Case: 1:18-cr-00286 Document #: 1 Filed: 05/09/18 Page 1 of 9 PageID #:1

FILED
MAY - e 201#e UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
THOMASG. BR'TON EASTERN DTVISION
CIERK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.
N. 18Cn s86
Violations: Title 18, United States
XAVIER ELIZONDO, Code, Sections 371,64t, and 1001(a)
also known as'X," and
DAVID SALGADO
JUDOIISIlEttY
HAEISTBATE JIESI COTT
COT]I{T ONE

The SPECIAL AUGUST 2017 GRAND JURY charges:

1. At times material to this indictment:

(a) The Chicago Police Department ("CPD") was an agency of the City

of Chicago, a local government located in the Northern District of Illinois. The CPD

received in excess of $10,000 in federal funding during the period from April 1,2017 ,

through March 31, 2018.

(b) XAVIER ELIZONDO, also known as'X," was employed as a CPD

officer. ELIZONDO held the position of sergeant and oversaw one of the CPD's Area

Central gang teams assigned to Chicago's 10th District. As a CPD officer, ELIZONDO

was an agent of the City.

(c) DAVID SALGADO was employed as a CPD officer and was

assigned to ELIZONDO's 10th District gang team. As a CPD officer, SALGADO was

an agent of the City.

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(d) CPD officers could apply to State court judges for search warrants

that would authorize the officers to enter and search physical locations, such as a

home. A'U. Doe" search warrant was a particular type of search warrant that could

be obtained from a State court judge by relying upon information provided by a

confidential informant. In order to obtain a "J. Doe" search warrant from a State

court judge, a CPD officer had to submit a search warrant application, including a

sworn complaint that contained truthful information that justified the search of a

particular location. In the sworn complaint, the CPD officer was required to detail

the information provided by a confidential informant concerning criminal activity,

and the confidential informant was referred to as "J. Doe" to protect the confidential

informant's identity. The CPD officer was also required to bring the confidential

informant before the State court judge, so that the judge could observe and examine

the confidential informant to assess the truthfulness of the informant's information.

(e) State law and CPD regulations required CPD officers to inventory

property obtained from searches, and maintain custody of all seized property pending

return of the property to the owner, or alternative judicial disposition of the property.

State law and CPD rules precluded CPD officers from converting property obtained

during searches to personal use, or using property obtained during searches to pay

confidential informants.

(0 Confrdential Informant A was a resident of Chicago who, ln

exchange for payment, provided information to ELIZONDO and SALGADO tn

support of "J. Doe" search warrants.

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(g) Confidential Informant B was a resident of Chicago who, in

exchange for payment, provided information to ELIZONDO and SALGADO in

support of "J. Doe" search warrants.

2. Beginning no later than in or around July 2017 and continuing until at

least in or around January 2018, at Chicago, in the Northern District of Illinois,

Eastern Division, and elsewhere,

XAVIER ELIZONDO,
also known as'X," and
DAVID SA].GADO,

defendants herein, did knowingly conspire with each other and with others known
and unknown to the Grand Jrry, to commit an offense against the United States, that

is, to embezzle, steal, obtain by fraud, and otherwise without lawful authority
knowingly convert to the use of any person other than the rightful owner and

intentionally misapply, property that was valued at $5,000 or more that was under

the care, custody, and control of the CPD, in violation of Title 18, United States Code,

Section 666(aX1)(A).

3. It was part of the conspiracy that defendants ELIZONDO and

SALGADO agreed to steal and misapply property and evidence, such as United

States cun'ency, controlled substances, and cartons of cigarettes, recovered during

searches they conducted in their capacity as CPD officers.

4. It was further part of the conspiracy that defendants ELIZONDO and

SALGADO knowingly (i) submitted materially false "J. Doe" search warrant

applications to State court judges; and (ii) caused individuals posing as "J. Doe"
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confidential informants to provide false information to State court judges, in order to

fraudulently obtain search warrants that would enable the defendants to enter and

to seize property at various locations, and thereafter steal and otherwise misapply

the property.

5. It was further part of the conspiracy that defendants ELIZONDO and

SALGADO promised individuals providing information to the defendants concerning

criminal activity and acting as "J. Doe" confidential informants that they would

receive a portion ofthe property seized from search locations.

6. It was further part of the conspiracy that defendants ELIZONDO and

SALGADO gave property seized from various search locations, including but not

Iimited to United States currency, controlled substances, and cartons of cigarettes, to

confidential informants in return for their information about illegal activity and their

roles as "J. Doe" confrdential informants.

7. It was further part of the conspiracy that defendants ELIZONDO and

SALGADO concealed their theft and conversion of property by, among other things,

falsifring police reports, including details therein about the amount of property, such

as United States currency, seized from various search locations and the disposition

of this property.

