By Frank Main
Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO, Ill. — A Chicago Police officer has been cleared of charges he operated a gambling parlor but was fired for keeping an unregistered gun in his police locker.
Richard S. Teresi, 38, was arrested in January 2006 after police searched his building in the 5100 block of North Elston. Police said they found three video poker machines, records of wagers and $1,700 in cash. Police said they were tipped by a patron who claimed he was cheated.
But Thomas Needham, a lawyer who represented Teresi before the Chicago Police Board, said his client leased space to a licensed social club. Men in the club played cards, but the operation was not an illegal gambling parlor, said Needham, former general counsel to the Chicago Police superintendent.
Cook County prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor gambling and gun charges brought against Teresi, and the Chicago Police Board decided the department failed to prove he was running a gambling business.
But the board fired Teresi on Oct. 18 for having an unregistered .44-caliber Taurus handgun in his locker at the Jefferson Park police district, noting that his disciplinary record included suspensions for neglect of duty and abuse of medical leave.
Teresi is appealing his firing, court records show. Attorney Kevin Peters has sued the city on Teresi’s behalf, claiming his arrest was unlawful.
Copyright 2007 The Chicago Sun-Times