CHICAGO — An 18-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department was convicted by a federal jury of taking payoffs from tow-truck drivers to steer work from accident scenes to them, authorities said.
Deavlin Page, a cop since 1995, took two payments totaling $3,200 in 2007 and 2008 from a tow-truck driver to steer work to him. He was convicted of two counts of attempted extortion.
Prosecutors said Brian Chandler, a driver who has already been convicted of wire fraud and bank larceny, paid off Page.
Chandler, who cooperated with authorities, gave Page a payment of $2,000 in the bathroom of a coffee shop at 79th Street and Stony Island Avenue on Nov. 28, 2007.
On Jan. 28, 2008, Page took a payoff of $1,200 while in his own vehicle in the parking lot of a bank. That payment, authorities said, was in exchange for three jobs. One of those involved a teenager who got in an accident while driving her parents’ car, and did not require a tow.
Page, who was assigned to the South Deering district, was stripped of his police duties and put on desk duty after allegations of the payments surfaced.
Page was indicted in October as part of an FBI sting called Operation Tow Scam, a probe that has already netted seven other convictions of crooked cops; charges against two others are pending. Four civilians, including three tow-truck drivers, have also been convicted.
It took a jury less than two hours to find Page guilty. He remains free on bond, and could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
A federal judge is expected to sentence him on Oct. 23.
