One of the indicted former Special Operations Section cops had a court date Wednesday at the Cook County criminal courthouse. As usual, nothing happened.
Assistant State's Atty. David Navarro walked into Courtroom 404, compared calendars with Officer Frank Villareal's lawyer and then agreed on a next date—Nov. 25. That was it, and it's been like that for a year.
The SOS cases are bogged down because of an ongoing federal probe into the scandal. It remains unclear when Villareal and the other six officers will face trial at 26th and Cal on charges of home invasions and robberies.
This uncertainty has been nearly unbearable for a handful of cops formerly in the once-elite unit who were never charged with crimes but lost their badges because of some connection to the allegations.
Those who believe they did nothing wrong say their careers are slipping away while they languish in administrative limbo. It's unlikely the Police Department will let any of them return to the street while the criminal investigation continues.
"We were all just a bunch of good police officers who actually cared about the citizens of this city and fighting crime!" Greg Insley, a former SOS officer, wrote to me in an e-mail last week. "So I am sure that I will remain stripped for a couple more years until these court cases play out . . . and then I'll be reinstated as a patrolman in a district until I retire. . . . Everything I had as a police officer is gone."
Insley was listed as the arresting officer on a report falsifying a 2004 drug bust, but he insists his name was forged and he wasn't even there.
Insley is caught up in a complex mess that has little to do with whether he took part in misbehavior. Since summer 2007, the U.S. attorney has been investigating whether Chicago police brass engaged in a coverup to protect the SOS officers.
It is unclear when the federal investigation will conclude, but it is certain that the Cook County prosecution of the seven officers won't go forward until the feds make a move.
The news last week that Supt. Jody Weis was putting a version of SOS back together, albeit with a different name, prompted Insley's e-mail. Weis noted in his plans that former SOS officers would have first crack at joining the new Mobile Strike Force—but only if they weren't "subject to any serious disciplinary matters."
It was just one more reminder to cops such as Insley that they'll have a cloud hanging over their heads for the foreseeable future.
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