CHICAGO — In a coincidence even we couldn’t believe it: A Chicago police officer pleaded guilty Thursday and was given probation for filing a false police report — the same day the king of false reports, Jussie Smollett, received his conviction by police saw undone. Supreme Court of Illinois.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and her top lieutenants have long insisted that the backroom deal they gave Smollett — the charges were dropped and the case immediately closed from the public eye — was something that anyone dealing with similar facing accusations, could face.
But like CWBChicago and the special prosecutor who investigated the Smollett case found, there were no other cases where Foxx’s office gave such a good deal to someone who filed a false police report.
And the latest example of this is 38-year-old Chicago police officer Zodranika Williams.
Last November, prosecutors charged her with falsely reporting a crime, saying she had been robbed of $5,000 behind her home, when in fact no robbery occurred.
The nine-year CPD veteran called 911 on September 23, 2023, claiming a man had robbed her near her garage in the 8000 block of South Wabash.
“Give me everything you have!” the robber allegedly ordered while holding her at gunpoint.
Williams told officers her surveillance cameras were not working. Unfortunately for Williams, her neighbor’s cameras worked fine, showing no robbery occurred, prosecutors said.
On Thursday, Williams pleaded guilty to false reporting of a crime, a charge prosecutors shortened from a misdemeanor in exchange for two years of probation from Judge Ursula Walowski. The judge ordered Williams to refrain from possessing firearms and imposed other requirements, court records show.
As of Friday morning, Williams was still employed by CPD at $102,870 per year. But a CPD spokesperson said it still has no police powers. She has to find out exactly how and whether she can continue to work as a police officer while also not being allowed to own a firearm.
