Firefighter Charged With Selling Cocaine To Water Dept. Worker

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Feb 17, 2009 5:40PM

Keeping it all in the family, a Chicago firefighter has been placed on unpaid leave after he was charged with selling cocaine to a Department of Water Management worker. The firefighter, 62-year-old Ruben Santiago, was charged with "manufacture, delivery and possession of more than 15 grams of cocaine" while the DWM worker, 63-year-old Waldemar Cruz, was charged with "felony possession of a controlled substance." Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said, "At this time, there is no indication that anything illegal was done on city time. However, the conduct alleged clearly violates the oath taken to protect life."

Santiago is the third Chicago firefighter to be arrested in three months:

In December, firefighter Jose Moreno was charged with sexually molesting three young children, including a 3-year-old girl and two boys, ages 5 and 6. He was hired to be their caretaker three or four times a week. Two weeks later, another firefighter was charged with fraud and forgery; he allegedly stole natural gas after the heat was cut off at his home.

This also isn't the first time someone in the DWM has been involved in a drug bust. Back in 2005, George A. Prado was arrested on heroin charges and accused of running a Colombian heroin ring. Prado has also ended up in the news lately for his connection to the case of John Briatta, who was recently sentenced for his part in the Hired Trucks scandal.