Chicago cop gets 2 months for participating

Chicago cop gets 2 months for participating in Special Ops misconduct scandal

The last former Chicago police officer to be sentenced in one of the worst misconduct scandals in department history was given just two months in prison Friday for taking part in three robberies while a member of the once-elite Special Operations Section.

Keith Herrera faced up to 13 years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning sharply reduced his sentence because he worked undercover for federal authorities, wearing a wire to secretly record then-Officer Jerome Finnigan as he plotted to hire a hit man to kill another officer he suspected of cooperating with investigators.

"Words cannot describe how ashamed I am of my actions," said Herrera, pausing to exhale as he read from a handwritten statement.

Herrera pleaded guilty to civil rights and tax-related charges and admitted he and other officers stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from suspected drug dealers and other citizens after making illegal traffic stops or home searches.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols credited Herrera's cooperation for causing Finnigan to plead guilty. Finnigan, identified by authorities as the scheme's ringleader, was sentenced last September to 12 years in prison for the murder-for-hire plot.

In addition to Finnigan and Herrera, nine other police officers were convicted in the scandal, which resulted in the Special Operations Section being disbanded in 2007.

Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.