A former Chicago police officer was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Monday for trying to extort $5,000 from a lender by claiming he could help the lender avoid federal charges.
It was the second recent federal conviction for Victor Brown, 37, who earlier pleaded guilty to similar charges that he extorted $4,500 from another cop facing disciplinary trouble. In that case, he claimed he held influence over the police board weighing the other officer’s punishment.
At about the time that Brown was pleading guilty to the initial charge last March, the FBI learned of the more recent allegations.
Brown led the owner of a loan company to believe he was under federal investigation, saying he was caught on wiretaps purchasing cocaine and discussing his involvement in a hit-and-run accident, according to court documents. Brown then told the employee he was willing to help the owner with the potential criminal charges in exchange for a $5,000 loan, authorities said.
Brown, who had been a Chicago police officer for about 12 years, resigned from the force in March.
His 18-month sentence, imposed by U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo, will run concurrently with the 6-month sentence he already received in the earlier conviction.
