The incident was caught on close-circuit television footage after the strip clubs on The Block in the 1400 block of Baltimore St. let out and police were clearing the area. Leader Of Corrupt Baltimore PD Task Force Sentenced To 25 Years Behind Bars. "The larger-than-life career of former New Haven police Lt. William 'Billy' White came to a stunning conclusion Monday when the high-profile lawman was sentenced to more than three years in prison . 2023 Cable News Network. Baltimore, Md.--9/23/19-- BCPD Det. They needed to make sure the city was held accountable," said Judson Lipowitz, an attorney for the family.In the April 2010 crash, then-members of the GTTF were chasing a car for about 45 seconds. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Unit members were given paid time off that wasnt on the books in return for getting guns off the street, Ward said, according to WBAL-TV. As history has shown, the proposal did not get very far. According to a new University of Illinois at Chicago study of just federal public corruption convictions by judicial district, Baltimore has become the second most corrupt jurisdiction in the countrywith a staggering 352 guilty pleas or verdicts over the past decade. The two men split the proceeds. This article was published more than1 year ago. File Photo: Police form a line to block North Ave., near the site of recent riots and several blocks away from where Freddie Gray was arrested last month, May 4, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WBAL-TV. Their crimes, which went on for about a decade before officers in the unit were arrested in 2017, seemed straight out of the movies. The men received $8 million in restitution, and some of the officers involved in the task force have been convicted in federal court on various charges. Its police department has been through a lot. Barry Simms. "We just didn't stop.". The leader of a rogue Baltimore police unit sobbed as he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in a corruption scandal prosecutors called "breathtaking". A jury found Hersl guilty for his role in several robberies committed by the squad, including an incident where the officers took over $25,000 from a man's home without charging him a crime. In an attempt to stop her, Jenkins had his officers write a fake note purportedly from the husband's mistress. He was most recently assigned to work on policy for the federal consent decree. >> WE DID NOT GO ABOVE AND BEYOND TO MAKE SURE AND CHECK IN CHECKING THAT THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE SWORN TO PROTECT AND SERVE HADNT TURNED THEMSELVES IN THE BIGGEST GANG IN BALTIMORE. Taylor was the fastest, and the other officers relied on him to make the apprehensions. Gun Trace Task Force fallout: Keith Gladstone. A federal jury on Monday convicted two former members of a defunct Baltimore police gun task force in a corruption trial. This is not about aggressive policing, it is a criminal conspiracy, Rod Rosenstein, the former US Attorney for Maryland said in 2017 when the officers were charged. "Baltimore has been through a lot. They were supposed to be sentinels guarding this city from people who break the law, Wise told the jury in closing arguments last week, CNN affiliate WBAL-TV reported. 2023 BBC. Baltimore, Maryland - Federal agents arrested seven Baltimore City Police Department (BPD) officers today for a racketeering conspiracy and racketeering offenses, including robbery, extortion, and overtime fraud. During their testimony, officers also admitted to putting illegal tracking devices on the cars of suspected drug dealers so they could rob their homes and sell any guns or drugs they found. After the group stole over $100,000 from a safe, Ward testified he was given a $20,000 cut. - Original Credit: When Dotson asked why he was being arrested, Newberg is heard saying: Just go to jail and take your charge like a man.". CNNs Lauren del Valle and Darran Simon contributed to this report. His focus is on the characters in the unit and the fascinating twists and turns of the investigation that eventually brought the rogue cops to justice. Former Baltimore police officer Arthur Williams, 26, was found guilty of second-degree assault in June after body-camera footage that went viral showed him punching a man several times in East Baltimore back on a sidewalk in 2018. There were wrongful convictions, the death of an innocent civilian and the mysterious killing of a detective who was shot a day before he was scheduled to testify against the unit. Taylor is at a federal prison in northeast Arkansas. And more officers tied to the Gun Trace Task Force were charged or sentenced in federal court. They robbed suspected drug dealers (some of whom may not have been dealers), sold stolen drugs, illegally used GPS devices to track robbery targets and planted evidence. According to trial testimony, after robbing a high-level drug dealer, Jenkins listened to the man's phone calls to his wife from jail, telling