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Teresa Salcedo

Other Female Exonerees With Misconduct in their Cases
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/PublishingImages/Cook_County_seal.jpg
On August 21, 2002, officers from the Chicago Police Department’s Special Operations Section (SOS) arrested 46-year-old Gloria Salcedo and her daughters, 21-year-old Claudia Salcedo and 17-year-old Teresa Salcedo on charges of battery of a police officer.

The officers, including Jerome Finnigan, accused the women of obstructing them when they were searching for drugs in the women’s residence on the South Side of Chicago. No drugs were found.

The women went to trial in Cook County Circuit Court. The officers testified that the women attacked them when they were searching for drugs. All three denied the charges, but they were convicted on June 9, 2005 by a judge who heard the case without a jury. All three were sentenced to one year of probation.

In 2006, the Special Operations Section (SOS) came under investigation by state and federal authorities after numerous allegations that in some cases they falsely accused defendants of having guns and drugs and in other cases they broke into homes to rob residents of guns, money and drugs. They covered up their actions by filing false reports.

SOS was an elite unit established to target drugs and gangs. Ultimately, 13 officers were charged with crimes—four by a federal grand jury and nine others by a Cook County grand jury. The officers, including those who were involved in the charges brought against the Salcedos, were accused of robbing suspected drug dealers, entering homes without search warrants and falsifying reports to cover up their unlawful actions.

Based on information in the federal indictment, prosecutors requested that the convictions of the Salcedos be vacated. The motion was granted and the charges were dismissed on August 29, 2007.

Finnigan, the admitted leader of the corrupt band of officers, pled guilty in federal court and admitted robbing people and invading homes without search warrants. He also pled guilty to attempting to arrange the murder of another officer whom Finnigan believed was planning to testify against him. Finnigan was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Three other officers pled guilty to federal charges and seven of the nine officers charged in state court pled guilty as well. Their sentences ranged from probation to 6 months in jail. State charges against the two other officers were dismissed.

The SOS unit was disbanded in 2007.

A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed on behalf of the three women seeking damages from the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department. The lawsuit was dismissed.

– Maurice Possley

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Posting Date: 3/9/2015
Last Updated: 5/12/2020
State:Illinois
County:Cook
Most Serious Crime:Assault
Additional Convictions:
Reported Crime Date:2002
Convicted:2005
Exonerated:2007
Sentence:Probation
Race/Ethnicity:Hispanic
Sex:Female
Age at the date of reported crime:17
Contributing Factors:Perjury or False Accusation, Official Misconduct
Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?:No