Nov. 19--A former Chicago police sergeant mired in personal debt pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count Thursday for attempting to extort a West Side liquor store employee by offering to look up police reports, license plates and other information in exchange for cash.
Ray M. Ramirez, 52, faces up to a year in prison when he is sentenced in March by U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman. He was originally charged in 2013 with three felony counts that carried up to 20 years behind bars.
According to the charges, the liquor store worker told agents that Ramirez, a longtime Monroe District patrol sergeant, would stop by the store daily and often took items including soda, chips, cigarettes and laundry detergent without paying. He also had borrowed money from store workers and not paid it back.
In May 2013, the store worker asked Ramirez to run a license plate check on the vehicle of someone who had been seen taking photos of the store and might be working for the local alderman, Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Church said. The request was actually a ruse concocted by the FBI.
A few nights later, Ramirez drove to the store in uniform and told the employee "he had something to show him," Church said. After the worker paid Ramirez $200 in cash, the two went to the parking lot and got in a marked police SUV, where Ramirez allowed the worker to look at the license plate information he'd run in the law enforcement database of his police computer.
Church said Ramirez then told the employee to "forget" the whole thing "cause I would lose my job and I would be fired," the criminal complaint quoted Ramirez as saying.
Ramirez pleaded guilty to pocketing the $200 bribe while also admitting to other similar misconduct.
Dressed in a blue, hooded sweatshirt and appearing disheveled, Ramirez answered the judge in a clear voice when he asked if he had done everything alleged by prosecutors.
"Yes, sir, I did," said Ramirez, who joined the police department in 1986 but retired after he was charged last year.
Outside court, Ramirez's lawyer Michael Leonard said the store employee was a "shady character" who was known to allow gang activity at the store and has been paid at least $22,000 for undercover work on other investigations.
Ramirez recently had surgery related to severe diabetes and is about to begin chemotherapy for colon cancer.
"Pleading guilty was not something we wanted to do, but based on (Ramirez's) condition it's very difficult to go to trial," Leonard said.
With only a misdemeanor conviction, Ramirez will keep his police pension, Leonard said.
Court records show Ramirez filed for bankruptcy in 2012 listing thousands of dollars in debt, including a $148,000 loan from the Chicago Patrolmen's Federal Credit Union.
Last November, Ramirez's ex-wife, also a Chicago police officer, was shot and critically wounded outside her daughter's home in the South Shore neighborhood. The daughter's former boyfriend was charged with attempted murder.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
