Former judge is disbarred for sexually harassing police officer, court reporter and prosecutor

By Debra Cassens Weiss

A former judge in Chicago has been disbarred after he was accused of trying to kiss a police officer, asking a court reporter about the cost of sex, and making demeaning remarks about a prosecutor.

The former Cook County, Illinois, judge, Judge Mauricio Boris Andres Araujo, was disbarred by the Illinois Supreme Court in a Jan. 17 order.

Araujo did not participate in ethics proceedings initiated by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. The allegations were deemed to be admitted.

A Sept. 30, 2022, report by the IARDC hearing board said these allegations were deemed admitted:

• Araujo tried to kiss a Chicago police officer on the lips in 2016 when she tried to obtain a signature on a warrant. He also grabbed her hand and said, “Touch my butt.” He also “made lewd comments” to the officer on another occasion.

• On two occasions in 2011, Araujo “approached a female court reporter in a suggestive manner when they were alone in a courthouse elevator and asked how much money it would take for the court reporter to have sex with him.”

• In 2018, Araujo made demeaning remarks about a prosecutor after she appeared before him in a first-degree murder case. He was unhappy that the prosecutor, a former law school classmate, had not congratulated him on his promotion to a new courtroom and had not said hello to him. He called a different prosecutor into his chambers and began to discuss the perceived slight. Araujo used the B-word when referring to the prosecutor and said, “Maybe it’s because I didn’t have sex with her. Or maybe it’s because I did have sex with her.”

The hearing board said Araujo’s interactions with the police officer and court reporter constituted battery and assault, and his inappropriate sexual remarks constituted conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.

Araujo had no prior discipline, a mitigating factor. But the hearing panel cited several aggravating factors, including that Araujo abused his position of authority, demonstrated a pattern of misconduct, acted with selfish motives, showed no remorse, and failed to participate in the ethics proceeding.

Araujo had been transferred to administrative duties in September 2018 after a complaint by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. The Illinois Courts Commission had also charged Araujo with ethics violations and concluded that he committed misconduct. He retired from the bench in 2020, a month before the Illinois Courts Commission entered written findings.

Araujo told the Chicago Tribune in 2018 that he didn’t think that he used the B-word to describe the prosecutor and didn’t think that he made the remark that implied they may have had sex. He also said the prosecutor’s failure to acknowledge him did not upset him.

The IARDC has no contact information for Araujo on its website. He did not immediately respond to an ABA Journal request for comment sent to an email address listed in an IARDC document.

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Former judge is disbarred for sexually harassing police officer, court reporter and prosecutor