BLOOMINGTON - A Bloomington Police sergeant pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he raped four women, and his defense attorney says he'll ask a judge to throw out some of the 35 counts.

Steve Skelton said he doesn't expect all of the charges filed against Sgt. Jeff Pelo to be dismissed, but he hopes to raise doubt on some within the next two weeks.

"I don't care if it's 350,000 (charges)," Skelton said, referring to the 35-count indictment. "If they got the wrong guy, they got the wrong guy. That's what I believe."

Pelo was indicted Wednesday in the attacks, which occurred in Bloomington between December 2002 and January 2005. The women were all single and in their 20s.

Skelton, who said he hasn't received material about what evidence police have, said he'll file a motion asking Judge Ronald Dozier to dismiss the charges.

Meanwhile, Skelton said Pelo is trying to keep his spirits up in the McLean County Jail. He stays in a private cell isolated from other inmates.

"It's not a pretty situation but he's doing OK," Skelton said. "He's concerned about his family, he's concerned about himself and it's a depressing position to find yourself in."

Prosecutors have built a case in which Pelo was identified in photo and voice recording lineups by several of the victims, Skelton said.

Assistant State's Attorney Mark Messman previously said three of the four women identified Pelo's photo and two picked out his voice as that of their attacker.

But Skelton said it would be difficult to identify someone who was wearing a mask in the dark.

"I'm already aware in my mind of a number of problems relative to the identification process," Skelton said. "And not to throw any stones at the media, but it seems somewhat coincidental to me that for years there is no identification and to be best of my knowledge they didn't even have a composite put together of the alleged perpetrator and then after my client's picture is in the newspaper (and) on the television for six weeks, bingo, he's identified. That causes me a great deal of concern about the accuracy of the identifications."

Pelo remains in jail on $2 million bond, an amount Skelton said he hopes to get reduced to $200,000 when Pelo appears in court Sept. 7.

The sergeant, who is on paid leave from his $81,000 job with the police department, cannot raise the $200,000 cash needed to earn his release from jail.

Skelton said Pelo is not a flight risk, though Messman has argued he represents a danger to the victims and to another woman whose home he is accused of trying to break into.

Police said an officer found Pelo, dressed in dark clothing, lurking outside the Bloomington woman's home after she called 911 reporting someone was trying to break in.

Pelo was arrested the next day, and prosecutors eventually charged him with stalking after the woman identified him as a man who had watched and followed her previously.