Chicago Police Officer Faces Charges For Taking $5,000 Bribe
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Sep 20, 2012 7:30PM
A Chicago police officer allegedly told a motorist, “I can forget about your case if you pay me $5,000.” After the motorist reported it, he and internal affairs arranged a sting. Officer Harold Rodriguez, 45, accepted the bribe and was promptly arrested and charged with bribery and official misconduct. The Tribune writes:
The two met at about 10 a.m. Tuesday at a restaurant - a Popeyes, according to sources - near the Leighton Criminal Court Building at 26th Street and California Avenue.Two undercover IAD detectives conducting surveillance at the restaurant witnessed the driver hand the $5,000 in cash to Rodriguez, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the one of the undercover detectives overheard Rodriguez, after he took the cash, say he would not remember the court case.
Rodriguez has been a police officer in Chicago for 18 years and makes $84,756 per year. The Sun-Times reports he was also "a defendant in a federal lawsuit alleging he assaulted a man during a 2003 traffic stop when the motorist refused to remove a Mexican flag from his car."