her to hire a lawyer. The jury reached the verdict after deliberating for less than two days. Prosecutors found that it was not possible that OSullivan could have witnessed the handgun being tossed. They later realised they had taken the trash from the wrong house, but wrote up a fraudulent search warrant anyway. Koushall was charged with assault assault after being accused of striking fellow officer Sgt. GTTF members were tasked with finding and removing guns from the streets of Baltimore. The unit had the most urgent crime-fighting mission in a city where many neighborhoods are inundated with drug dealing and terrorized by persistent gun violence. Four of the officers who pled guilty testified against their former colleagues, along with drug dealers who struck deals for more lenient sentences. A veteran police sergeant filmed allegedly arresting, threatening and harassing innocent men faces a slew of charges. Gun Trace Task Force fallout: Momodu Gondo. He also re-sold stolen drugs and split the proceeds with Jenkins. Jenkins admitted to stealing cash from people he stopped or arrested during his work as a police officer. Gondo admitted that he provided information and protection to a heroin operation, which included a childhood friend. Some of the letters convicted former BPD cop Daniel Hersl has written about the Gun Trace Task Force. A Warner Bros. Officer Donald Gaff pleaded not guilty in September to second-degree assault and misconduct in office after being accused of hitting a man in the face during a 2016 traffic stop. REPORTER: THE WRECK HAPPENED IN APRIL 2010 A CAR CHASED FOR ABOUT 45 SECONDS BY MEMBERS OF THE DISBANDED GUN TRACE TASK FORCE CRASHED INTO THEIR PARENTS CAR. These guys had engaged in so much misconduct previously. Initial reports that a man had been shot by police sparked anger in the crowd. A guy who passed himself off as Jenkins representative, who is not a lawyer, was essentially one of his former cellmatesdrew this out for over a year," said Michael Bromwich, who led that investigation. Troy Snell, a former police officer in Baltimore and Philadelphia, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in April for helping a member of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force sell drugs on the street in Baltimore. Mr. Former detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor were convicted of racketeering conspiracy, racketeering and Hobbs Act robbery charges, said Elizabeth Morse, spokeswoman for the US attorneys Office in Maryland. THEY NEEDED TO MAKE SURE THE CITY WAS HELD ACCOUNTABLE. CORRUPT JUDGE sentenced TO ARREST for FILMING A COP! "We waited so long for justice. Rayam was investigated for theft of $11,000 from a man that year. Court records, sentencing memorandums and Baltimore Sun archives show that at least 20 Baltimore police officers including some who are no longer with the department were either charged, sentenced, or suspended during 2019. All charges against Dotson were dropped, while Newbergs is out on bond pending trial on the old and new charges. Hersl, Taylor and the other officers carried out brazen crimes at a time of strained community relations, following the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. The elite Baltimore cops who became criminals. An employee at the storage facility testified that Hersl and his supervisor, who has pleaded guilty, demanded to see a surveillance video of the encounter, the station reported. In the April 2010 crash, then-members of the GTTF were chasing a car for about 45 seconds. Racially disparate impact is present at every stage of BPDs enforcement actions, from the initial decision to stop individuals on Baltimore streets to searches, arrests, and uses of force.. The indictment was returned on February 23, 2017, and unsealed today following the execution of arrest and search warrants. In a one-on-one interview this week, the commissioner told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren he is committed to reform. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. Baltimore, Md.--9/23/19-- BCPD Det. February 26, 2023. Baltimore police officer Julie Pitocchelli, who was a member with the department since 1994, was suspended without pay in June after an investigation regarding overtime pay for officers. He told the jury that on one occasion, he and Officer Taylor pulled rubbish from a house they needed a search warrant for and recovered evidence of marijuana. / CBS Baltimore. Townes had stopped while passing through the area when officers were arresting a person. After tackling a teenager and beating him with his stun gun in 2016, Carlos Rivera-Martinez was convicted of second-degree assault and misconduct in office in May. A third officer came over and intervened. