The Ronald Watts lawsuits are the wave of federal civil rights cases filed against the City of Chicago by people framed by former Chicago Police Sergeant Ronald Watts and his tactical team, and as of late 2025 the city has spent $126.8 million resolving them. The bulk of that total comes from a $90 million global settlement, approved unanimously by the City Council on September 25, 2025, that resolved 176 federal lawsuits brought by 180 plaintiffs whose convictions had been vacated after arrests by Watts, his partner Kallatt Mohammed, or other members of their unit.1City of Chicago. Wrongful Conviction Settlement2WTTW News. Final Tally: Chicago Taxpayers Spend $126.8M to Resolve Lawsuits
What Watts and His Unit Did
Ronald Watts was a sergeant assigned to the Chicago Police Department’s 2nd District tactical team, which focused on the Ida B. Wells Homes on the South Side. According to investigators, victims, and court records, Watts and his officers ran the housing complex like a criminal enterprise from roughly 2003 to 2008. They collected “street taxes” from drug dealers, and residents who refused to pay or cooperate were targeted for false arrests.3Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago Police Misconduct Lawsuits Tied to Ronald Watts The unit’s method was to plant felony-level quantities of cocaine or heroin on victims and file fabricated police reports to support the charges.4Exoneration Project. Watts Team Scandal
Complaints about Watts reached back years, but the department took no meaningful action until federal agents did. An FBI sting in November 2011 ended his career: a cooperating witness posed as a courier for drug proceeds, and Mohammed took a bag of $5,200 in government funds. Watts and Mohammed were arrested in February 2012 and charged with theft of government funds.5FBI Archives. Chicago Police Sergeant and Officer Charged With Stealing $5,200 Both pleaded guilty. Watts received 22 months in federal prison and was released in 2015.6CBS News. More Men Framed by Corrupt Ex-Chicago Cop Have Convictions Tossed Mohammed received 18 months.7ABC 7 Chicago. Five Convictions Tied to Corrupt Former CPD Sergeant Vacated Watts resigned from the force in 2012.8Loevy + Loevy. City Council Approves $90 Million Global Watts Settlement
How the Convictions Were Overturned
The civil lawsuits followed a wave of exonerations. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s Conviction Integrity Unit worked with the Exoneration Project to identify cases in which Watts’s signature appeared on police reports, treating that as a strong signal the underlying evidence was tainted. In 2017, 36 convictions were vacated. In September 2018, Cook County Chief Judge Leroy Martin vacated the convictions of 18 people in a single hearing, the second mass exoneration in the county’s history. In February 2022 alone, 19 more people had their convictions vacated in one hearing.9Innocence Project. Second Mass Exoneration in Chicago10ABC 7 Chicago. Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts CPD Kim Foxx
By late 2025, 212 convictions tied to Watts had been overturned, and Cook County judges had vacated at least 234 felony convictions linked to his unit since 2016.2WTTW News. Final Tally: Chicago Taxpayers Spend $126.8M to Resolve Lawsuits3Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago Police Misconduct Lawsuits Tied to Ronald Watts Each vacated conviction cleared the way for a federal civil rights suit against the city.
The Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits
Nearly all of the people whose convictions were vacated filed federal civil rights suits against the City of Chicago. The complaints alleged fabrication of evidence, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and conspiracy. By September 2025, at least 190 exonerees had filed suit.11CBS News Chicago. City Council Finance Committee Ronald Watts Settlements
The First Case: Ben Baker and Clarissa Glenn
The first suit to be resolved involved Ben Baker and Clarissa Glenn, arrested by Watts in 2005. According to their lawsuit, Baker refused to pay Watts protection money, and in retaliation Watts and fellow officer Alvin Jones planted drugs in Glenn’s car, falsified police reports, and committed perjury. Baker spent 10 years in prison before being exonerated in 2016; Glenn was declared innocent in 2018. In January 2025, the City Council approved a $7.5 million settlement for the pair, on top of the $5.2 million the city had already spent defending the case.12Loevy + Loevy. Ben Baker and Clarissa Glenn Receive $7.5 Million Settlement13WTTW News. City Poised to Spend $7.5M Settling First Federal Lawsuit
The $90 Million Global Settlement
Litigating every remaining case individually was projected to cost Chicago taxpayers between $350 million and $500 million, according to Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry. That projection drove her office toward a global deal.2WTTW News. Final Tally: Chicago Taxpayers Spend $126.8M to Resolve Lawsuits
On September 11, 2025, the city announced a proposed $90 million global settlement covering 176 federal lawsuits and 180 plaintiffs. The figure was inclusive of attorneys’ fees and costs. All 180 plaintiffs and their attorneys accepted. Loevy + Loevy, which represented most of the plaintiffs, and the Law Office of Kenneth Flaxman called the agreement the conclusion of “nearly a decade of litigation.”14ABC 7 Chicago. Chicago Police Misconduct Lawsuits Settlement Announcement1City of Chicago. Wrongful Conviction Settlement
The Finance Committee unanimously recommended the settlement on September 15, and the full Council approved it unanimously on September 25, 2025. The $90 million is scheduled to be paid in two installments in 2026. The city did not admit wrongdoing.15Loevy + Loevy. $90 Million Global Settlement of 176 Lawsuits
How Payments Are Structured
Payments were tiered by the severity of each plaintiff’s wrongful conviction. The minimum was $150,000 for people who had been sentenced to probation. At the top of the range, an individual who had served a decade in prison received more than $3 million.16Chicago Sun-Times. Victims of $90 Million Police Misconduct Settlement
The Total Cost to Chicago Taxpayers
Adding it all up: the $90 million global settlement, $11.8 million in nine prior individual settlements, and $25 million in outside legal defense costs come to $126.8 million spent to resolve 185 lawsuits naming Watts.17WTTW News. Key City Panel Unanimously Agrees to Pay $90M The global deal alone resolved 64 percent of all pending wrongful conviction cases against the city at the time it was approved.18City of Chicago Department of Law. Watts Allegations
The settlement landed during a fiscal crunch. The city faced a projected $1.15 billion budget gap for 2026 and had already exhausted its $82.2 million annual settlement budget by mid-2025.2WTTW News. Final Tally: Chicago Taxpayers Spend $126.8M to Resolve Lawsuits
What Happened to the Other Officers
Watts and Mohammed were the only members of the tactical team ever charged criminally. No other officers who served on the unit have faced prosecution.19Loevy + Loevy. Alvin Jones Termination
Discipline came through the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. COPA delivered its first completed report on the tactical team to Police Superintendent David Brown in March 2021, after a three-year investigation.20COPA. COPA Delivers Report of Findings and Recommendations The city initially refused to release it. The report became public only after attorneys for Baker and Glenn filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and a judge ordered the city to turn it over. Released in August 2022, the report focused on Alvin Jones, whom COPA described as Watts’s “bodyguard and enforcer.” COPA found that Jones had falsified arrest reports, fabricated “Vice Case Reports,” and lied under oath, and recommended he be fired.21CBS News Chicago. COPA Report Recommended CPD Fire Sergeant Who Worked Under Disgraced Former Cop Ronald Watts Jones had been stripped of his police powers in June 2021 and resigned with the rank of sergeant in May 2022, before the report was made public.19Loevy + Loevy. Alvin Jones Termination He had been promoted to sergeant in 2014, two years after Watts’s arrest.22Loevy + Loevy. Blistering COPA Report Points to Wider Chicago Police Scandal Beyond Disgraced Sgt. Ronald Watts
About 15 other officers who served under Watts were demoted to desk duty roughly a year before the September 2018 mass exoneration hearing. In 2016, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office determined that nine former members of the team could no longer testify in criminal cases because of credibility concerns, and the office later extended that policy to any officer linked to Watts.9Innocence Project. Second Mass Exoneration in Chicago19Loevy + Loevy. Alvin Jones Termination
What Comes Next
The global settlement does not close the door on Chicago’s wrongful conviction liability. Richardson-Lowry has suggested the Watts deal could serve as a template for resolving a separate wave of cases involving former CPD Detective Reynaldo Guevara, who is accused of framing 41 now-exonerated individuals. As of early 2026, the city had already spent $159 million on 13 Guevara-related lawsuits, with 38 more pending.23WTTW News. Cost to Defend and Resolve Lawsuits Tied to Disgraced Ex-CPD Detective Tops $159M Those cases are separate from the Watts litigation and are not covered by the September 2025 settlement.