BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A mountain of police reports and parade of defense attorneys will keep a longtime Bloomington police officer in jail for well over a year before he stands trial on charges that he raped four young women.

Sgt. Jeff Pelo’s newest attorney told a judge Thursday that he needs more time to review about 6,700 pages of reports and more than 90 recorded interviews he inherited when he took the case last month.

McLean County Judge Robert Freitag told Pelo the delay will push his trial back to at least September, but said even that is “probably not very likely.” No trial date has been set.

There has been little movement in the case because Pelo has had three different attorneys since he was charged last July in a 35-count indictment that alleges he raped four women between December 2002 and January 2005. Pelo, 42, a 17-year department veteran, has pleaded not guilty.

Pelo’s first attorney stepped down, citing health reasons, and his second defense team withdrew because he couldn’t afford them.

Glenview attorney Michael Rosenblat took the case last month, and says he still is wading through stacks of reports and recorded interviews that rival complex cases of financial wrongdoing.

“It’s as big as any,” said McLean County Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Messman.

Rosenblat told reporters Thursday that he did not know when the case might go to trial. Messman said prosecutors are ready whenever the defense is.

“It’s hard. It’s hard on all of us,” said Pelo’s wife, Rickilee, who has attended nearly every court hearing since her husband’s arrest.

Pelo also has pleaded not guilty to charges that he stalked another woman and tried to break into her Bloomington home last June.

If convicted, prosecutors say Pelo could spend the rest of his life in prison and would automatically lose his job. He also would forfeit his police pension.

Pelo is on paid administrative leave and still collecting his $81,000 annual salary. He remains in McLean County jail on $2 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court again Aug. 9.