COP CHARGED WITH THEFT OF $10,000

Decorated Chicago police officer Turan Beamon once drove the car of the
rich, a pricey Dodge Viper, sporting the vanity plate JUSFAST, but he left
a trail of thousands of dollars of debt in his wake.

And it was a desperation for cash, authorities charged Friday, that put
Beamon on the fast track to crime.

Beamon, 31, was charged Friday with stealing $10,000. He thought he was
stealing cash from the trunk of a drug dealer's Pontiac Grand Am, the feds
allege. In fact, it was a government setup.

Beamon was being held Friday without bond, pending a court hearing Monday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols said Beamon should remain behind bars
until his trial because he's a danger to the community and could flee.

Beamon had only recently been assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration
task force when he tried to turn a government informant into a partner in
crime, the feds allege.

The informant, though, secretly kept working for the DEA, recording a host
of cell phone calls between him and Beamon.

Beamon had approached the informant last month, asking him if he knew how
to make $70,000 fast.

The informant figured Beamon was suggesting they rip off a drug dealer.

Recorded phone calls show Beamon tried to gain the trust of the informant
and persuade him that he wasn't trying to set him up. The informant played
along, pretending to be worried.

Beamon assured him that he wouldn't be recording him. They could even meet
and talk at a spa to show neither was wired.

Beamon told the man he wasn't interested in making a career out of ripping
off drug dealers, authorities said.

"I don't need to making this no two, three or four times," he said in the
secretly recorded call. "No man, I don't think my heart can take it."

On Wednesday, the informant told Beamon he had identified a drug dealer to
rip off, one with $50,000 in cash.

The next day, with details from the informant, Beamon allegedly got into
the trunk of what he believed was the drug dealer's car, parked at an
Arby's in Romeoville, but found only $10,000 in a locked red metal tool box
inside.

When Beamon was arrested Friday, a small amount of the cash was found on
him, prosecutors allege.

Cash problems have plagued Beamon in recent years. He filed for bankruptcy
in 1999, with debts of nearly $170,000, including more than $8,000 in
credit card bills, records show. A father of three, Beamon previously has
been hauled into court to make child-support payments.

A police source said the DEA conducts background checks on officers
detailed to the task force, but did not know whether Beamon's bankruptcy
would have been an issue.