A Chicago police officer, already charged with wrongdoing for breaking into homes and shaking down residents, stole $450,000 in cash from the home of a private citizen in 2004, a new indictment released Wednesday said.

Jerome Finnigan, who is facing multiple charges with five other officers in a series of robberies and kidnappings of suspected drug dealers and others, was hit with new charges of armed robbery, home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and other offenses. Prosecutors said Finnigan and two other officers from the elite special operations section stopped a man parked at a gas station near Central Avenue and the Stevenson Expressway in September 2004. The officers forced the man to reveal his home address in unincorporated Cook County, they said.
 "After taking the victim's cell phone, driver's license and car keys, one of the officers stayed with the victim and drove him to a different location several blocks away while Finnigan and the other officer went to the victim's home address," Assistant State's Atty. David Navarro said in court.

Finnigan and the other officer then ransacked the man's home without a warrant or probable cause to search, Navarro said. The man's wife was present but was given no explanation, he said.

No narcotics or contraband were discovered, but the officers found several shopping bags stuffed with about $450,000 in cash, he said.

The man was released near his home after Finnigan called to tell the officer to "ditch the package," Navarro said.

"Finnigan and the other two officers drove to one of the officers' homes in Chicago, where the money was divided equally between the three, $150,000 apiece," Navarro said.

Prosecutors said the unnamed victim's cash came from the sale of property in Mexico. The victim provided notarized and certified copies of a deed and land contract from September 2004 for $460,000, they said.

However, the victim did not report the theft to police, saying he feared police reprisal, according to prosecutors. But he told a private attorney about the incident, they said.

Prosecutors offered no reason why the two other officers involved in the theft were not also charged but said the investigation was continuing.

Finnigan's lawyer declined to comment on the new charges.

At the brief hearing, Cook County Circuit Judge John Fleming denied a request from the prosecution to increase Finnigan's bail amount—currently $4 million. The new charges came as Finnigan and five other officers—Keith Herrera, Carl Suchocki, Tom Sherry, Margaret Hopkins and Frank Villareal—await trial on charges they stole thousands of dollars from drug dealers or other people who they believed would not file police reports. A seventh officer, James McGovern, was charged with official misconduct.

All the officers have been stripped of their police powers, Monique Bond, a spokeswoman for Chicago Police Department, said Wednesday.

The judge expressed annoyance at the hearing over delays that have pushed back the trial. He had once hoped the trial would take place this summer.

In the latest delay, the defense has appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court for the release of the identities of several police officers who have cooperated in the investigation in return for immunity from prosecution.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070613copjun13,1,5795796.story?coll=chi-news-hed