A former Chicago police officer is facing felony charges for allegedly getting out of paying dozens of tickets by repeatedly claiming his car had been stolen.
Jeffrey Kriv backed up his false claims with fake documents, an investigation by the city’s Office of the Inspector General found. In all, Kriv avoided paying $3,665 in fines to the city, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Kriv was hired as a police officer in 1996 and retired on Jan. 20 — 10 days after he was relieved of his police powers due to the allegations, prosecutors said Tuesday
Kriv, 56, was charged with felony counts of perjury and forgery and was ordered released on his own recognizance during a hearing Tuesday at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, according to records.
The case stemmed from a tip last year to the inspector general’s office about a fake ticket that Kriv used to get out of another ticket, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Kriv used the forged ticket to claim he had been ticketed for the same violation twice in 15 minutes, prosecutors said. The fake ticket was allegedly signed by an Officer “D. Stuart” and used Kriv’s police badge number.
Since 2009, Kriv went to court and, under oath, “disputed numerous parking and moving violations to his personal vehicles by providing fraudulent documents as evidence and/or making false statements at in-person City of Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings,” prosecutors said.
Starting in 2013, Kriv allegedly started claiming that his girlfriend had stolen his car and was driving at the time of the violation. The ruse allowed him to get out of paying 44 automated ticket violations and, in each case, Kriv provided the court with fraudulent police reports that supported his claim, prosecutors said.
The court kept of a copy of the police reports and, in four instances, “those police reports appear, apart from their dates, to be nearly identical to each other,” prosecutors claimed.
“The truthfulness and credibility of police officers is foundational to the fair administration of justice, and to CPD’s effectiveness as a law enforcement agency,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said in a statement announcing the charges. “We are grateful to CPD and to the state’s attorney’s office for their partnership in this investigation.”
The inspector general’s office said each of the charges against Kriv are punishable by up to five years in prison, but are also eligible for probation.
“We look forward to seeing the state’s evidence and fighting this case in court,” defense attorney Tim Grace said when reached by phone Tuesday.
