Jewelry theft ring operator released from custody

A former Chicago Police Department chief of detectives who helped run a nationwide ring of jewel thieves has been released from a federal custody after completing a 12-year prison sentence.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Steinback tells the Chicago Tribune that William Hanhardt was released from custody on Friday. The 83-year-old Hanhardt was released to a Chicago halfway house in July. Two months later, he was ordered to home confinement.

Hanhardt pleaded guilty in October 2001 to running an organized crime theft ring that stalked jewelry salesmen and stole more than $5 million in diamonds over 20 years.

When Hanhardt was sentenced in 2002, his lawyers said he was in declining health, suffering from congestive heart failure, among other ailments.

Steinback would not discuss the state of Hanhardt’s current health.