For the past four years, Jessica Lussenhop has been reporting on the rise and fall of a corrupt squad of Baltimore police officers. "I just go through this on a daily basis, scared of police, wondering when they gonna stop you, trying to plant drugs on you or something like that. They direct their work, approve overtime pay and provide reports to higher-ranking supervisors. He's doing, as he likes to say, "rather swell". "Right off the bat, we wasn't living lavishly. "It's a surreal story. While he may not be ready to let go of his animus towards Jenkins, Stepp's strange journey seems - at least for now - to be heading towards a happy ending. Jenkins tells me he traded some sausages with other inmates in the line, bartering his way to the front. All seven now sit in federal prisons scattered across the country. The fallout of the squad's crimes is still rippling through the city and undoubtedly made Baltimore a less safe place for everyone who lives there. Sergeants are the eyes and ears of the command, the front-line supervisors trusted to keep close tabs on their officers. Even though we've known for weeks that Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal), Daniel Hersl (Josh Charles), Jemell Rayam (Darrell Britt-Gibson) and the rest of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force were . Jenkins' lawyer mentioned that he has been assaulted at least once by another inmate who was targeting him for being a former police officer. Later, Jenkins came out carrying two kilos of cocaine he tossed in Stepp's vehicle. They'd known one another's families as children. Claiming to be a DEA agent, Jenkins then confiscated the drugs and money but did not arrest the dealers. In his plea deal, Jenkins admitted he planted heroin on Burley to try to justify the fatal collision. Jenkins winced as the handcuffs were placed on his wrists, and US Marshals led him out of a back door of the courtroom. BALTIMORE, MD A Baltimore police sergeant has admitted to robbing citizens, selling stolen drugs and putting innocent men behind bars, among other offenses. "Especially because we're short on time, is there anything that you kind of want to just say right off the bat?" The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Then they spilled out of the house and onto the sidewalk, struggling. His wife is also depicted earlier in the series when Wayne, in his early days, attends a barbecue with his colleagues from the Baltimore Police Department and is annoyed by how they have more money than him. Wayne Jenkins, who led . It was the perfect crime. Some of his men also have acknowledged stealing well before they came together on the Gun Trace Task Force in 2016. A two-year federal investigation into the GTTF resulted in all eight officers, and one Philadelphia officer, getting charged with several offenses, including racketeering, in 2017. A few months after the OConnor incident, Jenkins was involved in another run-in where his sworn account was contradicted. FOX45 looks at the 8 former officers of the Gun Trace Task ForceThe ring leader of the squad Wayne Jenkins is currently serving the longest sentence out of the members federally indicted on . You never know until you get on this side, including me, what you do to families.". Jenkins, along with Detective Ben Frieman, had followed an African American man driving a nice car through Northeast Baltimore. In November 2012, Wayne Jenkins was promoted to the rank of sergeant giving him new authority and freedom. Credit: Baltimore Police Department, Its a Viking mentality: You go out into the field among the bad guys, and you bring back a bounty. As Jenkins is telling me this, he is naming names. Jenkins and members of his squad were praised for their work getting guns off the streets in an October 2016 police department newsletter. In Jenkins' plea, it says that "in April 2015 following the riots after the death of Freddie Gray, Jenkins brought DS prescription medicines that he had stolen from someone looting a pharmacy so that DS could sell the medications". In a recent interview, Simon told The Sun, I never had no BB gun. Now, the lawyers were sitting with Paul Pineau, chief of staff to then Baltimore States Attorney Gregg Bernstein, according to an account of the meeting obtained by The Sun. But it's the big man upstairs," he says. "I did, yes. The sergeant took no one else from the flex squad. "Life in prison with three small children. It turned out that federal agents had the unit under surveillance for months. The second declined to comment. When his case went to trial on January 5, 2018 Jenkins pled guilty to one count of racketeering, two counts of robbery, one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation, and four counts of deprivation of rights under color of law. Simon's new project will tell a fictionalised version of the Gun Trace Task Force saga, and began filming on the streets of Baltimore