Post by WaTcHeR on Sept 1, 2006 12:04:59 GMT -5
09.01.2006 - A winner of the prestigious Superintendent's Award for Valor was stripped of his police powers this week as prosecutors prepare to charge up to eight Chicago Police officers suspected of raiding homes and stealing valuables, sources said Wednesday.
The Chicago Sun-Times and NBC's Unit 5 have learned the officer -- a member of the elite Special Operations Section -- is one of four officers in the section to be taken off the street so far. A yearlong investigation has uncovered at least 25 cases of cops from the section allegedly robbing victims, sources said.
A police spokeswoman declined to comment. The officer could not be reached.
The 43-year-old officer, described by sources as a ringleader, has been a defendant in five lawsuits in federal court alleging police misconduct. In some cases, he was accused of participating in ripoffs of cash and jewelry during illegal searches of homes, cars and a bar.
In some cases, the alleged victims were dope dealers. But in others, they were just ordinary citizens, sources said.
Drug cases to be dropped
The city has paid out at least $80,000 in legal settlements involving the officer and others, court records show. The Sun-Times and Unit 5 are not identifying the officer because he is not charged criminally.
Up to eight Special Operations officers will be stripped of their police powers, meaning they cannot carry a gun or make arrests. Not all of the stripped officers will necessarily be charged criminally, sources said.
Cook County prosecutors are expected to file criminal charges against up to eight officers as early as next week.
Many drug cases are expected to be dismissed by prosecutors because the arrests were made by the officers under investigation -- similar to the fallout from previous police corruption cases, sources said.
Last year, five officers were charged in federal court in a separate corruption investigation. They were accused of ripping off drug dealers. Four of those officers have pleaded guilty, including Englewood District Officer Broderick "Thirsty" Jones, the alleged leader. They were tactical officers assigned to districts on the South Side -- and not to the more than 200-member Special Operations Section, whose officers roam the city seizing drugs and guns in crime hot spots.
A family of Mexican immigrants on the Northwest Side was one of the alleged victims of crooked Special Operations officers, sources said. The decorated officer played a role in the case, the sources said.
'Our word against his'
Last year, NBC's Unit 5 profiled Miguel Melesio, a high school student at Excel Academy who said he was stopped, handcuffed and held by police who stole thousands of dollars from his home. Melesio said he was driving a 2003 Cadillac when officers swooped in. He said he thinks they were looking for drugs.
Melesio said he was taken back to his family's three-flat and remained in the police car while three officers, including a woman, went inside. They searched the building and left. About $13,000 in savings was missing from the home, Melesio said.
Sources said they do not think the Melesios, who are legal U.S. residents, were engaged in illegal activity.
"It's gonna be our word against his [an officer's] word, and they are the law," Miguel Melesio's brother Uriel Melesio lamented in a Unit 5 interview.
The Police Department's Internal Affairs Division investigated the Melesios' complaint and took fingerprints from the Cadillac. The family identified two of the officers in a photo lineup, Unit 5 has reported.
The decorated Special Operations officer -- who won the Superintendent's Award for Valor in 1999 for saving a store owner during a robbery attempt -- is one of the officers suspected in the illegal search of the Melesio home, a source said.
That officer has been named in four lawsuits alleging he was involved in home invasions dating to 2002. The city has settled two of those cases for a total of $70,000 without admitting guilt.
The city has settled another case alleging the officer was involved in illegally detaining a community worker in 2001 outside the Stateway Gardens public housing complex. The city paid out $10,000.
'That is a sign of rogue cops'
In one lawsuit, Rene Gutierrez accused the officer and others of handcuffing Gutierrez and searching his car in 2004 as he was parked in front of his home in the 5100 block of South Kolin.
The officers entered the home and stole $50,000 in cash and $45,000 in jewelry, as well as drugs, in a search without a court warrant, the lawsuit said.
Gutierrez faced a drug charge in state court, but the case was dropped when the officers repeatedly failed to show up to testify, according to the lawsuit, which was filed this month in federal court.
"Normally when you have cops who don't show up in a major narcotics case, that is a sign of rogue cops," said Gutierrez's attorney, Lawrence V. Jackowiak.
OTHER POLICE SCANDALS:
2005: Four South Side tactical officers are charged with ripping off drug dealers
2003: Gang specialist Joseph Miedzianowski is sentenced to life in prison for running a Chicago-to-Miami drug ring with gang members. Prosecutors brand him as the most corrupt cop in Chicago history. His partner also is convicted.
2001: Former Chicago Police Deputy Supt. William Hanhardt pleads guilty for his role in a jewelry theft ring and is sentenced to 12 years in prison.
1996: Seven Austin District plainclothes officers, including Edward Lee "Pacman" Jackson Jr., are arrested for committing robberies, home invasions and extortions of drug dealers. All are convicted.
1990: Ten Wentworth District officers are convicted of taking protection payoffs from gamblers and drug dealers. Three other officers pleaded guilty.
1983: Ten Marquette District officers are convicted for taking thousands of dollars in bribes and sexual favors to protect a drug dealer's heroin ring.
