Detectives’ arrests send shockwaves through Baltimore

Charges mean hundreds of cases to be reviewed

BALTIMORE — They were just seven officers on a police force of more than 3,000, but the Baltimore detectives charged with theft, fraud and conspiracy had an outsized crime-fighting role in a city plagued by violence.

The sweeping federal indictment calls into question each and every case touched by these men, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the city’s already fragile criminal justice system.

“It’s a nightmare,” said Natalie Finegar, Baltimore’s deputy public defender. “There’s going to be hundreds, and we’ll sort through every story.”

They were members of the Gun Trace Task Force, a unit dedicated to getting illegal guns off the streets of Baltimore, and were involved in hundreds of cases in the past two years. Federal prosecutors say they used their position to terrorize the community.

The indictment announced by U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein describes them threatening the innocent, detaining people on false pretenses, stealing their money, faking police reports, lying to investigators, defrauding their department, and flagrantly disregarding reform efforts by turning off their body cameras.

Prosecutors said in court Thursday that witnesses are “terrified” that the officers or their colleagues will retaliate against them, and that some of the officers had been “tipped off” to the federal investigation by other police officers and an assistant state’s attorney.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise also said one witness the detectives dealt with testified that she didn’t even realize they were police: “She said she thought they were ‘thugs who were going to rape and kill” her,” Wise said.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was not informed of the investigation until the indictment was announced Wednesday, Rosenstein said. Shortly thereafter, her office issued a statement saying the charges would have “pervasive implications on active investigations and pending cases.”

The officers charged with racketeering are detectives Momodu Gondo, Evodio Hendrix, Daniel Hersl, Wayne Jenkins, Jemell Rayam, Marcus Taylor and Maurice Ward. Gondo also is charged with participating in a drug conspiracy.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Gallagher ordered six of the officers to remain jailed pending trial due to the “egregious breach of public trust.” The seventh will have his detention hearing Friday.

Defense attorneys are reviewing their cases to see what to do about any involving the officers.