Crime & Law
City Poised to Spend $7.5M Settling 1st Federal Lawsuit Claiming Convicted Police Sgt. Ronald Watts Framed CHA Residents
(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
Chicago taxpayers should pay $7.5 million to a man who spent a decade in prison after he was framed by convicted former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, city lawyers recommended.
Convicted in 2006, Ben Baker spent 10 years in prison before he was released in 2016, three years after Watts was convicted of taking bribes. A judge granted Baker a certificate of innocence a month after he was released.
The Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday is set to consider the proposed settlement, which will be the second lawsuit to allege misconduct by Watts and his team to be resolved. A final vote of the City Council could come on Wednesday.
Watts is named in more than 70 lawsuits alleging he framed people for crimes they did not commit — with a total of 193 lawsuits yet to be resolved, according to documents obtained by WTTW News. Like many of the Chicagoans arrested by Watts and his team of officers, Baker lived in the now-demolished Ida B. Wells Chicago Housing Authority complex on the South Side.
In September, the City Council agreed to pay $500,000 to Alvin Waddy, who was also arrested by officers who reported to Watts, to resolve the lawsuit he filed against the city in Cook County Circuit Court.
Between 2016 and September, Chicago taxpayers paid more than $11.2 million to defend Watts.
Taxpayers spent $5.2 million to defend the lawsuit filed by Baker and his partner Clarissa Glenn that is now set to be resolved.
Watts and the officers who reported to him were accused of demanding that residents and drug dealers pay them for protection. They arrested those who refused after planting drugs on them, according to court records.
In 2013, Watts was convicted of shaking down a drug courier who turned out to be an FBI informant. Watts spent nearly two years in prison.
Since 2017, 212 convictions tied to Watts have been overturned, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
