From: jthomas

Chicago Tribune, Nov 3
Section 4, page 1

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Record clear, case not over 
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Man sues, says police framed him in '83 case

By Steve Mills and Maurice Possley
Tribune staff reporters

November 3, 2002

Even after Steven Dick had completed six months of work release and three years of probation 
for a 1983 drug conviction, he could not let go of the belief that he had been set up by 
Wilmette police officers.

He received a pardon in 1990 from Gov. James Thompson. And last year, a Cook County Circuit 
judge vacated his conviction--removing it from his record, a rare ruling because the sentence 
had been completed and the case was considered closed.

Now, nearly 20 years after he was first arrested, Dick, 38, is back in court. He has filed a 
lawsuit in U.S. District Court, alleging that four officers--including George Carpenter, 
then a patrol officer and now the police chief in Wilmette--conspired to frame him.

By his own admission, Dick was 18, a drug user and had already dropped out of New Trier High 
School when he was arrested. But the drugs that sent him to jail were planted on the orders of 
police, he says.

"Every day I woke up with this injustice," Dick said in an interview. "These people were police 
officers sworn to uphold the law. But they were just sick and evil. They destroyed my life. I 
couldn't just let it go."

The lawsuit alleges Carpenter and three other officers arranged to have drugs planted in his 
car, hid a key witness, and lied about an alleged confession. The lawsuit also alleges the 
officers orchestrated the arrests of several others through an informant who was later hidden 
by the officers so the cases would not be thrown out of court.

"They targeted specific individuals," said Dick's attorney, Joel Ostrander. "They went after 
this guy."

Also named as defendants were former Wilmette Police Officer Michael Gerlitz and former Cook 
County Sheriff's Police Officers Rafael Tovar and Victoria Gadomski, who were assigned to the 
Metropolitan Enforcement Group, which specialized in drug investigations.

Larry Chilton, an attorney for Carpenter and Gerlitz, called the suit "completely without merit." 
Tovar, now a Des Plaines police detective, and Gadomski, who left the sheriff's office 
more than a decade ago, declined to comment. Carpenter has been the Wilmette police chief since 1991.

At the time of his arrest, Dick was an acquaintance of Jeff Donahue, who had become a police 
informant to escape attempted burglary charges, according to court papers.

According to the lawsuit, on Jan. 26, 1983, while Dick was at Donahue's home, Donahue called 
Carpenter and said he would persuade Dick to give him a ride. Donahue allegedly told Gerlitz and 
Carpenter that he would put drugs in a bag of groceries and described the route they would take.

Near the corner of Ridge and Beechwood Avenues, Dick was pulled over by Carpenter, Gerlitz, 
Gadomski and Tovar. They searched the vehicle and found LSD and methamphetamine. Dick was 
arrested and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance.

According to Gadomski's later testimony at Dick's trial, Dick told Gerlitz, "Mike, I really 
(expletive) up. I only wanted to make some fast money because I was kicked out of my house." 
The alleged statement would be the prosecutor's best evidence.

Before his trial began, Dick told his attorney about Donahue being present when he was arrested. 
Dick's lawyer wanted to speak with him and, perhaps, have him testify. But prosecutors said 
there were no witnesses. Later, prosecutors said Donahue was involved in the arrest but just 
as an informant, not a witness, according to the lawsuit and court records.

Prosecutors said Donahue's exact address was unknown, but that he was somewhere on Captiva 
Island, Fla., "working at a hotel." What was not disclosed was that Carpenter and Gerlitz 
had told Donahue he was not needed for trial and sent him money there, according to the court records.

Dick was found guilty. At trial, Judge Earl Strayhorn said the key to the case was Dick's 
alleged admission that Gadomski said she overheard. Strayhorn sentenced Dick to spend 6 months 
of nights and weekends in jail, allowing Dick to go to work during the day, followed by 3 years' probation.

Dick completed work release and, while on probation, joined the Army. He became a military 
policeman and was hoping to work in counterintelligence, but his plans were derailed because 
he did not disclose his conviction when he enlisted.

Frustrated that the conviction had hindered his advancement in the Army, Dick sought and 
obtained a pardon based on a changed lifestyle, then returned to the military to begin Special 
Forces training. That career was short-lived when he was injured during a parachute jump. 
Undeterred, he joined the army reserves as a military policeman and applied for a job as a Chicago police officer.

But he was rejected because of his conviction, which wasn't erased by the pardon. He sued the 
Police Department but the case was thrown out.

He became a private investigator, but still chafed at not being able to be a police officer. 
So he tracked down Donahue and knocked on his door. "I asked him to come forward to tell the 
truth," Dick said. "He agreed."

Donahue gave a sworn affidavit saying that he set up Dick at the urging of the Wilmette police. 
That's when Dick turned to attorney Catharine O'Daniel.

"I've heard the `I'm innocent' story a million times in my career," she said in an interview. 
"But this had a little teeth to it."

O'Daniel filed a motion to vacate the conviction and judgment. At a hearing, Donahue 
testified that at the urging of Carpenter and the other officers, he had worked as an 
informant in several cases.

"I was given a list of individuals to target and Steve Dick was one of those individuals," Donahue testified.

O'Daniel also elicited testimony from Joseph Hackett, the third person in the vehicle that day. 
Hackett, who wasn't called as a witness in 1983, testified Dick never made the confession that 
Gadomski had testified about at Dick's trial.

Prosecutors did not rebut the testimony, arguing that even if the testimony were true and had been 
offered at Dick's trial, he still would have been convicted.

Cook County Circuit Judge Colleen McSweeney Moore disagreed. She vacated Dick's conviction.

"Mr. Donahue ... testified that he was paid by the police, he testified that the police told 
him to target Mr. Dick, which is substantiated by the fact that Mr. Dick was the only 
person arrested for the commission of this offense despite the fact that there were two 
other people in the car at that time, and they were let go, including Mr. Donahue," the judge said.

"Had the State produced Mr. Donahue," McSweeney Moore added, "and had he testified, 
as he did before me with regard to being an informant, a paid informant, and also a ... witness, 
I believe the outcome of Mr. Dick's case would have been different."

Donahue, now living in Winnetka and a father of three children, said recently he did his 
"best for Steve by participating in the retrial," referring to the hearing before McSweeney Moore. He 
declined further comment.

Dick has gone into business for himself as a private investigator. "My goal is to become a 
police officer so people don't get victimized like I did ... I would give 110 percent," he said.

Copyright (c) 2002, Chicago Tribune