Gun Trace Task Force settlement approved

Baltimore spending board approves $450,000 deal for man who claimed he was falsely arrested; 40 cases now settled

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates approved a $450,000 settlement to be paid to a man who claimed an officer involved with the disgraced Gun Trace Task Force falsely arrested and planted drugs on him, despite what city attorneys said was a lack of evidence in the case.

The settlement, which was approved unanimously by the city spending board, closes out a lawsuit filed by Ricardo Shaw related to his 2009 arrest by Baltimore Police.

According to city attorney James Corley, Detective Maurice Ward was surveilling a suspected drug location and saw Shaw enter and exit the building quickly. Ward directed other officers, including Officer Sean Suiter, to stop Shaw and cocaine was recovered from him, Corley said.

Shaw pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute and was sentenced to 3 years of incarceration. He served 2.5 years and was released in 2012.

In 2019, following the revelation that Ward and other members of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force were routinely violating people’s rights and stealing drugs and money using the authority of their badge, Shaw’s conviction was vacated by the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office.

Ward, who cooperated with federal authorities and testified about robbing citizens, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. He was sentenced to seven years behind bars in 2018, and was released in early 2022.

Ward’s lawsuit also named the Baltimore Police Department, Detective Kenneth Ivery and Former Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, as well as Suiter’s estate. Suiter was fatally shot in November 2017.

In a lawsuit filed in December, Shaw claimed officers found no cocaine on him when he was searched. He accused the officers and the city of unlawful arrest, fabricating evidence and making false charges.

Corley said the city’s settlement committee recommended a settlement in hopes of avoiding lengthy litigation in the case. Corley said Shaw’s 2009 arrest predates the creation of the Gun Trace Task Force. At the time, the officers involved were assigned to a plain clothes investigative unit.

In 2017, federal prosecutors charged eight members of the Gun Trace Task Force, alleging a campaign of robbery and extortion stretching back several years. In all 12 officers either pleaded guilty or were convicted of crimes related to their actions while serving as officers.

Like several other lawsuits filed in the wake of the unit’s takedown, little evidence exists to prove Shaw’s claims, Corley said.

“They moved to vacate the convictions as a matter of course, but in these cases, especially in this case ... there was no direct evidence other than testimony,” Corley said.

“It would be two to three years of litigation, and it would be up to a jury to decide who was more credible on the witness stand,” Corley added.

Attorneys can no longer use testimony or evidence provided by Ward as well as other core members of the GTTF to justify previous convictions because of the group’s pattern of breaking the law, Corley said.

“You can’t believe the story if the narrator is a liar,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, one of five members of the Board of Estimates. “It’s important to understand that these despicable actions taken by these officers were taken long before the GTTF was created. This was going on for many years including when folks were walking around Baltimore celebrating the violent crime impact section for helping us reduce violence in ways we have never seen before. Now, we know what was actually happening.”

Attorney A. Dwight Pettit said Shaw is satisfied with the settlement and pleased to move forward. Asked about the city’s contention that little evidence exists to back up Shaw’s claims, Pettit maintained that the case would have been “much more viable” had it gone to trial.

“I think the facts of the case stood for themselves,” he said. “The only thing that made us more satisfied [with a settlement] is Mr. Shaw wanted it. Otherwise, we had no problem going to trial.”

Pettit said Scott’s remarks bolstered Shaw’s case.

“This is something that is not new, but that finally the city had to take responsibility for,” Pettit said. “That responsibility came about when the public was made aware this type of activity was not only committed by police but, in fact, condoned by the city.”

The settlement approved Wednesday is the 40th reached by the city in connection with the rogue police task force. More than $22.6 million has been paid out in settlements and an untold amount spent on litigation fees related to the cases.

The largest of those settlements, $7.9 million, was paid to Umar Burley and Brent Matthews, who both went to federal prison for drugs that were planted in their vehicle in 2010. That amount eclipsed the settlement paid to the family of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries sustained in police custody in 2015.

In 2017, federal prosecutors charged eight members of the Gun Trace Task Force, alleging a campaign of robbery and extortion stretching back several years.