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Retired Chicago Police Officer Charged With On-Duty Sexual Abuse

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A retired Chicago police officer has been charged with sexually abusing a woman while on duty inside a Far South Side police station in 2016.

Police said an internal affairs investigation determined 59-year-old Michael Clifton sexually abused a 35-year-old woman on Sept. 20, 2016, inside the Calumet District police station at 727 E. 111th St.

Michael Clifton
Retired Chicago Police Officer Michael Clifton, 59, is charged with criminal sexual abuse and official misconduct. (Credit: Chicago Police)

Clifton has been charged with felony criminal sexual abuse, and felony official misconduct.

At Clifton's bond hearing Thursday afternoon, prosecutors said the officer was in uniform when the woman came into the station with her children's father, seeking an arrest warrant for someone who allegedly attacked her at a nightclub.

Clifton allegedly started flirting with the woman when she mentioned she had a girlfriend, and after asking her to come into his office alone, he closed the door, pinned her against the wall, groped her, kissed her neck, and tried to reach under her clothes.

Prosecutors said he backed away from her and sat on his desk when another officer knocked on his door, and the woman left the station.

The woman then spoke to her children's father, and they went to another police station to file a complaint.

Prosecutors said they believe a DNA swab of saliva that was on the woman's neck matches Clifton.

A judge set Clifton's bond at $100,000.

Clifton was due back in court on April 18.

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