Information leaks in the Jussie Smollett case has the Chicago Police Department investigating itself.
Chicago P.D. sergeant Rocco Alioto revealed Thursday that the department opened an internal investigation to find out who was behind the leaks to the media in the Empire actor’s investigation.
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“I would like to point out that a lot of the information out there was inaccurate and there were numerous agencies involved in this investigation,” Alioto told Entertainment Tonight in a statement. “As a standard procedure when there are allegations of information being leaked, an internal investigation has been opened and we are also looking at our vulnerabilities.”
The new development comes just hours after news broke that dozens of hospital workers in Chicago were reportedly fired for improperly handling Smollett’s medical records.
One nurse, however, said she believes the firing was a miscommunication and is appealing the termination.
The workers were terminated for gaining access to the actor’s medical chart when he visited the hospital’s emergency room. The nurse claimed the situation was a misunderstanding and that she never accessed the chart. She added that other employees might have been mistakenly fired for the same reason.
Smollett was arrested on Feb. 21 after being charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report in which he claimed he was the victim of a crime. The actor was released after posting 10 percent of his $100,000 bond.
The allegations against Smollett come from an alleged attack on the actor, which police now believe to be a hoax orchestrated by Smollett to further his career. Authorities added at the time that prior to the attack, Smollett sent himself a threatening letter, which did not receive the attention he had hoped it would.
Smollett has maintained his innocence and denied all allegations against him, as producers of the FOX drama series made the decision to cut his character off the final two episodes of Season 5 to avoid further production disruptions during the investigation.
“The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. Jussie has been an important member of our Empire family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” show producers said in a statement following Smollett’s arrest.
“We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season,” the statement added.
Empire returns with new episodes Wednesday, March 13 at 8 p.m. on FOX.
