CHICAGO — A settlement agreement has been reached in the first federal lawsuit alleging phony arrests by ex-Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team, a milestone that could have implications for the more than 150 other Watts-related cases.

Ben Baker sued Watts and the city in 2016, alleging Watts and his team pinned bogus cases on him — and in one instance, his partner, Clarissa Glenn — in retaliation for refusing to pay Watts a $1,000 bribe. Baker spent about ten years in prison before his conviction was thrown out.

Attorneys for the city reached a deal to settle with Baker and Glenn last month that is pending approval by the City Council, according to court records. The agreed-upon payout has not been disclosed, but only payouts above $100,000 must be approved by aldermen.

It is unclear when the city’s Finance Committee could consider the settlement. The committee’s regular monthly meeting, scheduled for next week, was canceled amid stunning disarray in the city’s annual budget proceedings.

The settlement, if approved, would avert a trial that had been scheduled for early January. Baker’s case would be the first federal suit against Watts to go before a jury, and was being watched as an important litmus test for other cases.

There are roughly 175 other Watts-related cases yet to be resolved in federal court. Three have been scheduled for trial, though it is possible that the Baker settlement is a signal that the other cases might also be resolved short of trial.

A spokesperson for the city’s Law Department declined to comment Friday on the Baker settlement or on the prospect of a universal resolution to all the Watts cases, citing a policy against commenting on pending cases. An attorney for Baker also declined to comment.

The first Watts-related case to settle was resolved over the summer, when a lawsuit filed by Alvin Waddy in Cook County court reached an agreement. The City Council ultimately approved a $500,000 payout for Waddy.

The Watts lawsuits have the potential to be staggeringly expensive for the city. Aside from whatever payments are made to the plaintiffs through settlements or jury awards, the costs to taxpayers are already piling up into the millions because the city is using several outside law firms to handle the litigation.

Watts was arrested in 2012 along with another member of his team, Officer Kallatt Mohammed, for shaking down a drug courier who turned out to be an FBI informant. Watts received 22 months in prison and was released in 2015.

In the years since, Watts and his tactical officers have been accused of orchestrating a reign of terror at Ida B. Wells, systematically forcing residents and drug dealers alike to pay a “protection” tax and putting bogus cases on those who refused.

More than 200 Watts-related convictions have since been thrown out, and the amount of federal civil lawsuits filed against Watts and the city has snowballed since Baker and Glenn filed their case in 2016.

The plaintiffs are almost all Black men who lived in the Ida B. Wells complex and were familiar with Watts and his crew. In case after case, the lawsuits allege that when Watts’ targets complained to the Police Department or in court, judges, prosecutors and internal affairs investigators all chose to believe the testimony of Watts and other officers over their accusers, records show.

The cases also highlighted a broken system of police discipline that allegedly protected corrupt officers and punished those who tried to expose his corruption. Despite mounting allegations, Watts continued to operate for years amid a lengthy police internal affairs probe as well as investigations by the state’s attorney’s office and the FBI, according to court records.

In fact, two Chicago police officers who alleged they were blackballed for trying to expose Watts’ corruption years ago won a $2 million settlement in their whistleblower lawsuit.

Watts has denied wrongdoing in every lawsuit. He moved to Las Vegas after his release from federal prison and has kept a low profile. Records show he currently lives in Arizona.

Last year, Watts told a conservative radio host during a lengthy interview that he spent his career disrupting violent drug dealers and is now the victim of a smear campaign by ex-criminals and lawyers trying to cash in.

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