September 17, 2007 - Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Onetime Paid Snitch Guilty Of Posing As FBI Agent Ex-State Police Informant Faces Nov. 2 Sentencing for Bribery By Frank Main, Crime Reporter

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Omar Abbas -- a paid snitch -- helped the State Police win two murder-for-hire convictions in the 1990s and was an informant for the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.

But apparently, snitching didn't pay enough.

Posing as a corrupt FBI agent and a dirty lawyer, Abbas conned people into forking over thousands of dollars in bribes, authorities say.

Abbas, 41, is awaiting sentencing Nov. 2. A federal jury convicted him in August of impersonating an FBI agent, making false statements to the FBI, and crossing the state line with proceeds from fraud.

The FBI calls Abbas "a professional confidence man."

In 2003, he posed as an FBI agent, taking more than $9,500 in bribes to fix an immigration case.

And in 2005, he masqueraded as a politically connected lawyer, taking a $5,000 bribe to secure bail for a man charged with attempted murder, the FBI said.

Abbas didn't hold up his end of either crooked deal, officials say.

The Jordanian national also gave the FBI a false tip that a Burbank man was a member of Hamas.

Ironically, Abbas was paid thousands of dollars to put other criminals behind bars.

In 1996, he was a State Police informant against Jackie Chamness, 46, who pleaded guilty in Cook County to soliciting the murder of his former girlfriend and was sentenced to 31 years in prison.

And in 1999, Abbas was a State Police informant against Jermaine Norris, 33, convicted of leading a bloody attack on a Will County drug house that left a woman dead. Norris is serving a 120-year prison term.

Abbas, a State Police informant for more than 10 years, was paid more than $12,000 by the State Police for the Norris investigation alone, according to court testimony.

Abbas also was an FBI informant between 2000 and 2005 and for the DEA in 1997 and 1998, records show.

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