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Circuit Court Clerk's Staffer Reassigned Amid Gang Allegations

MAYWOOD, Ill. (CBS) -- A man who says he was a gang member at age 13 has been reassigned from a court job at age 46, after the Chicago Crime Commission identified him as a current gang leader.

As WBBM Newsradio's John Cody reports, the Chicago Crime Commission identified Maurice Henderson as having leadership influence in the Imperial Insane Vice Lords. Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said that was a good reason why Henderson should not be handling court documents, including search warrants at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's John Cody reports

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"That information could easily be passed on to those gang members whose homes or apartments that we were going to search, acting on signature from a judge for a search warrant," Weitzel said.

Acting on after a request from the West Suburban Police Chiefs group, which Weitzel heads, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown has transferred Henderson out of his criminal court slot.

Henderson has worked for Cook County since 1998. He admits he knows gang members, and even has a tattoo of the Imperial Insanes' cane and star symbol, the Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this month.

But he said he was 13 years old, while he now has a family and a career, the Sun-Times reported. He insisted to the newspaper that he is not in a gang.

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