Officer on DEA task force charged with lying

Baltimore cop allegedly took cash from search warrant site

A Baltimore Police officer assigned to a DEA task force was indicted by a grand jury on charges of lying to the FBI about stealing money from a search warrant scene — the latest fallout from the Gun Trace Task Force investigation.

Ethan Glover, an 18-year veteran who has been a federal task force officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration since 2013, was charged in connection with an April 2016 seizure of $2.5 million in Linthicum Heights, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

When confronted by the FBI in 2020, Glover told federal agents: “I’ve never stolen anything in my life. Never, money or drugs.” Federal prosecutors say that was a lie.

The Sun reported in March 2020 that Glover had been suspended in connection with fallout from the Gun Trace Task Force investigation, along with three other federal task force officers. Two of those officers have since been federally charged, in addition to Glover.

Many of the officers serving on federal task forces in Baltimore are not sworn federal agents, but area police officers detailed to serve on the task forces.

The indictment says that Glover was working with DEA Group 51 on April 8, 2016, when authorities “recovered three duffel bags containing large amounts of cash and a handwritten document with currency totals stating there was $2,427,900 in the house,” according to a news release.

“Glover transported the cash from the residence to another location where a search warrant had been executed, and then to the DEA Baltimore Office, alone in his vehicle the entire time,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Prosecutors say Glover turned in $9,775 less than what was recovered from the scene, and hid the money at his then-girlfriend’s home, in her bathroom. Glover allegedly said during conversations about the money that he was followed by another task force officer while driving the cash from the search warrant site, and that the money came from a “big case” and later moved the money to his home. He bought his then-girlfriend a pair of $300 shoes from a mall in Pennsylvania, and the girlfriend saw a “large sum” of money hidden in his refrigerator in June 2016.

Court records show the search-and-seizure warrant in question related to a nationwide cocaine trafficking investigation, in which investigators said they identified an organization moving large amounts of cocaine into Maryland.

Police in that case said they recovered $2.4 million from a duffel bag in a basement in the 100 block of John Ave., and found documents related to Hector M. Hernandez-Villapando and Enixae Hernandez-Barba. In relation to the investigation, the DEA said they also recovered 31 kilograms of cocaine, valued at $1 million.

Defendants in that case were convicted and were sentenced to between 42 and 168 months in prison.

Prosecutors say Glover sat for a voluntary interview with the FBI on Feb. 28, 2020 “about a seizure that had occurred with the officer-in-charge of BPD’s Gun Trace Task Force,” and denied ever taking money or drugs. It’s not clear how authorities determined Glover was allegedly lying.

Glover could face up to 10 years in federal prison for theft of government property, as well as five years for making false statements to federal law enforcement.

Glover testified during the Gun Trace Task Force trial in 2018 — he was in the same police academy class as Gun Trace Task Force Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, who is serving 25 years in federal prison for stealing money and dealing drugs, among other crimes.

After Jenkins found a major score in Northwest Baltimore in March 2016, he called Glover to help count the money. Glover is not charged in connection with that case, but helped buttress the government’s case against members of the GTTF.