Fugitive Chicago cop arrested in Detroit after 15 year manhunt

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NBC Chicago

CHICAGO—A Chicago man who has been on the run for more than 14 years after allegedly posing as a federal law enforcement task force officer to steal from local drug dealers and then re-sell the drugs, has been arrested, announced Special Agent-in-Charge Michael J. Anderson of the FBI Chicago Field Office, Special Agent-in-Charge David P. Gelios of the FBI Detroit Field Office, and Acting United States Attorney Joel R. Levin for the Northern District of Illinois.

EDDIE C. HICKS, 68, of the 8900 block of South Chappel Avenue in Chicago, was taken into federal custody without incident this morning, September 19, 2017, in Detroit, Michigan. Hicks had been the subject of an international manhunt coordinated by FBI Chicago since June 2003. Hicks appeared this afternoon before Executive Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen in the United States District Court of Eastern Michigan and was ordered to be held pending his next court appearance in Chicago.

Hicks, a police officer for thirty years, was wanted for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to steal drugs and money from known drug dealers and subsequently sell the drugs to other drug dealers in the Chicago area. Hicks and four other accomplices would allegedly pose as Drug Enforcement Administration task force officers, prepare false search warrants to gain entry to stash houses of known drug dealers, confiscate drugs, money, and other valuables, and then take the drugs to another dealer to be sold. The profits were split among the individuals involved in the scheme. Hicks is the only member of the group that has yet to stand trial for these charges. Hicks was charged with RICO conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy, extortion conspiracy, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a narcotics conspiracy, and theft of government funds.

Hicks was scheduled to appear for trial on June 9, 2003, but he failed to appear. A bench warrant for his arrest was issued the same day by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, and Eastern Division.

Hicks was arrested by the FBI Detroit Violent Crime Task Force which is comprised of FBI special agents and members of several metropolitan Detroit law enforcement agencies.

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