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Another suit filed in Schaumburg police scandal

A former Schaumburg man on Friday filed suit against the village of Schaumburg and two former police officers, claiming the cops threatened and harassed him and his family.

It’s the third federal lawsuit filed against the former Schaumburg officers since they were arrested on drug conspiracy charges in January.

Jordan Miller, 29, claims in a filing in federal court that former officers Terrance O’Brien and Matthew Hudak entered his Hanover Park home in May 2010, stole his property, and made threats of arrests and incarceration.

The suit does not include a third officer, John Cichy, who also has been accused of being part of the original drug conspiracy.

Miller said he began doing undercover drug purchases for the police department in early 2010. He claims he was promised by O’Brien that his criminal record of previous misdemeanors could be sealed or expunged, and he could be hired as a police officer one day.

Miller said he continued to make the undercover purchases as part of department drug investigations until he felt the orders he was being given by O’Brien “were unethical and, at times, criminal.”

“They were cowboys,” Miller said in an interview. “They did whatever they wanted.”

In the complaint, Miller alleges that evidence was skimmed from, that the officers planted drugs on suspects and that he once was told to give false information to a judge to obtain fraudulent search warrants.

Miller said when he wanted to sever ties with the department, warrants were issued for his arrest for impersonating a peace officer and drug possession. That’s when he says O’Brien and Hudak forced themselves into his home, removed papers proving his employment with the department, as well as two legally owned assault rifles and about $8,500.

Those items were later recovered by Drug Enforcement Agency officials in O’Brien’s and Hudak’s homes, according to the complaint.

The suit also claims O’Brien threatened to place Miller’s son in a state facility and said his son “could get hurt badly” at a park where he played every day. And O’Brien threatened to have Miller’s wife, a legal resident, deported, Miller said.

Miller also said when he was released from prison, he was listed as “armed and dangerous” in the police department’s computer system.

It wasn’t until Miller recently spoke with the DEA and prosecutors that he decided to come forward.

Miller has since relocated from Schaumburg but wouldn’t say where exactly.

“Any contact I’ve had with any law enforcement I’ve been burned,” he said. “Growing up you think you can trust police, but it’s been completely the opposite.”

Miller has provided testimony to a grand jury in DuPage County as part of the drug conspiracy case against the officers that alleges they stole drugs seized by police and worked with an informant to resell them.

The former officers have pleaded not guilty and remain free on bond.

Miller is seeking monetary damages for emotional distress, pain and suffering and conversion of his personal property.

Village Manager Ken Fritz said the village would investigate Miller’s complaint but, as of now, had no formal comment.

“We do take it seriously and will follow up on it,” he said.

In the other federal lawsuits, a Chicago man sued all three officers and the village Feb. 18, claiming he was beaten and placed under arrest last year in Arlington Heights.

A Schaumburg man sued Hudak, O’Brien and the village Feb. 8, which claims the officers illegally searched his property and stole more than $2,000 from his grandmother’s home.

Suit: Cops stole from suspect

Second federal lawsuit filed against former Schaumburg cops

Matthew Hudak
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