Former Chicago State Player and Cop Arrested
This is the mugshot of Zondranika Williams taken after her arrest for falsely claiming she was the victim of an armed robbery. Photo courtesy of CPD.
A soon to be former Chicago Police officer has been arrested and charged with a felony after lying about being robbed of $5,000 outside her South Side Chicago home back in September. Zondranika Williams appeared in court last week where she pleaded not guilty to felony disorderly conduct and filing a false police report charges. Williams played basketball for Chicago State University back in 2008 and had been on the police force since 2015.
Prosecutors allege that Williams called 911 on September 23rd and identified herself as police officer who had just been robbed. She gave the operator and officers who arrived a false description of a suspect, prosecutors alleged in court. Williams claimed an offender held her at gunpoint and told her to “give me everything you got.” She also told investigators that her security cameras were not working at the time of the incident. Investigators checked the security cameras at one of her neighbor’s homes and discovered the ruse. The footage showed Williams retrieve a large duffel bag from her car but nobody else appeared in the video. When the officers arrived on the scene, Williams had changed clothes before engaging with the officers.
According to the CPD rule of conduct, making a written or oral false report is prohibited. CPD immediately revoked her police powers and Williams faces termination proceedings that would remove her altogether from the force, in addition to possible prison time should she be convicted of the charges.
Williams’ official Chicago State basketball photo from the 2007-08 season. Photo courtesy of CSU.
This is not the first time Williams has been in trouble since joining the police department. In December of 2018, she was investigated by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability for domestic violence after punching another woman in her home. She was suspended for five days after four of the eight allegations against her were substantiated. The substantiated allegations included punching the victim in the nose; engaging in an unjustified physical altercation; engaging in an unjustified verbal altercation and failure to properly secure her service weapon. Before that incident, Williams was reprimanded in April of 2018 for failure to provide service.
Williams played in over 80 basketball games for CSU, averaging just under six points a game. She played high school basketball at Morgan Park High School on the South Side.