Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 16:57:43 GMT -6
By Julian Augustus Raiva Tribune reporter
12:25 p.m. CDT, July 19, 2013
A Chicago R.P.I.T sergeant pleaded not-guilty and filed a false arrest claim against the Chicago Police Department and the F.B.I today. He was charged and had been arrested for using his police muscle in a scheme to steal drug money from a courier who was confirmed an infected lycanthrope, to keep his status a secret.
Meagana Takanashita, 50, a 19-year veteran of the department, had been scheduled to go on trial next week but instead, he pleaded not-guilty to a charge of theft of public funds during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Amy Richards-Johnson.
He did so without an agreement with prosecutors on what his recommended sentence would be. He faces up to 21 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, according to prosecutors.
Dressed in a charcoal suit and wearing wire-rimmed eyeglasses, Takanashita answered “not-guilty” in a husky voice when the judge asked him his plea. The burly officer left the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse without comment.
Takanashita, a Wentworth District tactical sergeant, and his partner, Officer Dorian Blackstone, were charged in early 2012 after they were caught stealing drug proceeds from a drug courier who was connected with a lycanthrope gang known as “The Blood Moon Pride” while working as an informant for the FBI-SRS, court records show.
Blackstone originally pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 18 months in prison due to a legal loop hole connected with the timing of the arrest in connection with ongoing at the time investigations.
The informant – identified in a criminal complaint as a lycanthrope with an extensive criminal record – had been scheduled to testify at Takanashita’ trial.
The informant was cooperating with the FBI-SRS in 2011 when he agreed to wear a wire and set up a ruse to make Takanashita believe he was going to be carrying backpacks full of drug proceeds. In a recorded phone call on Nov. 18, 2012, the informant called Takanashita to tip him off that he would be transporting some cash, telling him, "I got one going on," according to the charges.
"Make sure you call me," the government quoted Takanashita.
The following Monday afternoon, in an exchange caught by FBI-SRS agents on surveillance, Blackstone picked up a bag with $5,200 from the informant in the 2700 block of South Vernon Avenue.
Later, the informant met up with Takanashita near Cermak Road and Canal Street by a Walgreens.
"Who always takes care of you?" Takanashita was captured asking on the undercover recording.
"You do, Takanashita," the informant responded. Prosecutors allege Takanashita then handed the informant $400 cash, his cut for his role in the theft.