In an unexpected turn of events, Chicago police officer Zondranika Williams was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to filing a false police report about being robbed at gunpoint. The incident, which claimed a theft of $5,000, occurred last year near her residence in the Chatham neighborhood.
On September 23, 2023, Williams reported that an assailant had robbed her at gunpoint behind her home in the 8000 block of South Wabash Avenue, according to her 911 call. She informed the responding officers that her personal surveillance cameras failed to capture the incident. However, footage from her neighbor’s functioning cameras revealed that no such robbery took place.
This case drew parallels with another high-profile Chicago case involving actor Jussie Smollett, whose conviction for a similar false report was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court on the same day Williams entered her guilty plea. Despite controversies surrounding the handling of such cases by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office, Williams was not afforded the same secretive deal as Smollett.
Williams, a nine-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), was initially charged with felony false report but ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Judge Ursula Walowski sentenced her to two years of probation and imposed conditions including a prohibition on possessing firearms.
As of the latest updates, Williams remains employed by CPD with an annual salary of $102,870 but has been stripped of her police powers pending further decisions on her capacity to serve as an officer under these conditions.
