No Bond for Cops Accused of Stealing for Latin Kings

By Chris Bentley in News on Nov 22, 2011 6:20PM

No bond. That’s what a federal Hammond, Ind. judge ordered Tuesday for the two Chicago cops accused of robbing people for the Latin Kings.

The gang allegedly paid Chicago Police officers Alex Guerrero and Antonio Martinez Jr. to shake down people in Illinois and Northwest Indiana over several years. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy denounced their actions, which according to the indictment included stealing tens of thousands of dollars in cash, guns and drugs that they then handed over to the Latin Kings.

The most recent version of the indictment claims the defendants have been conspiring with Latin Kings member Sisto Bernal since 1989.

Guerrero’s counsel said there is no evidence of his client’s guilt and lobbied the court to allow bail. But Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick pointed to Guerrero’s family in Mexico and a previous attempt to conceal a trip there as evidence of the officer’s flight risk.

An attorney for Martinez, who retired from the force in 2009 for medical reasons, did not fight his client’s detention.

The officers were arrested as part of a larger bust that netted 21 people on charges including murder.