over the summer. Jenkins pleaded guilty in January and admitted taking part in at least 10 robberies of Baltimore citizens, planting drugs on innocent people and re-selling drugs he stole from suspects on an. But nothing more. You tried catching me all day, and you cant, because Im telling the truth, Jenkins told the lawyer. Some tried to complain, but were ignored. Hill told Al-Jazeera it was because then-Deputy Commissioner De Sousa got involved. And that's what I did.". In the police academy, his peers saw a leader. Jenkins said hed tried to be nice, but now they were going to jail. On June 7, 2018, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Contact Justin Fenton at jfenton@baltsun.com. Justin Fenton takes listeners inside the investigation on the Roughly Speaking podcast. But the Baltimore states attorneys office continued to use Jenkins. "Immediately, we get together and you go over your story. Jenkins was given a 25-year prison sentence on June 7, 2018, which he is currently in the midst of serving at a federal prison in Kentucky. During his time on the streets of Baltimore Jenkins was involved in several arrests that resulted in the injuries of the people he took into custody. A former member of the unit, Sergeant Thomas Allers, also pleaded guilty. Burley was sentenced to 15 years in prison, which he was serving until federal prosecutors uncovered the task force's corruption and freed him. ", Explaining the tactics of the GTTF, he also told the publication: "This is a saying we state: 'Don't let probable cause stand in the way of a good arrest. Despite the lawsuits and later, video evidence from his squads body cameras Jenkins supervisors failed to scrutinize the arrests he was making. The plaintiffs prevailed in three of them, either through a jury verdict or the citys decision to settle the case. Stepp testified that the arrangement was so lucrative, he stuck with it for years before getting arrested himself in December 2017. But I did call them, and the Baltimore Police Department, to see if anyone would respond to this laundry list of allegations. In court, Ward apologised to the victims, to his family and to the Baltimore Police Department, as well as to his co-defendants. When Jenkins was allowed to speak, he turned first to face the Davis family and apologised repeatedly. Far from it. "It's nothing I've ever imagined. The former ringleader of the Baltimore police Gun Trace Task Force and one of its detectives were sentenced Thursday to federal prison. He was getting suspects off the street, but his cases often werent holding up in court. Gillian Whitfield recalled Jenkins as sweet and always willing to lend a hand. Wayne Jenkins, who led . I never heard back from the Baltimore Police Department. I think about Shawn Whiting, a former heroin dealer who went to prison for years after the officers robbed him. They said he prepared an arsenal of weapons and tools to begin carrying out burglaries. "I fear nothing he knows or anything. The longest sentence was handed down to Jenkins: 25 years. BALTIMORE One of the main players in the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal is asking for compassionate release from prison. The jury found against the officer who broke Sneeds jaw but cleared Jenkins. In September 2021, Jenkins spoke with BBC journalist. Wayne Jenkins and his plainclothes colleagues operated in a world where success and misconduct were not mutually exclusive and sometimes seemed to go hand in hand. Jenkins had told his squad hed heard over wiretaps that Belvedere Towers, a high-rise apartment complex in North Roland Park, was the scene of large drug deals. One afternoon, he took two officers there and they wound up stopping a drug deal in progress. Baltimore Police Sgt. Both men have requested new trials. He had been stationed in North Carolina and would frequently make trips home to visit his family and his high school sweetheart Kristy, the . They didnt call for an ambulance or even write a report. Wayne Jenkins was on a mission to find big dealers and steal their drugs and cash. Ignoring warning signs of misconduct, Baltimore Police praised and promoted Gun Trace Task Force leader. At the time, Stepp was running his own bail bond company, Double D Bail Bonds. Seething frustration was spilling into the streets that afternoon in 2015. "It shows what a committed, sophisticated, devious person can do," Mr Wise said. This just begun.". His supervisors and others either failed to see the red flags or chose to ignore them. Yes, I did," he says. Wayne Jenkins from Baltimore was sentenced to 25-years-in-prison. No single person was in a position to make unilateral discipline decisions.. It wasn't the first time I've heard that word to describe Jenkins. Hes given us all hes going to give us, Glenn said. Over the years, I wrote to all of these former officers in prison several times, asking them to help me understand their