Seven Baltimore City Police Officers Arrested for Abusing Power in Federal Racketeering Conspiracy

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/seven-baltimore-city-police-officers-arrested-abusing-power-federal-racketeering

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Maryland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Seven Baltimore City Police Officers Arrested for Abusing Power in Federal Racketeering Conspiracy

Officers Allegedly Robbed Victims, Filed False Affidavits and Made Fraudulent Overtime Claims; One Officer Also Charged in Separate Six-Defendant Drug Conspiracy Indictment
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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. The indictment was returned on February 23, 2017, and unsealed today following the execution of arrest and search warrants. One of the officers also was charged in a separate drug conspiracy indictment, also unsealed today.
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The officers charged in the racketeering indictment are:

Detective Momodu Bondeva Kenton Gondo, a/k/a GMoney and Mike, age 34, of Owings Mills, Maryland;
Detective Evodio Calles Hendrix, age 32, of Randallstown, Maryland;
Detective Daniel Thomas Hersl, age 47, of Joppa, Maryland;
Sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins, age 36, of Middle River, Maryland;
Detective Jemell Lamar Rayam, age 36, of Owings Mills;
Detective Marcus Roosevelt Taylor, age 30, of Glen Burnie; and
Detective Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, age 36, of Middle River.

A separate indictment alleges that Detective Gondo joined a drug-dealing conspiracy. In addition to Gondo, the other indictment charges:
Antonio Shropshire, a/k/a Brill, B, and Tony, age 31, of Baltimore;
Omari Thomas, a/k/a Lil’ Bril, Lil B, and Chewy, age 25, of Middle River;
Antoine Washington, a/k/a Twan, age 27, of Baltimore;
Alexander Campbell, a/k/a Munch, age 28, of Baltimore; and
Glen Kyle Wells, a/k/a Lou, and Kyle, age 31, of Baltimore.

RACKETEERING INDICTMENT

The racketeering indictment alleges that the police officers stole money, property and narcotics from victims, some of whom had not committed crimes; swore out false affidavits; submitted false official incident reports; and engaged in large-scale time and attendance fraud.

Count One, racketeering conspiracy, alleges robbery and extortion violations committed by the defendants in 2015 and 2016 when they were officers in the police department’s Gun Trace Task Force, a specialized unit created to investigate firearms crimes.

Count Two, a substantive racketeering charge, alleges those crimes as well as several incidents of robbery and extortion committed by five of the seven defendants beginning in 2015, before they joined the task force. Four of the defendants previously worked together in another police unit; a fifth defendant was working in a separate unit during the earlier incidents.

In some cases, there was no evidence of criminal conduct by the victims; the officers stole money that had been earned lawfully. In other instances, narcotics and firearms were recovered from arrestees. In several instances, the defendants did not file any police reports. The amounts stolen ranged from $200 to $200,000.
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The indictment alleges that the defendants obstructed law enforcement by alerting each other about potential investigations of their criminal conduct, coaching one another to give false testimony to investigators from the Internal Investigations Division of the BPD, and turning off their body cameras to avoid recording encounters with civilians. Finally, the indictment alleges that the defendants defrauded the BPD and the State of Maryland by submitting false time and attendance records in order to obtain salary and overtime payments for times when the defendants did not work.
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DRUG INDICTMENT

In a separate seven-count indictment, Gondo, Shropshire, Thomas, Washington, Campbell and Wells are charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin as part of the Shropshire drug trafficking organization (DTO). Washington is charged with possession with intent to distribute and distribution of heroin resulting in death; Shropshire, Gondo, and Campbell are charged with possession with intent to distribute heroin; and Shropshire is also charged with possession with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine. According to the indictment, the conspirators primarily distributed heroin near the Alameda Shopping Center in Baltimore.
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[nitpicker]

1. Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby will struggle with cases involving indicted officers

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-cases-20170301-story.html

Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby will struggle with cases involving indicted officers

By Doug Donovan and Justin Fenton•Contact Reporters
The Baltimore Sun
March 1, 2017, 7:39 PM

The Baltimore Police Department's elite gun-crime unit had a busy year in 2016. Court records show the seven officers were involved in hundreds of criminal cases. But federal prosecutors said Wednesday that the members of the Gun Trace Task Force were also busy conducting their own criminal enterprise: stealing cash from innocent people and suspects alike, and bilking taxpayers by filing fraudulent overtime claims. A grand jury indicted the officers on federal racketeering charges, prosecutors said Wednesday. They have been taken into custody pending court appearances.

Now many of the felony gun cases the officers helped build might be in legal jeopardy, threatening the progress police commanders have claimed against illegal weapons during a historic spike in violent crime. "Today's federal indictment of several BPD officers will have pervasive implications on numerous active investigations and pending cases in our office," Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a statement.
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Veteran defense attorney Gerard P. Martin predicted "a mess at the state's attorney's office." "They're going to have to review every case these officers were involved in," he said.
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The impact was immediately visible on Wednesday, as Mosby's office dropped a case that involved some of the officers. Maurice Stanton, 28, was arrested on three gun charges last August. An assistant state's attorney was discussing a plea deal for Stanton in Circuit Court on Wednesday when she received a text message about the indictments, Baltimore Deputy Public Defender Natalie Finegar said. (snip) The judge declared a recess, and prosecutors dropped the case.
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