FBI Snags Law Enforcement Officers

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 2, 2008 9:45PM

An FBI sting has caught 10 Cook County sheriff's correctional officers, four Harvey police officers and a Chicago police officer accused of running security for what they thought were major drug deals but were actually parts of the sting operation. Officers received as much as $4,000 per incident and were willing to intervene if other law enforcement officials stepped in.

An undercover agent acting as a drug dealer allegedly paid 16 of the defendants some $44,000 during the course of the investigation. In once incident, corrections officers Ahyetoro Taylor and Raphael Manuel met the undercover agent at the DuPage Airport, where they allegedly helped count what they believed were 80 kilograms of cocaine. The officers each were paid $4,000 for helping with the shipment.

Authorities said the undercover agent posed as an employee of a Harvey business that was not identified. It was described by authorities as the "hub in multiple spokes of police corruption" as Manuel and Taylor recruited officers to help them.

Manuel was also recorded telling an undercover FBI agent, "We know how to politic with the local authorities in case they try to stick their noses in that stuff like that." The officers are also accused of working security for illegal poker games and other meetings.