1973: Capt. Clarence Braasch of the East Chicago District and 18 of his men are convicted of shaking down Rush Street and Old Town club owners for thousands of dollars.
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bust31.html
The Chicago Sun-Times and NBC's Unit 5 have learned the officer -- a member of the elite Special Operations Section -- is one of four officers in the section to be taken off the street so far. A yearlong investigation has uncovered at least 25 cases of cops from the section allegedly robbing victims, sources said.
A police spokeswoman declined to comment. The officer could not be reached.
The 43-year-old officer, described by sources as a ringleader, has been a defendant in five lawsuits in federal court alleging police misconduct. In some cases, he was accused of participating in ripoffs of cash and jewelry during illegal searches of homes, cars and a bar.
In some cases, the alleged victims were dope dealers. But in others, they were just ordinary citizens, sources said.
Drug cases to be dropped
The city has paid out at least $80,000 in legal settlements involving the officer and others, court records show. The Sun-Times and Unit 5 are not identifying the officer because he is not charged criminally.
Up to eight Special Operations officers will be stripped of their police powers, meaning they cannot carry a gun or make arrests. Not all of the stripped officers will necessarily be charged criminally, sources said.
Cook County prosecutors are expected to file criminal charges against up to eight officers as early as next week.
Many drug cases are expected to be dismissed by prosecutors because the arrests were made by the officers under investigation -- similar to the fallout from previous police corruption cases, sources said.
Last year, five officers were charged in federal court in a separate corruption investigation. They were accused of ripping off drug dealers. Four of those officers have pleaded guilty, including Englewood District Officer Broderick "Thirsty" Jones, the alleged leader. They were tactical officers assigned to districts on the South Side -- and not to the more than 200-member Special Operations Section, whose officers roam the city seizing drugs and guns in crime hot spots.
A family of Mexican immigrants on the Northwest Side was one of the alleged victims of crooked Special Operations officers, sources said. The decorated officer played a role in the case, the sources said.
'Our word against his'
Last year, NBC's Unit 5 profiled Miguel Melesio, a high school student at Excel Academy who said he was stopped, handcuffed and held by police who stole thousands of dollars from his home. Melesio said he was driving a 2003 Cadillac when officers swooped in. He said he thinks they were looking for drugs.
Melesio said he was taken back to his family's three-flat and remained in the police car while three officers, including a woman, went inside. They searched the building and left. About $13,000 in savings was missing from the home, Melesio said.
Sources said they do not think the Melesios, who are legal U.S. residents, were engaged in illegal activity.
"It's gonna be our word against his [an officer's] word, and they are the law," Miguel Melesio's brother Uriel Melesio lamented in a Unit 5 interview.
The Police Department's Internal Affairs Division investigated the Melesios' complaint and took fingerprints from the Cadillac. The family identified two of the officers in a photo lineup, Unit 5 has reported.
The decorated Special Operations officer -- who won the Superintendent's Award for Valor in 1999 for saving a store owner during a robbery attempt -- is one of the officers suspected in the illegal search of the Melesio home, a source said.
That officer has been named in four lawsuits alleging he was involved in home invasions dating to 2002. The city has settled two of those cases for a total of $70,000 without admitting guilt.
The city has settled another case alleging the officer was involved in illegally detaining a community worker in 2001 outside the Stateway Gardens public housing complex. The city paid out $10,000.
'That is a sign of rogue cops'
In one lawsuit, Rene Gutierrez accused the officer and others of handcuffing Gutierrez and searching his car in 2004 as he was parked in front of his home in the 5100 block of South Kolin.
The officers entered the home and stole $50,000 in cash and $45,000 in jewelry, as well as drugs, in a search without a court warrant, the lawsuit said.
Gutierrez faced a drug charge in state court, but the case was dropped when the officers repeatedly failed to show up to testify, according to the lawsuit, which was filed this month in federal court.
"Normally when you have cops who don't show up in a major narcotics case, that is a sign of rogue cops," said Gutierrez's attorney, Lawrence V. Jackowiak.
OTHER POLICE SCANDALS:
2005: Four South Side tactical officers are charged with ripping off drug dealers
2003: Gang specialist Joseph Miedzianowski is sentenced to life in prison for running a Chicago-to-Miami drug ring with gang members. Prosecutors brand him as the most corrupt cop in Chicago history. His partner also is convicted.
2001: Former Chicago Police Deputy Supt. William Hanhardt pleads guilty for his role in a jewelry theft ring and is sentenced to 12 years in prison.
1996: Seven Austin District plainclothes officers, including Edward Lee "Pacman" Jackson Jr., are arrested for committing robberies, home invasions and extortions of drug dealers. All are convicted.
1990: Ten Wentworth District officers are convicted of taking protection payoffs from gamblers and drug dealers. Three other officers pleaded guilty.
1983: Ten Marquette District officers are convicted for taking thousands of dollars in bribes and sexual favors to protect a drug dealer's heroin ring.
1973: Capt. Clarence Braasch of the East Chicago District and 18 of his men are convicted of shaking down Rush Street and Old Town club owners for thousands of dollars.
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bust31.html