Customs Agent Convicted of Embezzlement at O’Hare Airport
CHICAGO, IL – A federal jury has convicted a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent of pocketing $5,000 in cash from an overseas passenger at a screening station of O’Hare International Airport.
SALVATORE PICARDI, 38, of Park Ridge, was convicted of one count of embezzlement by a federal officer under color of law. The conviction is punishable by up to ten years in prison.
The crime took place on February 22, 2016, after the female passenger had arrived at O’Hare on a flight from China. The woman noticed her money was missing when the customs inspection ended and she was allowed to leave. As other officers began searching for the money, Picardi tried to avoid detection by stuffing the cash into a jacket belonging to the woman and claiming he had discovered it.
The jacket, however, had been searched multiple times before Picardi’s purported discovery.
Picardi’s conviction was announced by Joel R. Levin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Armando Lopez, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG) Chicago Field Office; and Aaron Poyer, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection – Office of Professional Responsibility (CBP-OPR).
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laurie J. Barsella and Lindsay C. Jenkins.
A sentencing hearing for December 12, 2017, at 12:00 p.m. has been scheduled by Judge Thomas M. Durkin.
Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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