Four Harvey police officers, 10 Cook County jail guards and a Chicago police officer have been charged with providing muscle for what they thought were major drug deals - but were really fake transactions that were part of an FBI sting.
In one of the largest crackdowns on law enforcement officers in recent years, the FBI is accusing the officers of accepting between $400 and $4,000 each on one or more occasions to serve as lookouts and intervene if police or rival drug dealers attempted to interfere with shipments of cocaine and heroin.
In May, for instance, jail guards Ahyetoro Taylor and Raphael Manuel accompanied someone they thought brokered large-scale drug transactions but was really an undercover FBI agent.
A twin-propeller plane landed at the west suburban DuPage Airport, where they boarded and began counting what they thought was 80 kilograms of cocaine stashed in four duffel bags, according to federal authorities.
They allegedly took the bags to the undercover FBI agent's car and watched as another undercover agent pulled up in a Mercedes, took the bags and drove off.
Taylor and Manuel took $4,000 each, authorities said.
Harvey officer Archie Stallworth is accused of accompanying an undercover agent to the DuPage Airport on Aug. 11 and accepting $1,000 after handling three duffel bags purportedly containing 30 kilograms of cocaine.
Stallworth, in an earlier conversation with an agent, allegedly talked about the best way to exchange drugs without arousing suspicion.
"The best spot for ya'll to do that, believe it or not, is the train station," he said. "Fast food places, that's where we be looking."
The undercover FBI agent was allegedly posing as an employee of a strip club in Harvey, sources said.
Stallworth denied comment today.
The FBI orchestrated 12 fake drug transactions between Aug. 1, 2007 and Aug. 11.
Last year, Manuel allegedly told an undercover FBI agent that he could intercede with local police if necessary.
"We know how to politic with the local authorities in case they try to stick their noses in that stuff like that," he was recorded as saying.
In another staged deal, Harvey officers Dwayne Williams and Antoine Dudley each took $400 to provide security for the undercover FBI agent, authorities said.
Williams allegedly got $400 to provide muscle during a purported $100,000 poker game staged by FBI agents, and Dudley got $400 to escort the agent to a local business.
They allegedly teamed up with fellow Harvey police officer James Engram Jr. to provide protection for a fake 25 kilogram cocaine deal on Feb. 29.
Chicago Police Officer Kyle T. Wilson also was charged in the sting. He allegedly accepted $500 for working security on a staged deal on Oct. 24, 2007.
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