Dolton meeting gets tense as activist Jedidiah Brown calls out Andrew Holmes over sexual assault allegations

DOLTON, Ill. - A village board meeting ended in a near confrontation in Dolton Monday night. 

Several Dolton residents took to the podium to voice their frustrations with the lack of transparency surrounding Dolton's finances.

Things were relatively calm until activist Jedidiah Brown came to the mic for a second time. He directly addressed Dolton trustee – and well-known victim's advocate Andrew Holmes. 

"I didn't notice that my good, fellow advocate Andrew Holmes was in the building," Brown said. "And that's why, literally, I would have looked up before I read the statement because as it relates to you. You're the reason that I'm here." 

Holmes has been accused of sexually assaulting a former village employee and Brown demanded answers.

"You could have at least declared your innocence, which noted, you haven't done," Brown said. "And so I'm simply asking you right now because me sitting here looking at your face, I'm utterly disgusted." 

He continued by asking Holmes, "Did you rape that woman? Did you put something in her drink?" 

Video from the meeting shows Brown trying to approach Holmes right after his statement. Holmes came around the board's desks to meet him before Brown was quickly surrounded and taken away by police.

The allegations against Holmes were made in a lawsuit filed on April 8 by a former employee of the Village of Dolton and a Dolton police officer.

The civil lawsuit alleged Holmes sexually assaulted the female village employee while on a Dolton-related business trip to Las Vegas on May 26, 2023. According to the lawsuit, the employee had drinks with Holmes, whom she "thought of...as an uncle,"  then passed out in Holmes' hotel room.

The lawsuit alleged Holmes then called Dolton Police Officer Byron Miles, who was also on the trip as part of Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard's security detail, to tell Miles that the woman was passed out in his room. 

When the woman woke up she couldn't remember anything that happened the night before and was not aware of the alleged assault until informed by Officer Miles when they had returned to Dolton, according to the complaint. 

Despite assurances that Mayor Tiffany Henyard would handle the situation, the lawsuit alleged the female employee was eventually fired by the Village of Dolton. Officer Miles alleged his duties were diminished and he faced retaliation at work.

Holmes has not been charged with a crime, but the allegations are still being investigated by Las Vegas police.