Jailing of 7 officers shakes Baltimore criminal justice system

Federal prosecutors: Members of task force terrorized community

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.

The officers 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 probe investigation by other police officers and an assistant state’s attorney.

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.

Rosenstein on Wednesday said his office “quietly” dropped five federal cases in which one or more of the officers were involved.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said Wednesday that the officers represent only a tiny fraction of a force full of good and honest officers. But because the Gun Trace Task Force was responsible for removing guns from the streets, their fingerprints are everywhere.