Illinois sheriff arrested for blackmailing gay men

A 20-year Illinois police veteran has been arrested for blackmailing two gay men he caught having sex, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Cook County sheriff's officer Ronnie Baffield allegedly offered a deal to the two men he caught having sex in a forest. Apparently, he told the men that if they painted his home and got him a "good deal" on a computer, he would forget about what he'd seen. Instead, one of the men went to police, who set up a sting and arrested Baffield, charging him with bribery and official misconduct. Since 1998, Baffield, 48, was assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force as an undercover investigator, said Sally Daly, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. He was suspended from his $50,800-a-year job Monday, and the department is moving to fire him, Daly said.