Ex-cop found guilty of telling drug dealer of planned raid

CHICAGO (AP) - A former Chicago police officer has been convicted of obstructing a federal grand jury investigation into drug dealing on the city's West Side.

Ronald T. Coleman was a member of task force that included federal drug agents. Two days before planned raids, a wiretap picked up a caller informing a target about a mole on the task force and warning the target to "clean the place up." A few hours later, officers observed drugs being moved out of a stash house about to be raided.

On Thursday, a federal jury agreed with prosecutors the mole was Coleman.

The prosecution case largely hinged on the testimony of two cousins who played high school basketball with Coleman. Prosecutors alleged that when Coleman saw one of the cousins meeting with a known heroin supplier, he informed the other cousin of a planned raid.