gun trace task force

Watching his city in flames during the riots of April 27, 2015, was “heartbreaking,” for community organizer Ray Kelly, who says he tried to calm folks down as he stood between demonstrators and police, cobblestones flying overhead.

By Christina Tkacik

Apr 27, 2018

Thiru Vignarajah says the state's attorney has "no idea" how many criminal cases have been tainted by members of the Gun Trace Task Force.

By Dan Rodricks

Apr 25, 2018

Little did Detective David McDougall know his Harford County heroin case would uncover one of the biggest corruption scandals in Baltimore history — the Gun Trace Task Force.

By Tim Prudente

Mar 16, 2018

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby now says thousands of court cases may be compromised as a result of the Gun Trace Task Force case and allegations against additional officers that surfaced during the trial.

The trial of two detectives was about police corruption, but it provided a window into just how pervasively drugs flow through Baltimore. From a homeless man's storage unit to a waterfront condo in Canton to an elite police unit, the drug trade reaches far and wide in Baltimore.

By Jean Marbella

Feb 13, 2018

A Baltimore Police sergeant who was named by a witness in the federal Gun Trace Task Force trial was recommended for termination in 2005, according to Internal Affairs documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

Jurors are deliberating in the case against two Baltimore Police detectives charged with taking part in a conspiracy in which they robbed citizens for years behind the cover of their badges.

Former Det. Maurice Ward will be cross-examined after his explosive testimony Tuesday outlining various crimes and misconduct as a member of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force.

The period following the death of Freddie Gray was supposed to be a time when Baltimore restored the community’s faith in the police department. Yet in 2017, the Baltimore Police Department found itself mired in scandal after scandal.

Federal prosecutors have agreed to free a former Safe Streets anti-violence worker who was sentenced to eight years in prison and claims he was wrongly arrested by members of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force.

The associate who helped Gun Trace Task Force sergeant Wayne Jenkins re-sell drugs and dirt bikes has been identified as a Baltimore County bail bondsman named Donald Stepp

A new study of Baltimore police strategies to combat gun violence from 2003 to 2017 has concluded the most effective was the so-called “hot spots” program that sent plainclothes detectives into violent neighborhoods to focus on illegal gun possession and individuals with a history of gun offenses.

By Kevin Rector

Jan 11, 2018

The City Council on Wednesday called on the Baltimore Police to provide more transparency around the seizure of guns, drugs, cash and dirt bikes, including by providing updated data on those seizures, and to establish new protocols for civilian oversight of the items’ disposal or reallocation.

By Kevin Rector

Jan 10, 2018

Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force might set a Maryland record for public harm from public corruption.

By Dan Rodricks

Jan 6, 2018

Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, the leader of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force pleaded guilty Friday morning, expressing remorse for his actions while also distancing himself from a case in which he is accused of planting drugs that involved a now-slain officer.

Federal prosecutors in the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force corruption case say they have “additional targets” in their sights, according to a filing in which they ask for tight restrictions on evidence shared with the current defendants.

The former supervisor of the corrupt Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force is set to plead guilty, according to court records and his attorney.

The attorney for Det. Daniel Hersl says his client asked off the streets, but was instead put into the Gun Trace Task Force

Police brass didn't want to know what was going on in the Gun Trace Task Force so long as its statistics looked good.

A rundown of information made available by police in the killing of Baltimore Police Det. Sean Suiter

Sgt. Wayne Jenkins and Detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor will appear in U.S. District Court Tuesday afternoon for a motions hearing

Perhaps 2,000 cases will be affected by the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal, and that may not be the end of the department's problems.

U.S. District Court judge is expected to vacate the convictions of two men in a case where federal prosecutors say drugs were planted by Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, who is charged in the sweeping Gun Trace Task Force racketeering case.

Coverage of the Gun Trace Trask Force and a Baltimore Police officer who befriended a 98-year-old woman, bringing joy in her final days.

Beset by corruption probes and civil rights oversight, Baltimore Police Department struggles to rebuild trust with community as crime spikes "out of control" and politicians bicker over how to reverse violence.

