Charges have been filed against the Chicago Police Department recruit who allegedly had bags of crack cocaine in his pants during a narcotics training scenario at the academy this week.
Alfredo Saldana, 24, is facing one felony count of having a controlled substance after another recruit allegedly discovered eight baggies of crack in his pants pocket during a search training exercise on Monday morning.
“These aren’t my pants,” Saldana allegedly said when an academy training officer asked him what the baggies contained.
According to the CPD investigation, the trainer provided Saldana a tiny amount of simulated heroin in a baggie embellished with blue stars for “scenario-based training involving narcotics-related offenses.”
The complaint states that the trainer assigned another recruit the task of searching for Saldana while observing and assessing his performance.
But the recruit conducting the search discovered a little knotted bag containing four baggies of probable crack cocaine in Saldana’s cargo pants pocket, according to the report.
The complaint claimed that the fake drugs were in bags decorated with blue stars and dollar signs.
“That’s nothing; that’s just garbage,” Saldana allegedly responded when the trainer asked what the baggies were.
When asked to explain the baggies again, Saldana allegedly stated, “These aren’t my trousers. They belong to my brother, the cop.”
After driving Saldana to an operations office to inform a supervisor, the trainer formally detained him about four hours later. According to his arrest record, the alleged crack weighed 8 grams.
On Monday, a CPD representative confirmed that an internal probe was also underway.
