Travis Rodak approved as special counsel

SIDNEY -- The Sidney City Council Tuesday approved appointing a "Special Prosecutor."

The decision came at the request of City Attorney Kendra Strommen. She requested a special prosecutor because of the number of cases involving sexual predators.

"Tonight, I'm requesting Council appoint a special prosecutor. We've had an uptick in cases that involve sexual predators in our town. Already, there has also been a pattern of defense counsel. The first one that has come through they've already requested a defense attorney, and the defense attorney has requested a jury trial," she said.

The proposal was made in Tuesday's Sidney City Council meeting. 

"These are things that we need to be successful on, and I am openly admitting that I am not an expert on trial litigation in this area," Strommen said.

Sidney Police Chief Sam Lovato said the police department is keeping sex offenders accountable to the registry requirements.

"The Sidney Police Department has been extremely aggressive in pursuing a lot of the known issues. In the last month or so, we've arrested numerous individuals for violating the sexual registry protocol," Lovato said.

He supported Strommen's desire to move forward properly.

"As Kendra is saying, if we don't do this appropriately right the first time, everything that we have done and everything moving forward is going to be more of an uphill challenge. I personally take it very seriously, my guys take it very seriously. I know Kendra takes it very seriously. That's why we're asking, why I'm trying to back her play as far as we want to make sure we win, we set the standard and we set the tempo moving forward," Lovato said.

Strommen said Travis Rodak, of Bridgeport, would be the Special Council. Rodak is also helping with the Cheyenne County Attorney's Office with jury trials, she said.