Former city revenue inspector gets probation for extortion

A former revenue inspector for the city of Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection was sentenced to 12 months of probation Wednesday for extorting business owners.

Elias Garza, 55, admitted that while working as a revenue inspector in 2009, he got money from a confidential source and someone who controlled stores in Chicago that sold cigarettes, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

He would then let the source know in advance about upcoming inspections of those stores, prosecutors said.

In 2009, he accepted $500 from the source in exchange for providing information about upcoming inspections, and later in 2009, he accepted $300 for keeping his promise, prosecutors said.

Garza pleaded guilty in February 2011 to one count of extortion under color of official right and cooperated with the U.S. attorney’s and the Cook County state’s attorney’s offices investigations, prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to 12 months probation in court Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve.