A Zion man arrested and jailed as part of a major street gang racketeering enforcement operation in Lake County is seeking more than $2.5 million in compensation and damages in a federal lawsuit filed after his case was dismissed.
Nigel Patrick, 45, was one of several defendants arrested in late fall 2014, and charged under the Illinois Street Gang and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ( RICO ) Act as part of a major, multi-jurisdiction operation primarily targeting the 4 Corner Hustlers street gang.
Although 20 of the initial 27 defendants have already been convicted, most through negotiated guilty pleas, charges against Patrick were dismissed by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office on Jan. 27, 2015, after Patrick had spent three months in the Lake County Jail.
In an interview Sunday, Patrick acknowledged that he has prior drug convictions in his past, but adamantly denied having any connection to the 4 Corner Hustlers, and said that he is now a business owner and ordained deacon who had left his previous lifestyle behind years before he was arrested on the RICO charges.
Patrick was indicted on street gang-related racketeering and conspiracy charges and delivery of cocaine, officials said. Both Patrick and his attorney, Jed Stone, said there never was any evidence linking Patrick to the street gang or the crimes alleged.
“I was terribly surprised,” Patrick said of his arrest and incarceration. “I was never a member of the 4 Corner Hustlers. That’s the crazy thing about it.”
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Patrick said the hardest part about his three months in jail was not being able to help his wife recover from surgery prior to his arrest. He said it also resulted in major financial losses for his family-owned and operated non-emergency medical transportation service.
“There was never any evidence against me,” he said.
The lawsuit, filed by Stone in the federal Northern District of Illinois Court in Chicago, seeks $500,000 each for five separate counts, including violation of his constitutional rights, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation and the deprivation of companionship suffered by his wife.
Defendants in the lawsuit include an assistant state’s attorney and two investigators, one from the Mundelein Police Department and one from the North Chicago Police Department.
The suit also seeks attorney fees, and states that the defendants are indemnified by their employing agencies, which may be liable for payment of any damages awarded. Patrick has requested a jury trial, and an initial status date is scheduled in January, Stone said.
State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim declined to comment on the lawsuit last week, noting that it is pending litigation.
The local RICO effort that led to the arrests, dubbed “Operation Shut Down the Hustle,” included the participation of the FBI, the DEA, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Mundelein, Zion and Waukegan police departments, as well as the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group (MEG).
The months-long investigation led to the recovery of large quantities of drugs, as well as weapons and cash, authorities said.
Stone said Patrick was arrested, charged, incarcerated and publicly labeled “an adviser” to the street gang by investigators who didn’t have “a stitch of evidence to support the charges. They knew he wasn’t a 4 Corner Hustler.”
The lawsuit says that in “his youth,” Patrick actually “was associated” with a street gang that was known to be a rival of the 4 Corner Hustlers.
Patrick said Sunday that while he does know one of the primary defendants arrested during the operation, he (Patrick) has no connection to the gang or the crimes alleged, and was concentrating on his business, spiritual and family life while the investigation was under way.
In addition to facing Patrick’s civil suit, authorities involved with the case have also appealed a Lake County Circuit Court ruling earlier this year that struck down wiretap evidence from the RICO operation.
The ruling sided with a motion filed by attorney Douglas Roberts, representing defendant Gregory Harris Sr., which stated that the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office did not properly obtain approval for telephone overhears used to collect evidence in “Operation Shut Down the Hustle.”
The ruling, from Judge George Strickland, ordered the suppression “any and all” information gathered through wiretaps in the investigation.
The appeal to that ruling is being heard by the state’s 2nd District Appellate Court.
Following the 20 convictions and the dismissal of Patrick’s charges, six defendants are still in active pre-trial status as a result of the RICO operation.
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