BLOOMINGTON - The defense attorney for a former Bloomington police officer charged with raping four women is asking that a special prosecutor be appointed to handle the state's case and that indictments charging the officer with stalking a woman be dismissed.

The motions were among pretrial motions filed last week by attorney Michael Rosenblat in the case against former Sgt. Jeff Pelo. The court also has been asked to bar a jury from hearing evidence about the photo-lineup and voice identifications police offered to victims.

The 18-year veteran of the police department resigned his position with the city last week.

Pelo's past working relationship with the McLean County state's attorney's office makes it necessary that a special prosecutor be appointed to avoid the appearance of impropriety, said Rosenblat.

Pelo, 42, was charged in June 2006 with stalking a woman and the attempted residential burglary of her home. He was stopped by a Bloomington patrolman outside the woman's home. About a month later, Pelo was charged with raping four women between December 2002 and January 2005.

The grand jury that indicted Pelo on the stalking charges was given false and inaccurate testimony from Bloomington Det. Larry Shepherd, Rosenblat said in his motion.

The jury was told the stalking victim identified Pelo as a man who was watching her from a vehicle in the parking lot of her employer on April 7, 2006. The incident actually took place a year earlier, said Pelo's attorney. When asked by police to identify a photo of any suspect who looked familiar from any circumstance, the woman pointed to Pelo.

"That is a far cry from having been identified … as the person who was following her," said Rosenblat.

Chief felony prosecutor Mark Messman, who questioned Shepherd before the grand jury, said he could not comment on the defense motions. He said the state will file a response to Rosenblat's allegations.

The photo identifications of Pelo should be suppressed, the defense argues, because police were overly suggestive in their presentation to the women who viewed the photos.

The state also provided misleading information to the court in obtaining samples of Pelo's voice, said Rosenblat.

The alleged stalking victim did not have a conversation with the prowler, said Pelo's attorney. Police wanted the voice samples for the sexual assault investigation, he said.

"All of the complaining witnesses had different physical descriptions of their offender, had a poor opportunity to observe the defender, and were shown the photo line-up at a minimum of 18 months, 14 months in the stalking case, after the offense, and all failed to identify the defendant as their attacker or stalker," Rosenblat said in his motion.

Prior to Pelo's arrest, police asked the public's help in solving several sexual assaults with enough similarities to suggest that one attacker may have been responsible.

Police conducted several searches of the home Pelo shared with his wife and three children. Among the long list of items police were looking for were dark-colored clothing, ski masks, duct tape and flashlights that could be shined in victims' faces.