A 24-year Takoma Park police department veteran admitted yesterday to helping cover up unprovoked attacks, one involving a Prince George’s County police dog, on two homeless burglary suspects.
Sgt. Dennis Bonn pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt to being an accessory after the fact in the 1995 incident. Bonn, who retired from the police force Nov. 1, also agreed to cooperate with related federal civil rights prosecutions.
Two Prince George’s County officers and a former Takoma Park officer face charges in the case. They have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
Prosecutors said one of the Prince George’s officers asked Bonn during the Sept. 21, 1995, incident if a police dog could “take a bite” out of one of two homeless men arrested in a string of burglaries.
Bonn did not stop the attack, a Justice Department release indicates. He also did not stop another county officer from hitting the other suspect without cause, prosecutors said.
After the incident, Bonn filed false burglary charges against the two men and failed to mention the attacks to his supervisors or FBI investigators, prosecutors said.
Bonn faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $125,000 fine.
His attorney, Maury S. Epner of Rockville said Bonn has taken full responsibility for “a horrible, momentary lapse of judgment.”
The case stemmed from a broad Justice Department investigation of the Prince George’s County police dog unit. Justice officials announced last week they are expanding their probe of the Prince George’s force.
“The community must know that absolutely no one is above the law, least of all those who are entrusted to enforce it,” Maryland U.S. Attorney Lynne A. Battaglia said.
The three other officers charged in the case are Prince George’s police Sgt. Anthony J. Delozier, Officer Stephanie C. Mohr and former Takoma Park Detective Brian Rich, now an FBI agent.All three are on leave, with pay, pending the case’s outcome.
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