By Kim Janssen
The Chicago Sun Times
COOK COUNTY, Ill. — A former Cook County corrections officer cleared of an off-duty attack on a massage parlor worker and of possessing cocaine was framed to cover up a prostitution racket, his attorney claims.
Charges of battery and drug possession were dropped against Carlos Zavala, 29, Monday, after a judge ruled police didn’t have probable cause to search Zavala’s car after a dispute at the Stickney parlor July 27. He resigned amid the charges.
Prosecutors said Zavala, of Worth, attacked a worker at the parlor and stashed cocaine in his vehicle.
But Zavala, a married father of two, says he went to the parlor for a massage and was subjected to an unprovoked attack after he identified himself as a police officer. The drugs were planted, he insists.
When Judge Kerry M. Kennedy ruled the drugs found in the search of Zavala’s car couldn’t be used as evidence, prosecutors dropped all charges. Zavala wants his job back, said his lawyer, Tony Peraica, who is running for Cook County state’s attorney.
Copyright 2008 Chicago Sun Times