Facing trial for perjury and forgery, former Chicago cop Jeffrey Kriv has admitted he lied under oath dozens of times when he falsely blamed an ex-girlfriend to avoid paying dozens of speeding and other traffic tickets.
Kriv, one of Chicago’s most prolific drunk-driving enforcers during his more than 25 years as a cop, was sentenced to 18 months’ probation and ordered to pay $4,515 in restitution after pleading guilty last week to a lesser charge of felony theft. A plea agreement allowed Kriv to avoid jail time and ended the criminal case against him, but the implications of his actions go far beyond his own case.
A ProPublica analysis of court and police records has found that prosecutors have dropped at least 92 traffic and criminal cases that were based on arrests Kriv made and tickets he wrote. Most of the cases that were dismissed involved drunk and dangerous driving. Defense attorneys in those cases have cited Kriv’s perjury case and his credibility issue.
ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune previously detailed Kriv’s history of alleged misconduct, including that he’d been investigated at least 26 times over allegations of dishonesty for falsifying records, making false arrests and other matters. Kriv denied the allegations in many of those cases and blamed others on how often he made stops and arrests.