breathtaking crimes. My thoughts return to Kenneth Bumgardner, a hard-working father who was chased by the squad when they suspected him of having marijuana. Many Baltimore residents had long distrusted the police, and more so after the death of Freddie Gray. They employed tactics that straddled and sometimes clearly crossed the line that divides aggressive policing and trampling on civil rights. He says Stepp pressured him into it. He had a criminal case to fight, and his freedom was more important. Stepp turned everything over to the US prosecutors. While no one should forget for an instant that Jenkins and his officers caused untold harm to Baltimore citizens, I don't find it helpful to try to write him off as a "monster". Some defense attorneys say their clients told them Jenkins had robbed them. His punches came fast Jenkins was a trained boxer and OConnor soon felt the warmth of blood spilling down his cheek. Stepp and Jenkins' history runs deep. One former supervisor never responded. It was in 2007 that Jenkins became a part of the GTTF, a new unit of plain-clothed officers focused on targeting suspected criminals believed to have big supplies of guns and drugs, in a bid to reduce the city's high murder rate. He acknowledged that he could tell something was off with Jenkins around the time of the GTTF crime spree. Reflecting on the revelations of his misconduct, Lt. Marjorie German concluded that department leaders gave Jenkins too much leeway because they were enamored of his results. Instead, while their cash and drugs were gone, the dealers were free men. OConnor had spent much of the day tossing back beers at the Brewers Hill Pub & Grill in Southeast Baltimore when the manager asked him to leave. At the trial four years later, Jenkins and his fellow officers claimed that the witness had been throwing bottles at them, but security camera footage shown at the trial proved what Jenkins claimed was not true. Someone once told me that it will take a generation for the direct impact of the Gun Trace Task Force to start to fade, and it will be impossible to measure how the victims' trauma will play out in the lives of their children, families and friends. In December 2017, eight months after Jenkins was arrested, the FBI and Baltimore County officers broke down Stepp's door and arrested him in his kitchen. And Jenkins, whod been identified as a rising talent early in his career, was celebrated among department brass and rank and file officers as a leader with an uncanny knack for delivering the goods. They claimed they didnt see who did it. Jenkins names two specific locations where he says the drugs get tossed: a train bridge near the Eastern District police station, and a wooded highway off-ramp on the way to the Northern District police station. Across the country, these plainclothes squads have often been where scandals are born. "I deserve to be punished. "I'm so sorry to the citizens of Baltimore.". Jon Bernthal embedded with Baltimore police to play city's dirtiest cop in HBO's "We Own This City" On "Salon Talks" Bernthal reveals he spoke to the real Sgt. Ward and the other cop followed Jenkins into the woods. HBO's new true-crime drama stars Jon Bernthal as Jenkins, with the show examining Jenkins' rise in the city's police department and eventual arrest after a two-year federal investigation into the GTTF. I'm losing a lot of teeth, you know, they used to be nice and pretty.". He says something that I've never heard anyone admit out loud. His drill sergeant described him as having the utmost flawless character Ive seen in two decades of service. Jenkins started calling Stepp to the scenes of arrests, encouraging Stepp to try to get inside drug dealer's hideouts to steal whatever cash or narcotics he could find. Weeks later, I search these locations myself to see if I can find anything. He is working on a book about the Gun Trace Task Force, to be published by Random House. It's propped up on top of a suitcase sitting on top of a plastic tub, and I'm holding my recorder and microphone at the ready. "an inmate in a federal prison," the robot finishes. No one took anything, but Jenkins later mused about the possibilities. I have so many questions to ask, and I'm not sure if this will be my one and only opportunity to speak to him. They walked far enough so they couldnt be seen from the street. When Jenkins called him to a house the GTTF was investigating, Stepp took pictures of the officers going in and out. It's a depressing fact that this is a viewpoint likely shared by many in Baltimore, and is a part of the reason why the GTTF got away with what they did for so long. Victims like Bumgardner and Whiting had the courage to speak out. 