Chicago police officers, former ASA charged in alleged overtime scheme that bilked city out of more than $100,000

Two Chicago police officers and a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney participated for more than two years in a scheme to rack up more than $100,000 in fraudulent overtime pay for the officers, special prosecutors alleged Thursday.

Ashley Moore, 46, a former Cook County prosecutor, Edis Skrgic, 35, and Jason Arroyo, 40, both Chicago police officers, are facing felony charges of theft and official misconduct in an indictment handed up by a grand jury earlier this month. Moore additionally is charged with a felony count of obstructing justice.

The case, which presents conflicts for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and some judges at the Leighton Criminal Court Building where Moore most recently was assigned, is being prosecuted by the Illinois attorney general’s office. It will be presided over by Judge Adrienne Davis, who was substituted for another judge.

Moore resigned from the office in October 2021, most recently serving in the felony trial division at the main Southwest Side courthouse.

In a statement, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said it does “not condone the actions of this former assistant state’s attorney and fully cooperated with this investigation as we continue our critical work for everyone in Cook County.”

During a Thursday morning hearing before Davis, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan McKay alleged that between 2019 and 2021, Moore requested jail tapes for felony cases so that Arroyo and Skrgic could then record overtime hours for reviewing the tapes.

The officers appeared in person while Moore, who now works as a prosecutor in Idaho, appeared via Zoom.

For multiple felony cases, McKay alleged, Moore directed the tapes to Arroyo and Skrgic even though they were not involved in the investigations. No notes were taken on the contents of the tapes, McKay said, and the jail tapes were never entered into evidence in most of the cases.

“The detectives actually involved in the case had no knowledge of this,” McKay said.

Supervisors began to have questions when they noticed that, on average, Skrgic was appearing at the state’s attorney’s office four days a week for overtime, McKay said. The supervisors contacted internal affairs, which began investigating.

Attorneys for the defendants vigorously denied the allegations Thursday, arguing that the tapes needed to be listened to, even if the contents were ultimately not relevant for the cases.

“There weren’t notes because they were not pertinent, but they did need to be gone through,” said Brian Sexton, who represents Skrgic.

Sexton also said that the jail recordings did prove fruitful in at least one case referenced by the prosecutors.

Jim McKay, Moore’s attorney, said the former assistant state’s attorney had no knowledge of any scheme.

“She’s a dedicated public servant, then and now,” Jim McKay said.

The attorneys and officers declined to comment following the court proceedings.

McKay, the special prosecutor, asked Davis to order the defendants to surrender any passports and firearms. The judge granted the request regarding passports, but declined to order the officers to turn in weapons without clarity on their job status with the department.

Representatives for the Chicago Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about the officers’ employment.

State law enforcement records show that Skrgic has been with the force since around 2012 and Arroyo, since 2010.

Moore had worked for the prosecutor’s office since around 2003, records show.