Ben Baker and Clarissa Glenn receive $7.5 Million Settlement in first federal case against disgraced Chicago cop Ronald Watts

On January 15, 2025, the Chicago City Council voted to approve a settlement of $7.5 million for Loevy + Loevy clients Ben Baker and Clarissa Glenn, in the first federal lawsuit brought against disgraced former Chicago police officer Sgt. Ronald Watts.

Mr. Baker and Ms. Glenn were arrested by Watts in 2005, in retaliation for Baker’s refusal to pay Ronald Watts protection money. According to the lawsuit filed by Loevy + Loevy—and a scathing report issued by the Chicago Office of Police Accountability (COPA)—Watts and his partner Alvin Jones planted drugs in Glenn’s car, falsified police reports, and lied under oath to secure their convictions.

Baker, who spent 10 years in prison, was exonerated in 2016, and issued a certificate of innocence. Glenn was exonerated and declared innocent in 2018. They were among the first victims of disgraced officer Watts to speak out, and since then more than 200 convictions involving Watts have been thrown out. All of the victims were Black, mostly from the former Ida B. Wells housing project, where the corrupt tactics of Watts and his crew were well known.

“This case illustrates what we’ve heard so much about lately, which is a lack of accountability,” Loevy founder Jon Loevy said, in 2016. “That this could have operated in plain sight, and for the period of years that it did, with these police officers treating this community as if it could just be robbed and stolen from with impunity,”

Watts resigned from the force in 2012, before pleading guilty to extortion after an FBI sting and being sentenced to 22 months in prison. There are currently more than 180 civil rights cases pending related to his overturned convictions. Alvin Jones was stripped of his police powers in June of 2021, and resigned from the Chicago Police Department in 2022 with the rank of sergeant.

“Because I spoke the truth to these officers, I was punished,” Clarissa Glenn said, at a press conference in 2022, upon the release of the COPA report. “Now the city of Chicago knows, which they already knew, but now it’s out there, that we have been telling the truth for years and years and years.”

Mr. Baker and Ms. Glenn were represented by attorneys Jon LoevyScott RauscherJosh TepferSean StarrTherea Kleinhaus, and Wallace Hilke of Loevy + Loevy.

In the same vote approving this settlement, the City Council also approved a $17.5 million settlement for Loevy client Thomas Sierra, who was similarly framed and exonerated by Chicago police officer Reynaldo Guevara.

“We are pleased that the City Council has approved settlements for these victims of notorious Chicago police officers Ronald Watts and Reynaldo Guevara,” says Jon Loevy, founding partner at Loevy + Loevy. “But these officers—and the officers who worked with them—caused immense damage to literally hundreds of victims. Instead of paying outside lawyers millions of dollars to defend these hundreds of cases individually, it is our hope the City will engage in a meaningful settlement process to resolve them globally, providing long overdue compensation to the victims, saving taxpayers money, and putting this shameful era behind us once and for all. Indeed, the Finance Committee asked about reaching a global resolution when it approved today’s settlement, and we believe that is the only responsible way for the City to proceed.”

Press Releases

Take Action Today

To discuss your case with an experienced civil rights attorney, contact our firm today for a free and confidential consultation at 888-644-6459 (toll-free) or 312-243-5900.

Our Impact

Read the latest blog posts, articles, and writings from Loevy + Loevy’s attorneys and staff.

Loevy & Loevy has won more multi-million dollar verdicts than perhaps any other law firm in the country over the past decade. 

We take on the nation’s most difficult public interest cases, advocating in and outside the courtroom to secure justice for our clients and to hold officials, governments, and corporations accountable.

Scroll to Top