Chicago cops stripped of powers as FBI probes ripoffs of drug dealers, sources say

Several members of a Chicago police gang team have been stripped of their police powers amid a federal criminal probe into allegations they ripped off drug dealers, law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune.

The nearly yearlong investigation by the FBI and Chicago police Internal Affairs Division focused on a sergeant and several officers on the department's Area Central gang team that operates in much of the South Side and part of the West Side, sources said.

The sergeant and at least three officers were stripped of their police powers, sources said. Authorities conducted searches of at least two of the officers’ homes Tuesday, but no arrests have been made. Criminal charges are expected to be filed, though, according to sources.

Video shot before dawn Tuesday by a neighbor of one of the officers showed agents arriving on their block in Chicago’s Pilsen community in an armored vehicle and shining spotlights on the officer’s single-family brick home. One agent could be seen popping out of a hatch on the roof of the vehicle while others in helmets and fatigues milled in the doorway of the home.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-cops-stripped-fbi-sting-20180131-story.html