TJ Jimenez, Who Got Millions For Wrongful Conviction, Faces New Charges For Jail Fight
By Patrick SmithTJ Jimenez, Who Got Millions For Wrongful Conviction, Faces New Charges For Jail Fight
By Patrick SmithFormer Chicago gang leader Thaddeus Jimenez — who got $25 million from the city because he was wrongly arrested for murder when he was 13 years old — is facing a new felony charge for his alleged role in a jail fight last month.
Jimenez spent 16 years in prison before he was freed in 2009. Prosecutors say Jimenez then spent his millions to fund a gang war on the city’s West Side. He is currently back behind bars awaiting trial for a 2015 shooting.
Listen to Season One of Motive, a true crime podcast from WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Jimenez has now been charged with mob action for allegedly joining a Jan. 8 fight in the dayroom of a maximum security division in the Cook County Jail, said Cook County Sheriff spokesman Joseph Ryan.
He said the fight resulted in “non-serious injuries, including bruises and cuts, to several of the participants.”
Jimenez is due in court Friday for the latest charges.
WBEZ, in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times, chronicled Jimenez’s story in the first season of its serial podcast Motive.
Patrick Smith is a reporter on WBEZ’s Criminal Justice Desk. Follow him @pksmid. Email him at psmith@wbez.org.