OFFICER DENIES SHAKING DOWN WEST SIDE MAN FOR $8,000

A former Chicago police officer on trial for allegedly shaking down
residents of a West Side apartment for $8,000 took the witness stand Friday
to deny the charges and asserted he was investigating a tip that another
police officer was supplying drugs to the residents.

John Labiak, 35, who worked with the department's special operations
section, said he and two other officers, both also on trial on bribery and
home-invasion charges, went to 1200 W. Huron St. on June 23, 1998, because
they received a tip that another officer was going to deliver a kilogram of
cocaine to Cecilio Lugo.

In an opening statement, prosecutors said that Labiak and co-defendants
Rodney Carriger, 35, and Ernest Hutchinson, 50, stormed into the apartment,
their badges covered, and found a bag of marijuana and two guns.
Prosecutors contend that the officers terrorized Lugo's relatives and his
girlfriend, Sonia Guzman, demanding that she page Lugo and tell him to come
home.

When Lugo returned, the officers demanded that he come up with between
$8,000 and $10,000 in cash within one hour to avoid arrest, according to
testimony from prosecution witnesses. Lugo testified that he borrowed
$8,000 from friends and family members and gave it to three officers. The
officers then fled with the money, marijuana and guns, Lugo and Guzman
testified.

DNA tests linked Labiak to a cigarette butt recovered from the apartment,
according to the prosecution.

Carriger and Hutchinson, who have been suspended without pay from the
police department, contend through their lawyers that they were not at the
apartment on the night in question. The two elected not to testify.

Labiak testified, though, that all three were there. He denied that he
found drugs and guns or took money from Lugo.

Labiak said Carriger had received a tip that Lugo was dealing drugs and
that his supplier was a Chicago police officer who was going to drop off
drugs that night.

Labiak testified that he directed Lugo to summon his drug supplier, not to
get cash and then left when Lugo returned alone, but admitted he never told
anyone about his tip.

"So, you had a police officer who is going to deliver a kilo of cocaine and
you told no one?" Assistant State's Atty. Tom Bilyk shouted during
cross-examination.

"No one," Labiak replied.

"You made no reports, not one written document of your visit to 1200 West
Huron, not one written document about an informant or about a drug
supplier?" Bilyk asked. "No," Labiak said.

The trial was to resume Monday.