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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| President accused of stealing from police sergeants' union |
| 2009-11-21 |
| The president of the Chicago Police Sergeants' Association was charged Friday wth using his fellow sergeants' union dues as his own personal piggybank, stealing more than $600,000 that he spent on a home, gambling trips, steak dinners and an online stock broker. Sgt. John Pallohusky, 53, was ordered held without bond on felony charges of theft and money laundering. "Any theft by a member of law enforcement is appalling and something we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," said Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez. "But the fact that this officer was essentially stealing from his fellow police sergeants make this crime even more shocking and deplorable." Police Supt. Jody Weis labeled Pallohusky the "Bernie Madoff" of the sergeants' association, referring to the New York financier accused of bilking more than $1 billion from investors. But Pallohusky's attorney, Robert Kuzas, said, "I don't think he's misappropriated one cent of the union's money, based on my conversations with my client." Prosecutors subpoenaed Sgt. Mary O'Toole, the treasurer of the sergeants' association, to testify before a grand jury Friday. But when prosecutors learned she was Pallohusky's wife, she was allowed to go without testifying, sources said. Pallohusky, a detective in the Harrison Area, oversees about $765,000 a year in dues paid by the association's 1,275 active sergeants, prosecutors said. He allegedly funneled the association's money to his personal credit cards and bank accounts for at least two years. He used the money to make frequent gambling trips to Las Vegas, buy a home in Chicago's affluent Sauganash neighborhood, service an Ameritrade account, stay frequently at downtown hotels and have dinner at Loop steakhouses, prosecutors said. He spent more than $163,000 on Ameritrade and $75,000 at restaurants including Ruth's Chris, Smith & Wollensky, Kinzie Chophouse, Petterino's, Gibson's and Lawry's, the arrest warrant said. In August, a bank "flagged" the suspicious activity and the Chicago Police Department was alerted, prosecutors said. He was arrested at home Friday morning. In 1989, Pallohusky was one of 11 people who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor fraud charge in connection with a petition drive to put a 1986 nonpartisan mayoral referendum on the ballot, according to newspaper reports. Pallohusky was in the headlines last month when the sergeants' association voted not to accept a new five-year contract that could have frozen sergeants' pay through 2012. He said members did not want to work under conditions the city was demanding. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 "When I saw the headline, my first thought was "Geez, Obama is really stooping low these days." Ditto. Thought it was Rahm & Co bringing the hammer down on Sgt. Crowley's comrades. Dose Chi-town guys play hardball dere. |
| Posted by: lex 2009-11-21 12:09 |
| #3 When I saw the headline, my first thought was "Geez, Obama is really stooping low these days." |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-11-21 11:44 |
| #2 The REAL news would be when Union dues were found NOT to be misappropriated in Cook County. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-11-21 08:21 |
| #1 Theft of union dues in Cook County. In other news, the sun rose in the East and set in the West. |
| Posted by: Jumbo Slinerong5015 2009-11-21 06:49 |