KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A former Kalamazoo man is being charged with First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in a case from over 17 years ago.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Kalamazoo Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) has announced that 37-year-old Shawn Darnell Robinson Hopkins turned himself in on a warrant concluding a decades-long investigation. Hopkins is charged with one count of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.
According to the State Attorney General’s office, Hopkins in 2005 is alleged to have plied a 14-year-old girl with alcohol and marijuana before sexually assaulting her. The girl, who had met Hopkins through a friend a few hours prior to the assault, only knew him by the street name “Chicago.”
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety investigated the case in 2005, but their investigation was stymied when Hopkins discovered he was under investigation and fled to Chicago.
Authorities say Hopkins, who has a history of domestic violence with family members and intimate partners dating back to the early 2000s, has more than a half-dozen aliases. His identity was determined recently through DNA testing.
Judge Parker-LaGrone of the 8th District Court in Kalamazoo released Hopkins February 2, 2023, on a personal recognizance bond. Hopkins will be arrested and held on $100,000 bond if he fails to appear for court or violates any of his bond conditions.
“This case is another example of the tremendous work being done on behalf of the survivors of sexual assault. No survivor should go unheard. I hope that this case, and others like it, will serve notice to those that would prey on others in the community that there are severe consequences for their actions,” said Jeff Getting, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor.
The Kalamazoo SAKI project, established in 2017, is funded by the Michigan Legislature and involves a partnership between the Attorney General’s office, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office, and the YWCA of Kalamazoo.
The SAKI project uses the nationally recognized best practice “team approach” to the re-investigation and prosecution of cold-case sexual assaults. The team consists of a special assistant attorney general, deputized investigators employed by the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office, and a victim advocate/therapist employed by the YWCA of Kalamazoo.
Hopkins is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary examination February 21, 2023, at 1:30 p.m.
Comments