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Chicago cop allegedly runs up $1,600 on arrestee’s credit cards

Nik Lohja went out to a Wicker Park bar in early November to have a few drinks and shoot some pool. But he got in an argument, punches were thrown and Lohja ended up in handcuffs after someone called the police.

Responsibility for the trouble that started at the Wicker Park bar was partly his, Lohja said. But the rest of the night, he said he became the victim-of the police.

As Lohja was being escorted to the police wagon, he said the officer who arrested him slipped his hand into his back pocket and drew out Lohja’s driver’s license, his credit card and debit cards. Lohja, 31, who spent the night in jail, said he never saw the credit cards again.

On Tuesday, the officer who allegedly took those cards, James L. Chevas II, a Wood District patrol officer, was charged with official misconduct and stealing from an arrestee, police said.

Chevas, 36, allegedly ran up about $1,600 in charges on Lohja’s credit cards, said Monique Bond, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.

Police said they had have security video from Nov. 5 showing Chevas using the cards in at least one of the three Northwest Side stores.