COP HELD AS HEAD OF DRUG RING QUITS JOB

Officer Needs His Pension Fund Money

Professing his innocence and saying he needs money, Officer Joseph
Miedzianowski has resigned from the Chicago Police Department amid federal
charges that he ran a Miami-to-Chicago drug ring.

Miedzianowski quit the department where he has worked for the past 22 years
so he would be able to tap into his police pension, according to a June 7
note sent to the department that was obtained by the Tribune.

"Essentially, my personal reasons are that I am forced to resign because I
need all of my pension funds and time due funds to pay for my defense and
to take care of my family," Miedzianowski said in the brief note informing
the department of his resignation.

"I am innocent of all of the charges and I need every resource at my
disposal to demonstrate my innocence."

It was undetermined how much pension money and wages were owed to
Miedzianowski, who had been suspended without pay from his $55,000-a-year
job since his arrest on federal drug-related charges in December.

William Nolan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said
Miedzianowski would be entitled to all the money he paid into the police
pension fund during the past 22 years.

However, Nolan said, Miedzianowski could lose the portion the city paid if
he were found to have used his position as a police officer to further a
crime.

Miedzianowski, 46, is being held in the federal Metropolitan Correctional
Center on charges that he and 13 others described as gang members and drug
dealers distributed more than 220 pounds of powder and crack cocaine from
1995 through 1998 in Chicago.

In addition, the government has accused Miedzianowski of disclosing the
identity of undercover cops to drug dealers, describing undercover police
vehicles and revealing the names of confidential informants working with
law enforcement in order to protect the drug ring.

Brian Netols, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, declined to
comment on Miedzianowski's resignation.

One of Miedzianowski's lawyers, Phillip Turner, said the federal government
has tossed around wild allegations based on information from drug dealers
looking to shave time off their prison sentences.

"They have destroyed his life," Turner said. "Now he's forced to withdraw
his pension and spend every last penny to defend himself against these
ridiculous allegations and to support his family."

In one document asking for permission to wiretap telephones, Turner said,
the government alleged that Miedzianowski and his associates controlled a
street corner that made $65,000 to $75,000 a day in drug sales.

"That's absolutely ridiculous," Turner said. "Just ridiculous."