Pubdate: Wed, 01 Mar 2006
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2006 The Sun-Times Co.
Contact:  http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Frank Main, Crime Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

POLICE SERGEANT FIRED FOR ALLEGEDLY REFUSING TO AID  DRUG CASE

A Chicago Police sergeant has been fired in a 2001 drug  case and a 
lieutenant is facing dismissal in a separate  telephone harassment case.

Sgt. Kevin Morrison failed to cooperate with a 
criminal  investigation into a teacher's allegations that she 
was  arrested after her ex-husband arranged to have drugs  planted in 
her car, the Police Board found. The board  also found Morrison 
guilty of refusing to identify the  informant he says provided a tip 
about the drugs.

Five board members voted to fire Morrison, two members  called for a 
lesser punishment and one found him not  guilty of the administrative charges.

Morrison's lawyer Joseph Roddy said his client did  nothing wrong.

"Obviously if they felt he didn't cooperate, why didn't  they do 
something right away in '01 or '02 or '03? And  why did they promote 
him to sergeant?" Roddy said.

Guilty Of Phone Harassment

Meanwhile, Police Supt. Phil Cline has asked the board  to fire Lt. 
Richard Guerrero -- once a high-ranking  department member -- for 
harassing a woman April 19  after taking her cell phone number from a 
police report  she filed. On Nov. 4, Guerrero was found guilty of 
misdemeanor telephone harassment and sentenced to a  year of court 
supervision, records show.

The department's Internal Affairs Division had  previously 
investigated Guerrero over allegations of  "inappropriate contact" 
with his ex-wife. He once was  deputy chief of patrol in the Belmont Area.

Morrison has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing  in his case. 
He had provided officers with a tip that a  Chicago Public Schools 
teacher would be driving a  silver 2001 Chrysler Sebring convertible 
containing a  large quantity of Ecstasy pills and she would make a 
delivery after school. Andrea Sullivan was arrested on  June 1, 2001, 
outside Beaubien School on the Northwest  Side.

Officers found 250 Ecstasy pills and 43 grams of  cocaine in 
Sullivan's car. At the time, she told the  officers her ex-husband 
was responsible for planting  the drugs. The officers later asked 
Morrison for the  identity of his informant, but Morrison would not 
give  them a name, according to the police department.

Prosecutors dropped charges against Sullivan about a  month after her 
arrest. They have said they did not  have enough evidence to file 
criminal charges against  anyone for planting drugs in the car.

Sullivan filed a lawsuit claiming ex-husband William  Sullivan 
conspired with his brother Stuart Sullivan and  friend John Apel to 
plant the drugs as part of the  couple's child custody dispute. She 
later dropped the  case.

Wouldn't ID Tipster

In testimony before the Police Board, Morrison said he  did not know 
the Sullivans, but phone records showed he  received a call on his 
cell phone from Stuart Sullivan  on June 1, 2001, according to a city 
attorney. William  Sullivan invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify.

Andrea Sullivan has remarried and goes by Andrea  Allegretti. Her 
husband, Chicago Police Officer Michael  Allegretti, faces criminal 
charges for allegedly ordering women to strip to avoid traffic tickets.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman