Dirty Baltimore Cop Brings “The Wire” to Life
Former Baltimore Police Sargent Wayne Jenkins plead guilty earlier this month to charges ranging from racketeering, falsifying records, and robbery. Jenkins was the head of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force which is now disbanded and described as a police unit gone rogue.
Jenkins faces a minimum sentence of 20 years for his role in the crimes committed. A bail bondsman by the name of Donald Stepp in Baltimore County was also arrested on drug charges connected to Jenkins. Stepp accompanied Jenkins on raids and arrests, posing a city police officer, helping to facilitate the stealing of and reselling of narcotics found at crime scenes.
While it is unclear how far back the corruption spans, it should be noted that Jenkins admitted to participating in the planting of drugs on a suspect, and setting up officer Sean Suiter to find the planted drugs and make the arrest. While Jenkins didn’t admit to planting the drugs he did admit to organizing the events that lead to the false arrest. Sean Suiter was set to testify against Jenkins November 17, 2017, but was murdered November 16, 2017, while on duty, one day before he was supposed to testify.
Suiter’s death is still being investigated by the Baltimore Police and it should be noted that Suiter’s death is the only unsolved death of an on-duty police officer in the history of the Baltimore Police.
The leader of the Baltimore Police Department’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges Friday morning, admitting to a wide range of new crimes, including dirt bike thefts and re-selling stolen prescription drugs looted during the 2015 riots.
The plea agreement of former Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, 37, of Middle River broadened the scope of what federal prosecutors have called a criminal enterprise operating behind the authority of the badge.
Jenkins admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and drugs, while using an associate to re-sell marijuana and cocaine and splitting the profits. Documents outline Jenkins using illegal GPS devices to track people he suspected of having money, and entering premises without a warrant to see what was inside — a practice the officers called “sneak and peek.”
Jenkins, who remains in jail, faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years.
His 28-page plea agreement added to the shocking revelations about rogue police conduct in Baltimore that has already led to hundreds of dropped cases and people wrongfully imprisoned, and dozens of civil claims filed against the city. Eight Baltimore police officers have been charged, including Jenkins’ predecessor as the supervisor of the unit, as well as a former city officer who was working for the Philadelphia Police Department when he was arrested.
Jenkins also admitted to being involved with planting drugs on a man in 2010, setting up Detective Sean Suiter, who prosecutors say was oblivious to the fact they had been planted, to find them. Suiter was killed one day before he was set to testify before a federal grand jury about the incident, which raised the intrigue around the only on-duty fatal shooting of a Baltimore police officer in the department’s history to go unsolved. But police and the federal government have said they know of no connection between his death and Suiter’s pending grand jury testimony.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
