A Chicago police officer who allegedly lied in court about an attempted murder case – and was the subject of a Better Government Association/CBS2 news story earlier this year – has resigned as the police department recommended she and her partner be fired for their conduct.
The Chicago Police Internal Affairs Division recently completed its investigation of Officers Allyson Bogdalek and Dominick Catinella and found they made a false report – in violation of what’s known as Rule 14 – and recommended they both lose their jobs.
The police brass agreed with the findings and the department was preparing to file “separation charges” with the Police Board, the administrative body that rules on serious disciplinary matters.
But Bogdalek resigned effective 5 p.m. Wednesday, says Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Catinella remains on the force for the time being, Guglielmi says.
Neither Bogdalek nor Catinella could be reached for comment.
The fallout comes about four months after the BGA/CBS2 report raised questions about the handling of the alleged misconduct by the police department and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office.
The BGA/CBS2 reported the Internal Affairs Division had been investigating the officers for more than three years and that Alvarez ignored a recommendation from an underling to hit Bogdalek and Catinella with perjury-related charges.
By her own admission, Bogdalek was “untruthful” during a 2011 court hearing for Ranceallen Hankerson, who was charged with armed robbery and attempted murder for a violent liquor store stick-up on the South Side a year earlier.
While under oath on the stand, she told the courtroom she hadn’t shown the liquor store owner – who was shot in the leg during the 2010 robbery – a photo spread with Hankerson’s picture prior to his arrest.
In reality, she had shown the owner Hankerson’s photo, but the victim initially failed to identify Hankerson as the assailant – a critical piece of information for Hankerson’s defense, according to court records and interviews.
In 2012, following a series of court hearings but before Hankerson’s actual trial, Bogdalek came clean about what happened – after Hankerson’s defense attorney got a hold of Bogdalek’s squad-car video from the day Hankerson was arrested.
The video captured a cell phone conversation between her and a supervisor in which she mentioned showing lineup photos to the liquor store owner shortly after the stick-up.
Hankerson’s criminal case was quickly dropped by Alvarez’s office because of Bogdalek’s conduct, according to interviews and court records.
Catinella was never questioned about the photo array during a Hankerson court hearing but he was “equally blameworthy” because he agreed with Bogdalek to “bury the negative photo array,” according to a state’s attorney memo obtained by the BGA/CBS2.
This case represents just the latest black eye for Alvarez’s office, which has been accused of repeatedly showing favoritism to cops accused of wrongdoing, and the police department, which is battered by allegations of lies, cover-ups and excessive force.
