LAWYER: RAPE CASE DISMISSED AFTER BOTCHED DNA TESTING
A rape case was dismissed in July after a DNA test “incorrectly identified” the defendant, a defense lawyer said.
Michael Narcisi, 31, of Crown Point, was charged in January 2025 with two counts of rape, both Level 3 felonies.
“During a sworn deposition, the (Indiana State Police Laboratory) analyst admitted the DNA report contained an error,” lawyer Maryam Afshar-Stewart said in a statement. “Even more troubling, the testimony revealed that the laboratory’s own quality-control process failed to catch the mistake before the report was sent to investigators and prosecutors.”
A prosecutor’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a court filing, Deputy Prosecutor Shannon Phillips wrote July 16 that they couldn’t prove the case.
“The Indiana State Police is aware of the matter and a formal review is currently underway,” Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Glen Fifield said in an email.
The victim told police she met a man in March 2024 at a Crown Point bar. He texted her later around 2 a.m. to come to his friend Narcisi’s house.
A few people were there, including Narcisi, his girlfriend, and the man from the bar. They drank.
She and the man from the bar briefly had sex. After she went to sleep, she woke up to someone having sex with her, before realizing it was Narcisi, the original affidavit alleged.
CROWN POINT MAN CHARGED WITH SEXUALLY ASSAULTING RUNAWAY
A Crown Point man is facing charges for allegedly sexually assaulting an underage teen who ran away from home.
George Saliek, 80, of Crown Point is charged with rape, two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of sexual battery.
He is not in custody. When arrested, he is ordered held without bond.
Police responded just after 11 p.m. July 28 to a Merrillville home. A person – identified as “witness 1” – told the officer the girl left a “handwritten note” saying she was running away and don’t look for her, the affidavit states.
When police pinged her Snapchat account at 5 a.m. July 29, it led them to Saliek’s home on the 9500 block of Shelby Lane in Crown Point, charges state.
Saliek told officers he didn’t know her.
Police found her later that day walking in the Double Tree East subdivision, records show.
When police returned to Saliek’s home, according to court records, he “didn’t do nothin’.” She stayed for several hours, then he dropped her off at a McDonald’s, he told officers.
Afterwards, witness 1 contacted police, saying the girl said “something” happened before crying.
The teen said during an Aug. 6 special victim’s unit interview that she met Saliek in January 2026. In March 2026, while walking the dog near his house, a man with him “complimented” her and asked if she was a dog trainer. She said no, “since she was 14,” documents state.
Saliek, nearby, responded, “she was ‘way too young to be having sex,'” the affidavit alleges.
The girl said she later ran away to his home thinking she could trust him, documents state. At his home, she alleged he pulled her into his bedroom, forced her to disrobe, and assaulted her with a “toy,” records allege.
The girl was in the house when police first came looking for her, she said. Saliek later dropped her off in a grey van at a McDonald’s, she said.
mcolias@post-trib.com