Former Chicago detective takes overdose prior to theft trial

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Police Department's former chief of detectives took an overdose of pills Tuesday, hours before the planned start of his trial on charges of masterminding a jewel-theft ring.

William Hanhardt, 72, was described by attorneys as unconscious Tuesday afternoon and under guard by FBI agents at suburban Highland Park Hospital.

Hanhardt was quoted by doctors there as saying that he had swallowed four sleeping pills and 20 pain pills in an effort to "harm himself" and prosecutors said it could have been a suicide attempt.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle canceled Hanhardt's bail for failing to appear for trial but ordered agents to give the former police official a chance to come to court voluntarily Friday morning.

Defense attorney Thomas P. Sullivan said he would try to get the judge to reinstate the bond, which could spare Hanhardt the indignity of having to appear in court in a bright orange Bureau of Prisons jumpsuit.

$5 million theft ring

Jury selection had been scheduled to start Tuesday for Hanhardt's trial on charges of masterminding a highly sophisticated nationwide ring that stole more than $5 million in jewelry, gems and watches.

Norgle said, however, that no prospective jurors had been readied for the selection process because he was notified that Hanhardt was preparing to enter a guilty plea when he came to court on Tuesday.

Instead, Hanhardt was taken unconscious from his suburban Deerfield home to Highland Park Hospital early Tuesday, attorneys said.

Medical records produced in court under government subpoena said that Hanhardt told of taking pills "in an attempt to hurt himself ... because he was very worried about pending legal matters in his life."

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Scully told the court that it could have been a suicide attempt and that under the circumstances Hanhardt now presents a danger to himself if left at large.

Hanhardt and five other men were indicted in October 2000 on racketeering and fraud conspiracy charges in connection with the jewel-theft ring. Four of them have pleaded guilty and one, William "Cherry Nose" Brown, has never been captured and remains a federal fugitive.

The trial had been scheduled to get under way in September but was delayed when Hanhardt had exploratory cancer surgery. Norgle refused last week to grant Hanhardt another delay. On Tuesday he warned that if Hanhardt was a no-show on Friday he would have FBI agents pick him up.

20 pills of OxyContin

While Hanhardt told doctors that he had taken 20 pills of the painkiller OxyContin, Sullivan raised the possibility that the city's former top detective may have been mistaken and exaggerated the number of pills that he took.

"He may very well have been in a delusional condition," Hanhardt attorney William A. Von Hoene Jr. told the court. He said Hanhardt's doctor had said as few a six of the pills might have been a fatal dose.