LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – Known before now only as Jane Doe I, Heather Richards is ready to have her identity revealed, hoping that coming forward will move along her rape allegations against former Louisville Metro Police Officer Pablo Cano.
“I thought that I could just put it in the back of my mind and not think about what had happened,” Richards told WHAS11 News on Tuesday.
Richards is one of five women suing Cano and the city over his alleged rapes. Scared to stay as the case moves at a slow crawl, Richards told WHAS11 News that she's decided to leave Kentucky after she said Cano raped her two years ago.
“You’re waiting for the next shoe to drop, you're waiting for the next delay, the next time you're told, basically you don't matter, what happened to you doesn't matter, and it's exactly the feeling you get with how this is being handled.”
Richards said it happened in June of 2016. She said they randomly bumped into each other while riding bikes at Cherokee Park and then exchanged numbers. She said the two did speak to each other after that and met.
A few weeks later, Richards said Cano showed up at her house and when she wouldn't let him inside, she said things got violent and described the horrific details.
“I tried to push his hands away and I kept repeatedly pulling up my shorts and pulling down my shirt and he would alternate, just tugging on my clothes, and when I kept fighting, pushing his hands away, that's when he slammed my head against the wall, that's when he was able to get my shorts down,” she explained.
Richards said it was fear that kept her from going to the police for almost a year but confided in a friend and chose to speak up. The civil suit was filed in June of 2017.
Cano was put on Administrative Duty with LMPD, and as more women came forward, he eventually resigned.
His attorney told WHAS11 News that Cano has since left Kentucky. He said his client is innocent and that the relationship was consensual. There is also a criminal investigation against Cano, but no charges have been filed.
“We need a voice and we matter. What happened to us matters and it needs to be handled and addressed and they can no longer keep this story silent, keep it swept under the rug,” Richards said.
Shannon Fauver, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said nine women have accused Cano of rape, but only five are on the lawsuit. There was a sixth woman on the lawsuit, but she dropped her name and left town.
There is a hearing on Thursday. Fauver wants to consolidate the allegations into one case. Cano’s attorney, Lee Sitlinger told WHAS11 News that they are opposed to that and that the cases should remain separate.
►Contact reporter Heather Fountaine at hfountaine@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Heather) and Facebook.