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| Matt Hudak, John Cichy, and Terrance O'Brien charged with selling cocaine they robbed from drug dealers. |
Three Schaumburg police officers have admitted robbing drug dealers, taking their money and selling their drugs, with one of the cops telling investigators he did "it all for the thrill of it," according to prosecutors.
John Cichy, 30, Matthew Hudak, 29, and Terrance O’Brien, 47, were captured on undercover video surveillance and audio recordings stealing money and drugs from the dealers, and all three have made incriminating statements, prosecutor Audriana Anderson said in court this morning.
"Everything you have on tape, I did. You got me on that," Anderson quoted Hudak as telling authorities. O'Brien told investigators they did "it all for the thrill of it," she said.
Authorities said they began investigating the officers more than two weeks ago after a search warrant was executed on a storage locker in Carol Stream and 275 grams of cocaine were recovered.
The person who had control of the locker told authorities the officers had been using him since the middle of 2012 to buy and sell cocaine and marijuana from the cash and drugs they stole while executing search warrants. Investigators then set up a sting, with the informant wearing a wire, authorities said. The officers were arrested Wednesday.
"What began as a routine narcotics investigation quickly evolved into something far more sinister," DuPage State's Attorney Robert Berlin said after the court hearing.
Defense attorney Thomas Glasgow, who represents Hudak, said his client was falsely accused by an unreliable "snitch" set up the officers. "In order to collar the bad guy, you have to look like the bad guy," Glasgow said.
The judge set a cash bail of $750,000 for each of the officers. Sexton granted a prosecution request requiring the officers to remain in custody until a hearing is held to ensure any money posted as bail was not obtained through illegal means.
"I believe these guys have nothing to lose," the judge said. "And they are a flight risk."
Defense attorneys sought to lower the full-cash bonds, arguing the defendants could not come up with that much money.
A girlfriend of one of the officers was also charged with drug conspiracy, accused of allowing her Hoffman Estates home to be used as a "stash house," Anderson said.
Anderson said authorities recovered six pounds of marijuana and some cocaine from the garage of Nicole Brehm, 44. She was ordered held on $150,000 bail.
Cichy and Hudak were each charged with manufacturing or delivering between 100 and 400 grams of cocaine, armed violence, criminal drug conspiracy, conspiracy to manufacture or deliver between 100 and 400 grams of cocaine, official misconduct, theft between $10,000 and $100,000 in a school or place of worship, and burglary.
O'Brien was charged with manufacturing or delivering between 100 and 400 grams of cocaine, armed violence, drug conspiracy, official misconduct, theft of stolen property between $10,000 and $100,000 from a school or place of worship, and burglary.
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