'You say this, you say that, right?' Then they could enter the house and take the money, only later calling county officers to say they were executing the warrant. Shawn Whiting, a man whose house was robbed of $16,000 and a kilo-and-a-half of heroin, testified that he knew that as a drug dealer, his word counted for much less than the officers'. Wayne Jenkins, who . Jenkins would stop bringing those big drug seizures to the evidence room, and instead give them to Stepp to sell. Jenkins, who had been suspended during the investigation, went back to work, making no fewer than three dozen arrests over the rest of the year, most of them gun cases. "It was obvious to me, when I'm taking millions of dollars worth of drugs from the Baltimore Police Department and selling them, that this is not a normal police department.". A strange back and forth with a man who used to be Jenkins' cell mate ultimately ended up with me in my closet waiting for that call. Wayne Jenkins. That October evening in 2005, Jenkins had been a Baltimore police officer for just two years. Over the course of four phone calls (courtesy of some traded bags of crisps), Jenkins paints a picture of the Baltimore Police Department as a place where indoctrination into corruption starts almost immediately. "We said, 'You know, he's robbin' the pieces of shit of Baltimore that are the reason that me and my kids can't walk down the street and feel safe," he says. Such questions over integrity have in the past prompted prosecutors to stop calling an officer as a witness, forcing the departments hand to take him off the streets. The BBC is not naming these three former supervisors, since none of them has been charged with a crime in connection with this case. "How police act towards people ain't changed," he told me recently. But the video captured by closed-circuit TV showed the officers searching the car extensively and never appearing to make a discovery. On the citys west side, officers were being pelted with bricks; some were hurt. It's no wonder people come out meaner than when they come in.". Critics argue Barksdale was among police leaders who fostered a warrior culture, to the citys detriment. Wayne Jenkins was living a double life. Although the indicted officers committed many robberies individually before joining the Gun Trace Task Force, prosecutors charge that they grew bolder and more prolific after Jenkins took over the unit in June 2016. "He's a pathological liar," Stepp says. "Nobody still knows the truth about what's going on in the city," Taylor told the judge. In Justin Fenton's book We Own This City, on which the HBO series is based, the Baltimore Sun journalist explained that Jenkins would often be "caught in a lie" while giving evidence to a jury, but no complaints were put on his record. Ward wasnt sure what to make of it. He was serving his sentence at the Edgefield Federal Correctional Facility in South Carolina until 2020. But the scope of the corruption of Jenkins and his men remains a singular stain on the force. Read about our approach to external linking. I never heard back, and he didn't seem to be responding to anyone else, either. He was arrested along with almost every member of the unit in March 2017. . The courtroom was also packed with Jenkins' family and friends. That made it very tempting when, sometime around 2011, Jenkins approached Stepp and suggested they go into business together. Jenkins was developing a reputation within the department as a cop whose aggressive style brought results. A squad of veteran police officers stood accused of committing numerous robberies, as well as extortion and overtime fraud. Instead, they go out looking for illegal activity people exchanging drugs or displaying bulges under clothing that could be guns. As backup arrived, Jenkins spotted a man named George Sneed across the street. Later that year, the mayor held a news conference for another of Jenkins busts. But in less than a year, Sergeant Jenkins was put in charge of the new plainclothes squad in West Baltimore. There is no love lost between these two former friends. Jenkins, who until his arrest was viewed within the Baltimore Police Department as one of its most high-performing officers, is serving 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in 2017 to. His fee will be donated to the victims of the Gun Trace Task Force. And of course, Jenkins is also hoping for a sentenced reduction of some kind. One was that he felt he'd been railroaded into his plea agreement by the US prosecutors (the Maryland US Attorney's Office declined to comment). Still, a yearlong investigation by The Baltimore Sun found warning signs that Wayne Jenkins wasnt such a good cop. Once it left my shop they had reduced the punishment.. Back then, Jenkins escaped scrutiny again. Then he said something that struck Ward as bizarre: He said he was going to take the marijuana to his home, and burn it all. In fact, Fries went on to promote Jenkins in June 2006 into a high-profile plainclothes unit called the Organized Crime Division. He started counting the money, $20,000 in all. But I think he also spoke to me because he doesn't