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A former Chicago police officer facing trials for perjury and forgery has admitted that he lied dozens of times to use his bold alibi to get out of numerous speeding tickets and other traffic violations. For more than a decade, he repeatedly accused his ex-girlfriend of stealing a car and winning tickets. Every time the story was fake.
Jeffrey Cribb, one of Chicago’s most prolific drunken enforcement aircraft for more than 25 years as a COP, has been sentenced to 18 months of probation and ordered to pay $4,515 in compensation after pleading guilty to last week’s offence. A judicial agreement with the Cook County prosecutor, where Chicago is located, causes Criv to avoid prison time and end the criminal case against him, but the impact of his actions has far surpassed his own lawsuit.
Propobrica analysis of court and police records revealed that the prosecutors have deleted at least 92 traffic and criminal cases based on arrests created by Kriv and tickets he wrote. Most of the cases rejected involved drunkenness and dangerous driving. The defense in these cases cites Kriv’s perjury case and his credibility issue.
Propublica and The Chicago Tribune previously detailed the history of alleged misconduct as an officer, including at least 26 investigations of allegations of fraud that he forged records, committed false arrests and other issues. He was the subject of nearly 100 complaints from citizens and fellow executives in his career. Most executives are much less.
Crib denied allegations in many of these cases, and accused others of the frequency he had suspended and arrested. Ultimately, many of the investigations could not be pursued as his accuser failed to sign a formal complaint. Also, some complaints, including people, including allegations of fraud, were not maintained by police inspectors. Otherwise, the supervisory officers found that Kriv was liable for the misconduct.
He retired in 2023, just before the prosecutors indicted him.
Kriv’s plea agreement was filed in Cook County Court on September 24th. Prosecutors at the Cook County State Lawyer’s Office told Propoblica this week that Kriv had rejected 56 traffic tickets after providing false testimony to the judge. This exceeds the 44 tickets prosecutors had previously shown in court records. The fine for these tickets was $4,515, the amount he was ordered to pay in reparations.
The state’s attorney’s office has dealt with fallout from Crib’s perjury cases in other trials built on his police force, saying there has been a decline in pending cases against individuals who Clive arrested or issued because they would not proceed without testimony.
“We were unable to call him as a witness due to false statements he made earlier to dismiss his own personal ticket,” the office wrote in response to a question from Propublica. Records show that one case was rejected in August. Prosecutors said there were no pending cases that require Crib’s testimony.
The state’s attorney’s office said any future claims from individuals convicted in cases involving Kriv will be “reviewed carefully.” Also, some defendants have not appeared in court and justify their arrest, so their case could be called again.
“Our priority is to maintain legal and ethical responsibility while ensuring fairness,” the office said.
Under the legal agreement, Clive admitted to repeatedly accusing his girlfriend of stealing his BMW to dismiss his ticket. “Well, that morning I broke up with my girlfriend and she stole my car,” Cliv told one judge. He repeated a similar story over and over to get out of his ticket for speeding, parking and red light camera violations related to his personal vehicle. Kriv also provided fraudulent police reports regarding the theft of the car as evidence. The judges then rejected the ticket.
Criv was charged with four counts of perjury and five counts of forgery. Each of these crimes would have been punished in prison for up to five years.
Tim Grace, Criv’s lawyer, told Propoblica that he and Criv would not comment.
The executive director of the Chicago police officers’ pension and benefits funds said the pension committee will meet to determine whether Kriv can continue to collect pension benefits, considering the felony conviction. Illinois law prohibits officers convicted of felony related to their services from receiving pension benefits. Kriv’s pension payments are over $6,000 a month.
This cop has escaped from 44 tickets, saying that his girlfriend had stole his car many times.
In court last year, Criv told a Propobrica reporter that he was innocent. “I’m going to fight that,” he said at the time. “I’m not going to plea,” he complained that people accused of carjacking and gun crimes are on probation and criticised prosecutors for treating him like a criminal. “I’m told I’m worse than a carjacker,” he said.
He also said “it’s shame” and “it’s awful” that prosecutors dropped lawsuits against drunk drivers and other allegations due to concerns about his credibility. He said he wanted to testify in these cases, and said the prosecutors had sidelined him prematurely.
“You know what the system is like. You’re guilty until you prove to be innocent,” he said.
