Feds: 2 CPD cops sold info of crash victims to suburban attorney service

Two Chicago police officers were indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday for allegedly giving the contact information of traffic crash victims to a west suburban attorney in exchange for kickbacks.

The indictment of officers Kevin Tate and Milot Cadichon was announced Friday afternoon by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Tate and Cadichon were each charged with bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery, according to prosecutors. Richard Burton, who owns the Bloomingdale-based National Attorney Referral Service, was also charged with conspiracy to commit bribery.

Burton paid Cadichon, 46, at least $7,350 and Tate, 47, at least $6,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The three men could not be reached for comment Friday.

Prosecutors allege that Tate and Cadichon provided Burton with the contact information of people who had filed traffic crash reports. That information, prosecutors say, should have remained private.

Burton, 55, would use the information to solicit crash victims as clients for attorneys, prosecutors say. He paid the officers in cash or through wire transfers.

No arraignment date has been set yet. A conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. The bribery charge could carry as much as a 10-year sentence.

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a tweet that CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson had stripped Tate and Cadichon of their police powers pending the investigation.

“The most important thing that any police officer strives for in their career is earning the trust and confidence of the people they serve,” Johnson said in a statement. “If proven, the allegations against these two officers are a disgraceful abuse of that trust and the service that I and the 13,000 selfless men and women of the Chicago Police Department have dedicated our lives to.”

Records show that Cadichon has been the subject of at least 18 misconduct allegations — most involving lockup procedures, use of force and operations/personnel violations — since he was hired by the CPD in 1998. None of those 18 misconduct allegations were sustained.

Tate, hired by the department in 2005, has seen six misconduct violations alleged against him. Two of those — a lockup procedures complaint and an operations/personnel violation — netted him a reprimand and a 10-day suspension, records show.

Tate has also received several commendations during his tenure with the department, including the Award of Valor.

Earlier this year, two other Chicago Police officers were slapped with federal corruption charges.