Trump pardons Oath Keepers as eight remain on Chicago Police force

Photo courtesy Organized Crime and Reporting Project

As several members of Oath Keepers celebrate their release from jail after receiving a presidential pardon this week, eight members of the right-wing extremist group remain on the Chicago police force.

It’s the beginning of a new era in America as President Donald Trump begins his second term. At the same time, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson breaks his campaign promise to fire police officers with ties to the Oath Keepers. The pro-Trump group was created in 2016 when the 45th president was elected. About 14 members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were among nearly 1,600 pardoned by President Trump on Tuesday, January 21, one day after he was sworn in under the Capitol Rotunda. In the same place, rioters battled police officers in the historic building. 

Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes were among those released Tuesday. Tarrio was serving a 22-year prison sentence, and Rhodes was serving an 18-year sentence when they were pardoned and released from jail the night of Monday, January 20.

At least 14 people who were pardoned are reportedly members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. In Chicago, eight police officers who were found to be on the roster of the Oath Keepers remain on the force as Mayor Johnson remains silent on his campaign promise to fire them. Numerous community groups have called on the mayor to remove the officers. Last November, publishers of the Chicago Crusader, the Chicago Defender, N’DIGO, TBT News Service, and the Chicago Weekly sent a letter to Johnson urging him to keep his campaign promise and remove the officers who have ties to the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Johnson hasn’t responded to the letter or spoken to any of the publishers about it.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, The Anti-Defamation League, Aldermen Matthew Martin (47th), Chris Taliaferro (29th), and Reverend Ira Acree have also called on Johnson to fire the officers.  

The eight officers with ties to the Oath Keepers are Michael Nowacki, Anthony Keany, Alexander Kim, Alberto Retamozo, Bienvenido Acevedo, Dennis Mack, Matthew Bracken, and John Nicezyporuk. None were disciplined after an investigation by the CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) was closed in the spring of this year. Despite promises by Johnson and Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, the investigation was closed with little to no transparency. 

The City Inspector General Office urged Johnson and Snelling to reopen the investigation and form a task force after the agency found the BIA investigation to suffer from “deficiencies materially affecting its outcome.” Johnson and Snelling haven’t responded to those calls. 

In October, the national civil rights group Color of Change and others sent a letter to the mayor alleging that the CPD investigation clearly “was a sham.” 

More than a dozen local and national organizations have also urged the mayor to fire the officers.

In 2024, an investigation by the Sun-Times, WBEZ, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported on the misconduct records of cops tied to the Oath Keepers. The investigation revealed the police department’s apparent tolerance for extremism and racist behavior from some of the officers.

The investigation included police records from the case of Brandon Forbish, a special education teacher and football coach from the south suburbs. In 2014, he drove to Chicago to watch the national college basketball championship game with fellow members of Greater St. John Bible Church on the West Side. When Forbish mistakenly went in the wrong direction on a one-way street in Austin, one cop subjected him to a barrage of racial slurs. And Officer Nicezyporuk, who is white, called him multiple slurs, including a “f—— n—–.” Nicezyporuk was found to be on the roster of Oath Keepers.

According to the investigation, Forbish, who was given a traffic ticket, called Greater St. John Bible Church Pastor Ira Acree right after the incident. The minister accompanied Forbish to file the complaint and conduct his interview with the police department investigator.

Forbes told the police his encounter with Nicezyporuk left him “scared to be around white people like that … especially white cops.

“And it shouldn’t be like that,” Forbish said at that interview. “I’m paranoid now.”

According to the Sun-Times/WBEZ investigation, police records show that Nicezyporuk denied Forbish’s allegations. Investigators concluded that the case against the officer was not sustained, noting, “There was no audio or video evidence.”

Forbish’s traffic ticket was eventually thrown out.

Acree has called for an outside investigation into the Oath Keepers and other extremists on the force. But his calls have been ignored. 

The investigation also revealed that Nicezyporuk faced another formal complaint from a Black man in 2010, who alleged the officer used racial slurs during a stop. Like Forbish’s case, Nicezyporuk denied using slurs, and the complaint was not sustained by investigators.

Nicezyporuk was reportedly reprimanded in 2022 after refusing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

In another case from the investigation, police sergeant Michael Nowacki called Englewood community activist Deborah Payne “a goof” in 2007 and told her, “I have no desire to help inner-city poor people,” when she asked Nowacki and others for donations of clothing, food, and Bibles for families.

According to the investigation, Nowacki also told Payne, “Any further communication from you will be considered harassment.”

In 2023, Johnson resisted calls to fire Chicago police officer Robert Bakker, who was suspended for 120 days after he lied about his ties to Proud Boys during an internal investigation. The Proud Boys is an extremist group with openly racist views.  

The Proud Boys organization has sworn allegiance to Trump. 

In 2020, Trump failed to denounce The Proud Boys during a nationally televised presidential debate with then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden.  

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