CHICAGO — A former alderman on supervised release on a fraud conviction had a blood alcohol concentration of nearly four times the legal limit after being found slumped over in his vehicle with a half-empty bottle of rum at his side in May, federal prosecutors allege.
In a Monday court filing, the government seeks to revoke the supervised release of Ricardo Muñoz, the longtime 22nd Ward alderman who retired in 2019. The terms of his supervised release required he stay out of trouble with the law and refrain from any use of alcohol.
According to a police report, witnesses said Muñoz’s vehicle veered into oncoming traffic and “slow rolled” into another vehicle in west suburban Berwyn on May 23. He was unresponsive and slumped at the steering wheel when first responders arrived, prosecutors said. A responding officer found a half-empty bottle of Captain Morgan rum on the passenger front seat.
Muñoz was taken to Rush University Medical Center where testing showed his blood alcohol concentration to be approximately 0.3, the court filing said. It is illegal to drive in Illinois with a BAC of .08 or greater. Muñoz told his probation officer he had “relapsed” after his release from custody last year, the court filing said.
A hearing was scheduled for Thursday on the prosecutors’ motion to revoke Muñoz supervised release. Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence him to another 3 to 9 months in prison followed by an additional term of supervised release.
Muñoz has a documented history with alcohol. He entered an Indiana rehabilitation facility in 2019 following a domestic incident with his wife. Two years later, while on bond in the fraud case, he was charged with DUI after being found in a vehicle and a preliminary breath test showed he had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.214. That DUI case was dismissed.
Muñoz later admitted to using campaign funds for personal expenses and was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 13 months in prison.