Former CPD officer charged with cheating his way out of parking tickets, moving violations
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A former Chicago Police officer stood charged with multiple felonies Tuesday on the grounds that he cheated his way out of parking tickets and moving violations with false statements and phony documents.
Among other things, the former officer falsely claimed that his girlfriend had stolen his car and was the one driving it when it got busted by speed cameras – and he provided fake police reports to back up his claim, authorities alleged.
Jeffrey Kriv, 56, of Chicago was charged Tuesday with four counts of perjury and five counts of forgery, according to the Chicago Office of the Inspector General. The charges followed an investigation by the OIG, the Cook County State's Attorney's office, and the Chicago Police Bureau of Internal Affairs.
Prosecutors on Tuesday said from 2009 until 2022, Kriv successfully disputed several parking tickets and moving violations related to his own vehicles by providing fraudulent documents as evidence, and making false statements under oath at the Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings.
Kriv was working as a Chicago Police officer when he committed these alleged offenses, prosecutors said.
In Kriv's arrest report, police said four automated speeding tickets were issued to his car between 2020 and 2022 – and he contested them all before an Administrative Law judge. He claimed his girlfriend had stolen the car and he was not the one driving.
He presented counterfeit police reports about the theft of his car as evidence with an imaginary officer's name and star number, police said.
On Oct. 13, 2021, Kriv also got a parking ticket on his motorcycle on the Near North Side for failing to move it for street cleaning, police said. The ticket had been issued by a civilian city employee.
To contest the ticket, Kriv claimed that to an Administrative Law judge that he had already gotten a parking ticket for the same violation and had paid it, police said. He claimed the earlier ticket had been issued by a Chicago Police officer and provided a star number, police said.
The star number was actually Kriv's own police officer star number, and the earlier ticket was something he made up, police said.
"The truthfulness and credibility of police officers is foundational to the fair administration of justice, and to CPD's effectiveness as a law enforcement agency," Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said in a news release. "We are grateful to CPD and to the State's Attorney's Office for their partnership in this investigation."
Kriv served on the Chicago Police Department for more than 25 years and retired less than two weeks ago.
He faces up to five years in prison.