Three months after he was sentenced to probation for threatening to kill a fellow Chicago police detective, CPD homicide Det. Marco Torres has been charged with harassing a third officer in an attempt to keep her from testifying against him.
As he faced charges of assaulting a female detective in 2024, prosecutors at a hearing Wednesday said Torres allegedly called another detective and tried to convince her not to testify in the ongoing case, using a pre-paid “burner” phone.
Torres was charged with simple assault and battery of a third detective, with whom he was carrying on an extramartial affair, during an argument in front of his house in 2023.
Torres last year was found guilty on the assault charge and sentenced to one year of probation that includes a provision that he is not allowed to carry a gun. As that case was pending in May 2024, prosecutors allege he called another detective, identified by prosecutors as “KC”, who was a police academy classmate and mutual friend of Torres and the officer he assaulted.
“Please don’t testify against me, I’ve been crying all day,” Torres allegedly told her, and also discussed his relationship with another woman he had dated. The phone number from which Torres called appeared as “no caller ID.”
Torres allegedly later texted the officer from a burner phone “This is my life please don’t testify I always cover my tracks,” and threatened that his commander would have the other officer fired. Two other officers also allegedly were contacted by Torres the same day as KC from a number linked to a prepaid phone, and cell tower records indicated that the phone was used near Torres’ home.
Torres, who at the time was wearing a GPS monitor because of a protective order in the assault case, also was at or near his home at the time the calls were made, Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas Fryska said in court Wednesday.
Torres, 40, was arrested Tuesday after turning himself in at CPD headquarters. He was arraigned Wednesday in front of Judge James Costello. Torres was released on electronic monitoring and barred from contact with the detective.
His lawyer, Mark Leonard, said after the hearing that the charges against Torres were “absurd.”
“The case is incredibly weak, based on phone calls and texts from more than a year ago,” Leonard said. “The state’s theory of the case is absurd. He’s buying burner phones and going to all these lengths to cover his tracks, but he’s calling these people and saying, ‘It’s me, Marco’?”
Torres was stripped of his police powers last year when a protective order was issued against him in connection with the assault case. To date, he has not faced discipline from the department, but an investigation is pending, according to a police spokesperson.
The victim in the assault case has filed a civil whistleblower case against CPD and Torres, alleging she reported misconduct and threats by Torres repeatedly but was told to transfer out of the homicide division. Her lawyer, Megan O’Malley, said the charges made it clear CPD should have moved to discipline Torres after her client made her complaints to the bureau of internal affairs and after he was convicted of threatening her life.
“Even after this guy is convicted of threatening to kill a woman, a fellow police officer, he is still a Chicago police officer,” O’Malley said. “Is he going to get back his badge and gun when his court supervision is over in a year? I guess the Chicago Police Department thinks their officers are above the law.”