A Chicago police officer accused of demanding $2,000 from a driver whose car he had just ordered impounded was charged by federal officials Thursday with attempted extortion.
Willie C. Caldwell III, 35, a four-year veteran assigned to the Wentworth District, was named in the criminal complaint.
On July 29, Caldwell stopped the driver of an SUV on suspicion that the vehicle was stolen. The driver was released that evening, but police held the car for further investigation.
A day later, according to the complaint, the driver phoned Caldwell to ask how to get the SUV released from the police impound lot. Caldwell allegedly told the driver that for $2,000, he could have someone change the vehicle’s impound slip to reflect that it had been subject to a regular tow rather than an investigation, allowing it to be released.
After some negotiation, according to the complaint, Caldwell agreed to accept $1,800 but said he was doing the driver a favor and would split the money with others.
The driver reported the allegations to Chicago police, who contacted federal authorities. At the direction of the FBI, the driver secretly recorded telephone calls to Caldwell’s cellular phone and wore a wire during a meeting with him Wednesday.
That afternoon, under FBI surveillance, the driver met in Caldwell’s car and handed over $1,800 in bills with pre-recorded serial numbers, according to the complaint. Caldwell allegedly gave the driver a slip of paper with the handwritten name and contact number of a person to contact at the impound lot. He also allegedly gave the driver a copy of the police tow report.
When the driver could not reach the contact at the impound lot, the driver called Caldwell, according to the complaint. During that call, less than two hours after the alleged payoff, Caldwell said that he wanted to return the money because he felt that he was being set up, according to the complaint. When the driver and Caldwell met again later that day, authorities arrested Caldwell in his car.
After his arrest, Caldwell allegedly told authorities that he had solicited the payoff because he was having money problems, and that he was tipped off to a possible sting when he learned that the car had been moved from its original lot.
Police spokesman Patrick Camden said Thursday that the department would move to suspend Caldwell when he is released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Caldwell is due to appear in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing.
In what officials said was an unrelated development Thursday, the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications announced that security cameras had been installed recently at three Chicago auto pounds so that all six facilities are under surveillance.
“All city auto pounds in Chicago will now have the capability to monitor all activity in and out of each location,” OEMC Executive Director Ron Huberman said in a statement.
