Chicago Police Sergeant Arrested On Federal Extortion Charges
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jun 25, 2013 10:00PM
A Chicago Police sergeant was arrested on federal extortion charges after allegedly stealing from a West Side liquor store and giving the store owner information in exchange for money.
Sgt. Ray M. Ramirez, 49, allegedly made a habit of helping himself to some items in the store like cigarettes, chips and laundry detergent. When he offered to look up police reports and license plates for $550 solicited bribes, Ramirez became what the Sun-Times called "the target of an unusually sad federal sting."
The store owner was working as an FBI informant. The Tribune writes:
In February, Ramirez offered to sell the worker police crime reports from incidents at or near the store for $1,000, according to the complaint.Then in a ruse concocted by the FBI in April, the store worker asked Ramirez to run a background check on a person the store might hire. The informant, equipped with a concealed audio and video recorder, gave $200 in cash to Ramirez a few days later, authorities alleged.
Ramirez reportedly told the store owner/informant in recorded conversations, "You gotta get amnesia, you know, forget about it." The Tribune also reports Ramirez was financially struggling. He filed for bankruptcy in 2012, including a $148,000 loan from the Chicago Patrolmen's Federal Credit Union.
Ramirez's court-appointed attorney Michael Leonard called the charges "a bunch of malarkey" and said the witness had been paid more than $22,000 as an informant in the last five years.