Illinois – Admits role in stealing cash, planting drugs and falsifying reports. A veteran Chicago police tactical officer whose critical testimony led to the conviction of his partner was sentenced to almost 11 years in prison Tuesday for his part in the wrongdoing.

“In this city it seems to me we have just been bombarded by stories and cases and prosecutions of police misconduct,” U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said as he imposed the 10-year, 11-month sentence on Richard Doroniuk. Prosecutors and Doroniuk’s lawyer had agreed on the sentence in plea negotiations.

Following his guilty plea to racketeering conspiracy charges, Doroniuk told a jury in November how he and his partner, Mahmaud Shamah, took money from people during traffic stops, planted drugs on suspects and falsified reports. They inventoried only a portion of the drug cash they confiscated on the street and pocketed the rest, he testified.

The two former Morgan Park District officers were caught on videotape stealing cash planted by the FBI in a storage locker in Chicago as part of an undercover sting in 2006. A confidential informant led the officers to believe the money belonged to drug dealers. A drug dealer who assisted the officers in robberies of drug dealers was also convicted.

Shamah, who faces up to 30 years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

Doroniuk’s lawyer, Robert Clarke, blamed his client’s conduct on the stresses of his job.