A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was convicted Wednesday of lifting $5,000 in cash from an international traveler as she passed through a screening station at O’Hare International Airport.
Salvatore Picardi, 38, of Park Ridge, was convicted of embezzlement by a federal officer under color of law.
A female passenger who landed at O’Hare on a flight from China in February noticed her cash was missing after a customs inspection, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Other officers began searching for the money with her when Pacardi stuffed the bills back into the woman’s jacket pocket and acted as if he’d just discovered it, prosecutors said.
Unbeknownst to Pacardi, prosecutors said, the jacket had already been searched multiple times before his purported discovery.
Pacardi faces up to 10 years in federal prison and will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin in December.
His attorney did not immediately respond to request for comment.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe," a CBP spokesperson said in an email. "We do not tolerate corruption or abuse within our ranks, nor acts which tarnish our agency’s reputation. We fully cooperate with any criminal or administrative investigations of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, on or off duty."
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CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility was involved in the investigation and Picardi has been on indefinite unpaid suspension for over a year, the spokesperson confirmed.
