Prosecutors, judge blamed for alleged serial rapist's 'reign of terror'

Two hours after he was stopped by a Bellevue police officer on a traffic violation at 5 a.m. June 12, McClain Durst allegedly raped a 16-year-old Willard girl who was a passenger in his car.She is one of at least six known victims who have reported being raped by Durst. It's unknown if other victims have come forward. Tracy Thom talks to managing editor Matt Westerhold during a segment of "Between the Lines" on Monday, July 31, 2017.WATCH: Between the Lines with Tracy ThomDurst, a convicted sexual predator four times over, was angry when he got pulled over. He asked the officer, Frank Sirse III, why he was being stopped and immediately accuses Sirse of harassment.A report of the traffic stop provides the following narrative: The officer didn't recognize Durst or recall any prior interactions with him. He assures Durst he's just doing his job and pulled him over after seeing Durst stopped briefly in the roadway before he drove into a parking lot. He ran the license tags, he told Durst, and they didn't match the vehicle Durst was driving."I never forget a face," Durst told Sirse, continuing to complain he was being harassed. He keeps questioning Sirse, but did explain he'd recently bought the Buick he was driving after his Lexus was repossessed. He gave the officer the name and cell phone number for the man he purchased the car from, and the officer called the seller.Sires confirmed with the man that Durst just just recently purchased the car.The officer also checked whether there were any arrest warrants for Durst and his two passengers, confirming there were none. He sent Durst on his way, telling him he must get the Buick registered within 30 days. It's not clear why Durst's status as a sexual offender did not show when the officer checked for warrants, or why it didn't show his prior victims were juveniles.It's also not clear why the records search failed to show Durst out of jail on bond on charges he allegedly raped another teen-age girl in Bellevue in 2015.Sandusky County Judge John Dewey released Durst on bond on that charge in March 2016, despite Durst's history as a violent predator. Dewey also failed to order him returned to jail after subsequent apparent violations of his bond.Judge John Dewey swears in Tim Braun into office as the Sandusky County Prosecutor on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016 at Terra State Community College, the temporary location of the common pleas court. Sandusky County Prosecutor Timothy Braun also failed to ask the court to revoke Durst's bond, after incidents that appear in violation of the terms of his release and his status as a sexual offender, including the traffic stop on June 12. In fact, assistant Sandusky County Prosecutor Mark Mulligan, who plea-dealed Durst to a short prison term in 2014 on a rape allegation made earlier that year in Ottawa County, told a Bellevue police detective there was nothing he could do to get Dusrt off the streets when the detective called Mulligan after the June 12 traffic stop.Sandusky County assistant Prosecutor Mark Mulligan The detective should maybe let the girl's parents know she was with Durst, Mulligan suggested to the detective. Braun has declared all records he has related to the 2015 rape case off-limits to the public. He's refused to respond to emails requesting information, or return telephone calls. In an Aug. 1 typed letter Braun mailed to the Register he said he will not respond to "factual questions."He also provided what appears to be a misinterpretation of the state's public records law, inaccurately claiming it supports his decision to keep information secret. His letter, and a motion in Sandusky County Court on July 24 to revoke Durst's bond, came a little late. By then, Durst was already in jail — the Huron County Jail — after yet another alleged underage victim came forward July 22. The girl told Huron County sheriff's deputies Durst raped her in West Clarksville.Sandusky County prosecutor Tim BraunThe Willard girl reported her alleged rape on June 12 after reading a news article about Durst's arrest in Huron County, according to a report from the Erie County Sheriff's office. Tracy Thom, a victims and a public records advocate, said Sires and a Bellevue police detective who followed up after the June 12 traffic stop, and officers from across the region, all have tried diligently to get Durst off the streets.But they've been up-ended by Braun, Mulligan and Dewey, she said. "Those three are responsible for Durst's reign of terror," Thom said. "They've enabled him every step of they way and they've done nothing to protect his victims and future victims."Prosecutors and judges do appear to have been lenient. Braun's predecessor, Tom Stierwalt, pleaded down rape allegations against Durst in 2008. Prosecutors in Seneca County appear to have done the same thing. In 2014, Mulligan did the same thing, pleading down rape charges and getting Durst a jail sentence of just four months.Like Braun, Dewey and Mulligan also refused to offer any explanation for why Durst is repeatedly released from custody despite the numerous criminal complaints that result after he's freed. Durst, McClain L. Durst is scheduled to appear for a pre-trial hearing in Dewey's court on Wednesday related to the 2015 rape charges against him. It unclear what caused the delays in bringing him to trial, or why court officials failed to respond when Durst kept apparently violating the terms of his bond.McClain Durst walks out of the courtroom at the Norwalk Municipal Court on Friday, July 28, 2017.