ONETIME PAID SNITCH GUILTY OF POSING AS FBI AGENT

Ex-State Police Informant Faces Nov. 2 Sentencing for Bribery

Omar Abbas -- a paid snitch -- helped the State Police win two
murder-for-hire convictions in the 1990s and was an informant for the
FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.

But apparently, snitching didn't pay enough.

Posing as a corrupt FBI agent and a dirty lawyer, Abbas conned people
into forking over thousands of dollars in bribes, authorities say.

Abbas, 41, is awaiting sentencing Nov. 2. A federal jury convicted him
in August of impersonating an FBI agent, making false statements to
the FBI, and crossing the state line with proceeds from fraud.

The FBI calls Abbas "a professional confidence man."

In 2003, he posed as an FBI agent, taking more than $9,500 in bribes
to fix an immigration case. And in 2005, he masqueraded as a
politically connected lawyer, taking a $5,000 bribe to secure bail for
a man charged with attempted murder, the FBI said.

Abbas didn't hold up his end of either crooked deal, officials
say.

The Jordanian national also gave the FBI a false tip that a Burbank
man was a member of Hamas.

Ironically, Abbas was paid thousands of dollars to put other criminals
behind bars.

In 1996, he was a State Police informant against Jackie Chamness, 46,
who pleaded guilty in Cook County to soliciting the murder of his
former girlfriend and was sentenced to 31 years in prison.

And in 1999, Abbas was a State Police informant against Jermaine
Norris, 33, convicted of leading a bloody attack on a Will County drug
house that left a woman dead. Norris is serving a 120-year prison term.

Abbas, a State Police informant for more than 10 years, was paid more
than $12,000 by the State Police for the Norris investigation alone,
according to court testimony.

Abbas also was an FBI informant between 2000 and 2005 and for the DEA
in 1997 and 1998, records show.