A former police officer wanted for conspiracy to steal narcotics and cash from drug dealers and then sell the ill-gotten gains in the Chicago area was arrested in Detroit Tuesday after 15 years on the lam, federal authorities announced.
Eddie Hicks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said, and four unnamed accomplices posed as Drug Enforcement Administration task force officers and draw up fake search warrants for stash houses of known drug dealers in the early 2000s. After raiding the stash houses, Hicks and his accomplices would then take drugs, cash and other valuables to another dealer to be sold and then split the profits, the FBI said.
The 68-year-old ex-cop, also known as Clarence Jenkins, failed to appear at a 2003 trial to face drug and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act charges, federal authorities said.
An arrest warrant was issued for him after he was charged with failure to appear based on the original charges of RICO, conspiracy and possession and distribution of a controlled substance.
Hicks was a sergeant in the Chicago Police Department with 29 years on the force.
In a statement, CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said "integrity and trust" are the most important attributes for Chicago police officers to maintain.
"These federal charges against Mr. Hicks are extremely serious and if proven in a court of law, they undermine everything that this department stands for," he said. "There is simply no tolerance for misconduct or criminal activity from any member of this department and we applaud our colleagues in Detroit and at the FBI in apprehending Mr. Hicks."
Local
Two years after Hicks went on the run, his signature appeared on land records giving his son, also a Chicago police cop, property on the South Side Hicks used for his $150,000 bond, the Chicago Tribune reports.
