Sergeant Charged with Stealing from Union

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: A Chicago Police sergeant was arrested this morning on allegations he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Chicago Police Sergeants Association, sources said.

Sgt. John Pallohusky, president of the association, was the target of a joint investigation by the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, the sources said.

He was charged with theft in excess of $100,000 and money laundering, both of which are felony offenses.

The investigation uncovered that Pallohusky, 53, embezzled more than $600,000 from the association.

According to prosecutors, Pallohusky stole the funds by making withdrawals and writing checks from the association’s bank account and making them payable to himself. He allegedly laundered the proceeds to his personal credit card and bank accounts.

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 was arrested at his home this morning.

“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.”

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.