By Doug Donovan

Dec 9, 2017

A former Baltimore assistant state's attorney speaks out about questions she raised about indicted Sgt. Wayne Jenkins

It’s now been a week since Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis wrote a public letter asking the FBI to take over his department’s investigation into the shooting death of Det. Sean Suiter, and still no answer.

By Kevin Rector

Dec 8, 2017

Police commissioner Kevin Davis raised the possibility last week that Det. Sean Suiter death could be a suicide rather than a murder. If that proves to be the case, the detective's family would likely lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits.

By Ian Duncan

Dec 8, 2017

Thomas Robert Finnegan pleads guilty in U.S. District Court to carrying out a home invasion robbery while impersonating a police officer to help Det. Jemell Rayam steal $20,000

Sgt. Thomas Allers enters guilty plea to racketeering, becoming fifth officer in Gun Trace Task Force case to plead guilty

Court file reveals more details about 2014 case where prosecutor complained that Sgt. Wayne Jenkins and another officer weren't truthful about arrest

A Baltimore prosecutor made a complaint about the truthfulness of indicted Gun Trace Task Force supervisor Wayne Jenkins in 2014.

Prosecutors have now dropped or plan to drop a total of 125 criminal cases that relied on the testimony of eight Baltimore police officers indicted this year on federal racketeering charges, they said Monday.

By Kevin Rector

Dec 4, 2017

Sgt. Thomas Allers, a fifth officer charged in the Gun Trace Task Force corruption case, is going to plead guilty

The FBI had yet to respond Monday morning to a request from Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis on Friday that it take over the police department’s investigation into the killing last month of Det. Sean Suiter.

By Kevin Rector

Dec 4, 2017

There is enough uncertainty and suspicion swirling around the investigation of Det. Sean Suiter to make the FBI, not the city police, the lead investigating agency.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis has requested the FBI take over the investigation into the death of Det. Sean Suiter.

A Baltimore public defender says indicted Gun Trace Task Force officers' cases "irreparably tainted"

A look at Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh's first year in office. Pugh came into office last December promising a series of initiatives, but the first year has been hampered by the city's crime rate.

New charges have been filed by an indicted member of the Baltimore Police gun task force, alleging that in 2010 he planted drugs after a high-speed chase that ended with a death and told Det. Sean Suiter to search the car.

By Justin Fenton

Nov 30, 2017

Sean Suiter, the 43-year-old Baltimore homicide detective who was killed two weeks ago while investigating a triple-murder on the city’s west side, was remembered Wednesday at a funeral attended by thousands.

A viewing for slain Baltimore homicide Detective Sean Suiter was held Monday as the investigation into his death neared the two-week mark with no answers.

A closer look at the case of Umar Burley, who was arrested by indicted Sgt. Wayne Jenkins in a case that involved slain Det. Sean Suiter. Federal prosecutors have recently entered their appearance in the closed case.

As one Baltimore tragedy comes to a close — the death of Freddie Gray — another heats up — the killing of homicide detective Sean Suiter.

By Doug Donovan

Nov 23, 2017

Baltimore homicide Detective Sean Suiter was shot and killed with his own gun and there was evidence of a struggle between Suiter and his killer, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said Wednesday. 

Prosecutors urged a federal judge Friday to detain Philadelphia Police Officer Eric Troy Snell until trial. They say he threatened the children of his fellow corrupt cop, Det. Jemell Rayam.

By Tim Prudente

Nov 17, 2017

Philadelphia police officer Eric Snell has been arrested on federal drug charges and accused of conspiring with a Baltimore detective to sell cocaine and heroin seized from Baltimore's streets.

By Tim Prudente

Nov 14, 2017

It was a problem to centralize so much of Baltimore police's gun enforcement activity in the hands of the Gun Trace Task Force.

Baltimore gun arrests drop after indictments of Gun Trace Task Force members

David Kendall Rahim, of Baltimore, admitted that he donned tactical gear and carried out the robbery at the direction of Det. Jemell Rayam, who himself pleaded guilty to committing a string of robberies over a number of years.