Officer pleads guilty to drug, gun charges
17-year veteran with $90K salary suspended since 2022 arrest
A longtime Baltimore Police officer who once traded a semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle, pain pills and information about a murder investigation with the leader of a motorcycle gang in exchange for cocaine and cash pleaded guilty to federal drug and gun charges last month, according to newly public court papers.
Steven Umberto Angelini, 43, was a 17-year member of the police department when federal agents arrested him at an American Legion hall in July 2022.
Angelini pleaded guilty Aug. 7 to a charge of conspiracy to possess and distribute a controlled substance and a charge of possession of a firearm in the furtherance of drug trafficking. The charges carry a combined minimum of five years in prison with a maximum life sentence.
Portions of Angelini’s plea agreement were unsealed Monday, despite the agreement being signed more than a month ago.
Angelini is set to be sentenced Feb. 9.
He has been suspended from duty without pay since his arrest and city salary records show Angelini had an annual salary of about $90,000. The Baltimore Police Department acknowledged Angelini’s guilty plea Monday afternoon and a spokesperson said the agency would move to terminate his employment.
The Federal Public Defender’s office, which represents Angelini, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
Prosecutors say Angelini worked with a co-conspirator identified in court papers as a man named “Keith” who is president of the Maryland chapter of the Infamous Ryders Motorcycle Club. The Baltimore Sun previously identified Keith Dockins as Angelini’s co-conspirator. Dockins faces charges in Baltimore County and has a trial scheduled for early next year.
An attorney for Dockins, Andrew I. Alperstein, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
On Jan. 6, 2022, Angelini texted Dockins, offering to sell him 90 “pinks,” or oxycodone pills, for $8 a pill and some “dog,” according to an agreed upon set of facts between Angelini and federal prosecutors that was included as part of Angelini’s plea agreement. Dog is slang for cocaine.
Angelini sold the pills for $100 and an eighth of an ounce of cocaine, according to his plea agreement.
In more text messages with Dockins, Angelini says his usual cocaine dealer, identified as “D,” was murdered and Angelini offered to get Dockins information about the suspect from the police department’s homicide division. “D” worked for Dockins as part of his drug organization, according to court records.
Angelini sent Dockins internal police reports, photographs and other information about the suspected killer. Angelini promised to supply a video of the killing in exchange for more cocaine, but was never able to produce the video, court records show. At one point, he gave Dockins a USB drive that he claimed contained the video, but Dockins texted him to tell him there was nothing on the drive.
“I am going to take a ride up to that place who had the video right now and see if they still have [a] copy and get them to let me record it,” Angelini texted Dockins. “Show them my badge.”
“OK yeah it’s just that we had a deal,” Dockins replied. “I hooked [sic] up for it.”
In early April 2022, Angelini sold the bike gang leader a 9 mm ghost gun similar to an AR-15 that he said he built in exchange for $300 and another eighth of an ounce of cocaine, according to court records.
Angelini brought the gun to the Coach House, a bar on Belair Road in Baltimore that the Infamous Ryders would sell drugs from, court records show.
Investigators were watching the parking lot and saw Angelini arrive at the bar and go to the rear entrance, and authorities also intercepted a phone call between Angelini and Dockins about the exchange.
On April 25, Angelini went to the Coach House and gave Dockins 20 oxycodone pills, telling him over the phone they were a “make up for what I owe you bro,” according to text messages cited in Angelini’s plea agreement.
On April 26, Angelini again texted Dockins, telling him he was at a gun store and the pair agreed Angelini would buy more ammunition in exchange for another eighth of cocaine and to repay Dockins for failing to get him the video of D’s killing, according to the criminal complaint.
“I got paid today so if u don’t mind I need a ball,” Angelini texted Dockins, according to the complaint. A “ball” is slang for an eighth of an ounce of cocaine.
In total Angelini spent $543.60 at the gun shop where he purchased ammunition and gun parts, according to his plea agreement.
On May 4, prosecutors said, Angelini picked up his oxycodone prescription from a Walgreens in Middle River and then called Dockins to sell him 90 more pills in exchange for $170 and $100 worth of cocaine.