Ex-suburban Chicago police officer admits stealing drugs

CHICAGO (AP) - A former suburban Chicago police detective has admitted to stealing drugs from his department's evidence room.

Gregory Salvi faces at least 10 years in prison when he returns to court in July for sentencing. He pleaded guilty Tuesday in Chicago federal court to possession of more than 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute.

The 43-year-old Salvi was a Melrose Park police detective when the FBI arrested him two years ago. Authorities say he picked up the narcotics and showed up to a storage facility to sell them to an informant he believed was a drug dealer.

At the time, FBI surveillance also revealed Salvi talked about stealing narcotics from a state police lab and replacing them with fake drugs to cover up what he'd done.