By David Heinzmann and Todd Lighty
The Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — Federal agents arrested Chicago Police Officer Jerome Finnigan at his home this morning on new charges stemming from a probe of the Police Department’s special operations section, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
The charges were filed under seal and are being kept secret until a court hearing planned for this afternoon, sources said.
The arrest happened early this morning. But at 9:45 a.m., agents were still at Finnigan’s house on the Southwest Side, and they were going through his Volvo SUV parked in the driveway.
Randall Samborn, a spokesman for U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald, declined to comment on the arrest. FBI spokesman Ross Rice also declined to comment.
Finnigan’s lawyer, Michael Ficaro, could not be reached for comment this morning.
Finnigan already faces state charges alleging that he and six other SOS officers robbed and kidnapped people over several years while they were supposed to be combating gang and drug crime in the city’s toughest neighborhoods.
The Tribune reported in August that federal prosecutors were joining the Cook County state’s attorney’s investigation of SOS, and that the probe would also look into the Chicago Police Department’s internal affairs division, which was aware of the allegations against Finnigan and several other officers for at least four years but took no action.
Copyright 2007 Chicago Tribune