8.. It was further part of the conspiracy that defendants ELIZONDO and

SALGADO misrepresented, concealed, and hid, and caused to be misrepresented,

concealed, and hid, the existence, purpose, and acts done in furtherance of the
conspiracy.
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9. To effect the objects of the conspiracy, defendants did commit the

following overt acts, among others, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern

Division:

(a) On or about October L7,2017, defendant ELIZONDO distributed

to Confidential Informant A a quantity of Phencyclidine (PCP) that was in the

custody, care, and control of the CPD as a paJrnent to Confidential Informant A for

information provided by Confidential Informant A.

(b) On or about November 25, 2OL7, defendant SALGADO

distributed to Confidential Informant B a quantity of marijuana in the custody, care,

and control of the CPD as a paJrnent to Confidential Informant B for information

provided by Confidential Informant B.

(c) On or about December L8, 2017 , after a confidential source (CS-

1) told defendants ELIZONDO and SALGADO that he observed $25,000 and a

quantity of narcotics inside a residence used by a drug dealer, defendant ELIZONDO

told CS-1 that he would give CS-1 and Confidential Informant A a portion of any

property recovered inside the residence afber ELIZONDO and his CPD gang team

searched it.
(d) On or about December L9,2017, defendant SAIGADO prepared

a complaint in support of an application for a "J. Doe" search warrant of a residence

that he knew contained materially false information.

(e) On or about December L9, 2017, defendants ELIZONDO and

SALGADO caused Confidential Informant A to appear before a State court judge and

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falsely pose as the source of inforrnation contained in the false "J. Doe" search

warrant application.

(0 On or about December lg, 2017, defendant SALGADO falsely

swore under oath to a State court judge that the information contained in the false

"J. Doe" search warrant application was true and correct.

(g) On or about December 20, 2017, d"efend.an t ELIZONDO

communicated on a cellphone with CS-1 while he, defendant SALGADO, and other

CPD officers executed the false "J. Doe" search warrant.

(h) On or about January 28, 2018, defendants ELIZONDO and

SAIGADO stole approximately $+,ZOO in United States currency recovered during

the search of an Enterprise rental vehicle in Chicago.

(i) On or about January 29,20L8, at approximately 4:54 p.m., after

learning of an investigation relating to their search of the Enterprise rental vehicle,

defendants ELIZONDO and SALGADO discussed SALGADO relocating stolen

property.

0) On or about January 29, 2018, at approximately 5:02 p.m.,

defendants ELIZONDO and SALGADO again discussed SALGADO removing stolen

property from SALGADO's home.

(k) On or about January ,29,20L8, defendant SALGADO departed

work after his shift began.

All in violation of Title 1-8, United States Code, Section 371.

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COTJI{T TWO

The SPECIAL AUGUST 2017 GRAND JURY further charges:

On or about January 28,20L8, at Chicago, in the Northern District of Illinois,

Eastern Division,

XAVIER ELIZONDO,
also known as'X," and
DAVID SALGADO,

defendants herein, embezzled, stole, purloined, and knowingly converted to their own

use money of the United States, namely, approximately $4,200 in United States

cun'ency belonging to the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

In violation of Title L8, United States Code, Sections 641and2.

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COI.]I{T THREE

The SPECIAL AUGUST 2017 GRAND JURY further charges:

1. Paragraphs 1(b) and 1(c) of Count One of this indictment are

incorporated here.

2. Beginning no later than in or around 2017, the Federal Bureau of

Investigation began conducting a criminal investigation of ELIZONDO and

SALGADO concerning potential violations of federal criminal law. That investigation

included allegations that ELIZONDO and SALGADO were embezzling, stealing and

converting to their use and to the use of others property obtained from various

locations they had searched in their capacity as CPD officers.

3. On or about January 29, 2018, afber ELIZONDO discovered the

potential existence of an investigation of ELIZONDO and SAIGADO, ELIZONDO

instructed SALGADO to remove property from SALGADO's home.

4. One issue material to the investigation was whether, on or about

January 29,20L8, SALGADO departed work afber his shift began and returned home

for the purpose of removing property from SAIGADO's home.

5. On or about January 30, 2018, at Chicago, in the Northern District of

Illinois, Eastern Division,

DAVID SALGADO,

defendant herein, did knowingly and willfully make a materially false, fictitious, and

fraudulent statement and representation in a matter within the jurisdiction of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency within the executive branch of the

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government of the United States, when he stated that he did not remember whether

he had returned home on Januar;r 29,2018, after initially leaving home for his 5 p.m.

CPD shift.

In violation of Tit1e 18, United States Code, Section 1001(aX2).

A TRUE BILL:

FOREPERSON

I.INITED STATES ATTORNEY