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Federal agents found unregistered assault rifles, cocaine residue and razors in his home. The ringleader, former Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, admitted committing multiple armed robberies and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in drugs. Ward admitted stealing money during traffic stops and while executing search warrants. NOW IT HAS JUSTICE. Heilman, 27, was fired from the department in 2018 after passersby saw him found slumped over in his car in the early afternoon in Pigtown. Wayne Jenkins once showed squad members a grappling hook with a rope, sledgehammer, machete, masks and other items he kept in his patrol car while on duty. Charges again officer involved in strip club brawl filed, dropped. At the time, the officers maintained that their activities were all in furtherance of legitimate police activity in an effort to develop sources to lead to arrests of drug distributors, said prosecutors, adding the officers claimed they used their ill-gotten money to pay informants who could help them catch those higher up in the drug gangs. But soon he was charged with second-degree assault and misconduct while in office, and the other officer - a partier in the club - had all of her charges dropped by prosecutors. For good measure, some cops in the unit stole scads of overtime from the city, at times even collecting it while they were on vacation. Adapted from former Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fentons 2021 book We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption, the show chronicles the rise and fall of one of the most shocking instances of police corruption in Baltimores history. Sergeant Thomas Allers, another supervisor, is serving a 15-year sentence in Florida and his release date is in June 2030. On December 4, 2016, Jacome directed and participated in taking a 14 year-old boy from Langley Park to a wooded area outside Germantown, Maryland, and murdering him by repeated blows with a machete because Jacome suspected that the victim had provided information to the police about the gang. Quick has worked with the department since 1995. The scandal broke at a time of struggle and high tensions between Baltimore community members and the police department. Shirley Johnson and her brothers and sisters relied on patience as they sought an apology and accountability almost 13 years after a crash killed their father, Elbert Davis Sr., and seriously injured their mother, Phosa Cain. U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang agreed with arguments put forward by attorneys for William King and Antonio Murray earlier this year under the First Step Act, noting that since their convictions in 2006 Congress has passed sentencing reforms that would have led to significantly shorter sentences if the officers were sentenced today. Gaff was hired by the department in 2013. But the gripping new book We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption puts that concern to rest. Taylor is accused of participating in that theft, according to the criminal complaint. All Rights Reserved. The corruption has cost Baltimore taxpayers more than $13 million in settlements with victims and hundreds of cases the corrupt officers worked on had to be thrown out. They targeted suspected drug dealers, carried fake weapons in case they shot an unarmed person to plant the weapon on them, and would re-sell the weapons and drugs that they stole to criminals. Moore, a 14-year veteran with the department, was placed on unpaid suspension before his guilty plea and is no longer with the department. IT IS JUST AWFUL. But soon he was charged with second-degree assault and misconduct while in office, and Middleton who was partying in the club had all of her charges dropped by prosecutors. BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - 35-year-old Marvin Edmonds II was arrested yesterday and charged with the shooting of a 39-year-old man in Eastern Baltimore on February 19th. The department opened an investigation on Quick, who works for the Consent Decree Implementation Unit, but provided no specifics as to why. "We didn't go above and beyond to make sure we were checking, to make sure that those people sworn to serve and protect hadn't turned themselves into the biggest gang in Baltimore," Scott said. Former Baltimore cop Jemell Rayam was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May for robbing people over the course of a decade as a part of the final sentencing for members of the Gun Trace Task Force. Screen grab of body camera footage of an arrest by Sgt. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. BALTIMORE (AP) The oldest member of a deeply corrupt Baltimore police unit was sentenced Friday to 18 years, becoming the sixth member of the now-disbanded squad to head to federal prison. Snell, 34, worked in the Baltimore Police Department from 2005 to 2008 and was an officer in Philadelphia at the time he was arrested. Both got 18-year sentences. De Sousa was appointed as police commissioner by then-Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in January 2018. 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