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Victim in police rape says other officers ‘had her back’

A Davenport woman says the guilty verdict against a policeman for raping her in 2013 is a huge relief, after three years of waiting for justice.

MUSCATINE, Iowa - A Davenport woman says the guilty verdict against a policeman for raping her in 2013 is a huge relief, after three years of waiting for justice.

"It felt like a huge load just went and evaporated off of me, I felt like I could breathe again," said Shari Martin.

Ex-Muscatine officer Tom Tovar was found guilty Thursday  of third degree sexual abuse in just 90 minutes.

"It was so heartwarming to see the jury come back so quickly and know that I was a victim. The state of Iowa, my legal team, so many people had my back and I've never had that in my entire life," Martin said.

Tovar was escorting Martin back to her hotel room in his squad car after her boyfriend was being taken to jail for drunk driving. Martin was too drunk to remember anything except "a man in a police uniform lying on top of me."

Police investigators pursued the case and Tovar's DNA was found in semen samples in the bed sheets and in Martin's jeans.

Tovar had turned off his body microphone and squad car camera.

At trial, he told the jury the sex was consensual, and that Martin was coming on to him. In the end, the jury believed Martin.

"It just disgusted me. I didn't know this man. He was a total stranger. I think he was so cocky and so arrogant, he didn't even try to cover his tracks," she said.

"You can't trust someone just because they have a badge. But, there are also heroes that have a badge," she said.

"The Muscatine police and the Iowa DCI, they had my back," she said.

Tovar will be sentenced in July, and faces a mandatory ten years in prison.

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