An investigation into the constitutionality of Chicago police raids on an unlicensed Far South Side strip club and another building in April 2023 found that a district commander cracked down on those locations at the request of an alderman — and broke numerous rules in the process, records show.
Tyrone Pendarvis, commander of the Pullman District on the Far South Side, retired in August 2024, more than a year after one of his officers came forward to complain about those searches. During the early morning raids, that officer was recorded on his body-worn camera asking a fellow cop, “Is this illegal?”
“No, we good, we with 500,” the other officer replied, referring to the code number for Pendarvis.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, in a report completed in November, said if Pendarvis hadn’t retired, the agency would have recommended he be fired for violating numerous department rules. COPA also recommended Sgt. Joseph Chlipala, working with Pendarvis that day, should be suspended for up to 180 days and undergo training on legally executing searches.
In a Jan. 9 letter to COPA, police Supt. Larry Snelling said he’d suspend Chlipala for a month and order the recommended training. Snelling noted Chlipala wasn’t present during the first raid but was at the second one.
“Sgt. Chlipala had the opportunity after the incident and while reviewing and approving the paperwork to learn that there was no exigency or justification for the entry, detention and search at both locations,” Snelling said, adding, “He then should have reported the misconduct.”
Chlipala is challenging his suspension through the department’s grievance process. Chlipala, who remains in the Pullman District, declined to comment.
Pendarvis couldn’t be reached for comment.
In recent years, there have been calls for reforms in how Chicago police conduct search warrants, which the Pullman District officers didn’t have during their 2023 raids. Questions about how search warrants are carried out followed a controversial 2019 raid on a wrong apartment where Anjanette Young was left standing unclothed in a roomful of officers. Video from that raid garnered national attention.
According to the COPA investigation of the two raids that Pendarvis spearheaded in April 2023, Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) contacted the commander after getting complaints about both locations, including an unlicensed strip club near 11006 S. Michigan Ave. where gunfire had been reported a week earlier.
According to the COPA report, Pendarvis later told investigators he was pursuing an “aggressive course” in his district and “wanted to save face” with Beale who, the report said, “had a similar vision for the district and was on the same page as the commander.”
Shortly after midnight on April 16, 2023, Pendarvis and his officers went to 11006 S. Michigan Ave., where an intelligence officer had visited the day before and said he’d witnessed “about 40 strippers” in an unlicensed bar. The officers were allowed inside the building. They found two guns, drugs and cash, which was inventoried. COPA rejected Pendarvis’ statement that the items were found “in plain sight.”
The police asked at least one woman, wearing lingerie, to put her clothes on, and a DJ was detained. No one was arrested, but a man was issued a citation for operating a business without a city license.
The officers then continued to another South Michigan Avenue building where they believed an unlicensed nightclub was operating. There had been a killing at the building in 2022, the COPA report said. People in the building — whose address was blacked out in the report obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times — had locked a door and Pendarvis ordered officers to knock it down with a battering ram.
Inside, they searched some rooms, found a “ghost” gun and detained several people, including two women who weren’t fully clothed, according to the COPA report. Again, no one was arrested. Officers talked to a man who said he was holding a private event and wasn’t running a business. Still, he was cited for running an unlicensed business.
Five days later, the city issued “cease and desist” orders at 11006 S. Michigan Ave. and the other location. The closings were for operating a tavern and a place of amusement without a license.
After the raids, an officer who participated went to Lt. Ronald Kimble and raised questions about their legality. Kimble and a man who was detained in one of the raids both filed complaints with COPA. The COPA report praised the officer who came forward to Kimble.
Kimble told COPA investigators that the normal procedure to prepare for such raids would have been for the department’s vice unit to investigate. The vice unit, which handles complaints about strip clubs and illegal parties, typically uses up to 20 undercover officers to gather information on reported crimes, Kimble told COPA investigators.
Kimble said he thought Pendarvis chose young and inexperienced officers who would be unlikely to challenge his direct orders because they could be disciplined for doing so.
Kimble also said Pendarvis had put the officers in harm’s way by sending an inadequate number of cops into a situation without proper planning. He said he believed the officers were legally required to get a search warrant to conduct the second raid.
Kimble previously had been demoted from commander to lieutenant. Pendarvis told investigators that he and Kimble had a stormy relationship because of Kimble’s demotion and that Kimble had opened other complaints against him in the past. Kimble is now a lieutenant in the gang investigations division.
Investigators also interviewed Lt. Ernest Spradley, who told them that when someone locks a door to keep officers out of a building, it “does not justify breaching the premises without an emergency.” Pendarvis’ decision had put the officers in danger, Spradley told COPA investigators.
The COPA investigators found that Pendarvis retaliated against Spradley for talking to COPA. Spradley was reassigned to an overnight shift under the pretext that tactical officers under his supervision weren’t racking up enough arrests, traffic stops and other measures of police activity, the report said.
About four months before he retired, the Civilian Office of Police Accountabilty had recommended that Pendarvis be fired for misconduct in a different case. He was accused of violating citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights, making a false report and failing to supervise his officers properly.
The police department didn’t agree with all of COPA’s findings but recommended that he get a 70-day suspension. Pendarvis retired before that investigation was finalized, COPA records show.