Officer Slawomir Plewa Arrested for Trying to Frame Woman

CHICAGO

A Chicago police officer and another man have been charged with taking part in a scheme to arrest the man's estranged wife after planting drugs and a gun in her car.

Slawomir Plewa, 30, faces charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, official misconduct, unlawful restraint and other charges. He was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail by Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. during a hearing Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court.

Bogdan Mazur, 48, of Crystal Lake was arrested on false reporting, obstruction of justice as well as drug and gun conspiracy charges. He was also ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail Tuesday.

Mazur was angry with his estranged wife over money and "some of her parenting decisions" and hatched a plan with Plewa, whom he met through a mutual friend, to frame her, according to court documents filed by the Cook County state's attorney's office.

The documents say Mazur admitted to taking part in the scheme with Plewa and an uncharged coconspirator and that he and the uncharged coconspirator agreed to split a corporation owned by Mazur and his wife "after the victim was arrested and presumably convicted and sent to jail."
On April 1 of last year Mazur was with the couple's two young children in a Chicago garage when he called his wife, told her his vehicle wouldn't start, and asked her to pick up their children, officials said. Mazur and the coconspirator had already placed drugs and the gun into the spare tire compartment of the woman's car.

When she arrived at the garage, Plewa and other officers were waiting.

"Plewa provided false information indicating that an anonymous individual walked into the police station and provided information that led to the stop and arrest of the victim," according to prosecutors in the document, a motion to set bail.

When the woman arrived, Plewa asked if he could search the vehicle — a search that revealed the hidden items, prosecutors alleged.

The woman was arrested on drugs and weapons charges. She was acquitted of the charges during a trial in which Plewa allegedly provided false testimony, prosecutors said.

Plewa's attorney, Dan Herbert, said after Tuesday's hearing that his client was innocent and followed standard police procedure.

"He gathered information and made an arrest based on that information," Herbert said.

"His relationship with Mazur was a typical relationship between a police officer and if, in fact, there was a set up, Officer Plewa had no way of knowing of this," he said.

The case marks the latest embarrassment for Chicago's police department, which has tried to restore public confidence after a string of allegations of police brutality and misconduct.

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