin’s testimony, which included shaking her head to indicate ‘no,’ was unacceptable. The judge said that while he couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be for the woman, he said that he was concerned about how her reactions might affect jurors. Rifkin’s attorney, Bruce Brandwein, asked that she be removed from the courtroom. Brady asked Klein to speak with the woman. After the talk, the woman voluntarily decided not to return to the courtroom.

On cross-examination, Klein asked Rifkin why he lied in his first statement to police. Rifkin said he was hoping to get his job back, but he admitted to lying in the statement.

The defense rested Wednesday after Rifkin’s testimony. Earlier in the day, they called a forensic expert, two former NIU students and several current and former NIU police officers. None of them provided evidence as to what happened between Rifkin and the woman in his bedroom on Oct. 14, 2011.

Closing arguments will begin at 9:30 a.m. today.