CHICAGO — Two men who were freed from prison are now suing the city.
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The lawsuits claim the Chicago Police Department targeted dozens of Latino men from the Humboldt Park neighborhood and framed them for murder, and that the city has failed to investigate.
Robert Almodovar, Jr. and Jose Maysonet have filed federal lawsuits against the city alleging they were framed and sent to prison by disgraced Chicago detective Reynaldo Guevara and other Area 5 detectives.
They say Guevara used physical and psychological coercion, manipulated witnesses and threatened to take people’s kids away in order to frame his victims.
They claim since 1986 no fewer than 75 cases have come to light where Chicago police detectives framed innocent men.
Eight of those men have been exonerated or released in the past 18 months.
Almodovar spent 23 years in prison and Maysonet spent 27 years in prison.
They both faced the death penalty for crimes they did not commit.
Both were released in 2017 after lawyers proved their cases were tainted by police officer misconduct.
So far nine civil lawsuits have been filed against the City of Chicago and there will likely be many more.
Lawyers for these men are now calling on State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to step up and make a plan for how to handle all of the cases where Detective Guevara is now suspected of fabricating evidence.
WGN reached out to the City of Chicago for comment. A spokesman said they have not received the suit, and therefore cannot comment on it at this time.
