Ex-Chicago officer convicted of shaking down drug dealers
Posted March 12, 2019 7:00 am
CHICAGO (AP) - A former Chicago police officer who was captured nearly 15 years after he fled while awaiting trial on charges that he ripped off drug dealers has been convicted in federal court.
A federal jury on Monday convicted 70-year-old Eddie Hicks of racketeering, drug and gun charges, and jumping bail after his arrest. Prosecutors say he was the ringleader of a crew of five men who posed as federal drug agents to shake down drug dealers for cash and narcotics.
Hicks was under federal investigation when he retired from the police force in 2000. He fled in 2003 while awaiting trial.
He was arrested in 2017 in Detroit, where he was living under a false name. He'd been held without bond ever since.
A July 2013 photo shows a Sun-Times Chicago Crime Commission's 10 most wanted poster of former Chicago police officer Eddie Hicks. Hicks is scheduled to go on trial in Chicago federal court Monday, March 4, 2019 for federal drug and conspiracy charges more than 15 years after he fled and went on the run. Hicks has been held without bond since his September 2017 arrest in Detroit. (FBI/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
The Associated Press
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