like the image of himself that's been in the media - as a sociopath, as someone almost inhumanly evil. All this happened over nothing, one of the brothers, Charles Lee, recalled recently. Baltimore can be a complicated and dangerous place, and the men and women the officers targeted and abused may have caused harm and abuse themselves. "It strikes at the foundation of our entire criminal justice system.". Four years after the Gun Trace Task Force officers were arrested, he says he sees no difference on the streets of Baltimore. The bondsman would take care of selling them, then split the profits with the police sergeant. Sneed was chased and caught, and his jaw was broken in the process. The officer they talked to didnt seem like a candidate for that, the lawyers said. I asked Wayne Jenkins several times why he wanted to do the interview with me. It didn't take long before Stepp began to suspect that Jenkins ratted him out. None of the cases led to any police department discipline for Jenkins, his personnel records show. With the investigations behind him, Jenkins seemed emboldened. A reporter also reviewed videos of judicial proceedings stemming from the officers arrests. Many plainclothes units would work out of a satellite office inside a trailer in Northwest Baltimore. I'm staring at my cell phone in the dark. When the man stopped his car and started to run away, Jenkins drove after him and into someones front yard, where he struck him. BALTIMORE The Baltimore City Board of Estimates paid out a $6 million settlement Wednesday to the family of a bystander who died during a police chase by the . In September 2021, Jenkins spoke with BBC journalist Jessica Lussenhop from behind bars, and he claimed he never took money from Baltimore citizens. She described how the unnamed officer talked about Jenkins: Hes probably the best drug detective in the city. Yet another of Jenkins' friends said something I wasn't expecting. He was scared. Fenton joined The Sun as a suburban reporter in 2005. It was his first public appearance since he was arrested along with six other officers last year. Hours later, in a quiet waterfront neighborhood 15 miles east of downtown, a drug-dealing bail bondsman was roused from his sleep. He ran me over because I was getting away.. But thats likely not what triggered the unprovoked beating of OConnor. One officer recalled Jenkins taunting colleagues waiting in line to submit evidence at police headquarters, bragging about how many guns he was getting off the street. It is simply not true., U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake denied Oakleys motion to suppress the evidence. I'm standing in my pandemic "radio studio" - aka the closet in my apartment - surrounded by hangers holding button-up shirts and dresses. "If you've got to lie about what you've seen or what you heard or what you witnessed, as long as he's dirty, he's got the drugs and he's got the guns and he did the crime - just get him.". Plainclothes officers must constantly be checked by leadership, Barksdale said, with commanders inquiring about irregularities in their work and excessive overtime pay. 2023 BBC. ", Despite this happening more than once, Jenkins remained in his superiors' good books and when Fries was promoted in 2007 he decided to also give Jenkins a boost because he was "the best officer [he] had working under [his] command.". "I'd rather be a prosecutor so I don't overkill people. Wayne Jenkins and former Det. My hope - maybe a naive one - was that hearing one of these men speak candidly about how he crossed over to the dark side would help the public better understand the casual, day-to-day corruption that can happen in policing. Baltimore leaders have agreed to pay a $6 million settlement to the family of a driver who was killed during a 2010 police chase involving Gun Trace Task Force officers. Now, the recommended punishment was significant: a demotion, a transfer and suspension for 15 to 20 days, including a period without pay, Hill told the television network Al-Jazeera. You guys willing to go kick in the dudes door and take the money? Wayne Jenkins is a former BPD Sergeant who served as the leader of the Gun Trace Task Force. They tracked other dealers and broke into their houses when no one was home. I got gangster charges, racketeering charges, things they usually give the mob, who were burying bodies in cement.". "I ain't have a trial because the simple fact is I knew [the court] would believe them over top of me," he told the jury. He also says that he only made roughly $75,000 off of the narcotic sales, as opposed to the figure put on it by Stepp. Had the officers done things by the book, the cash and drugs would be registered with evidence control. "This is a saying we state: 'Don't let probable cause stand in the way of a good arrest,'" Jenkins says. The departments Internal Affairs chief at the time says then-Deputy Commissioner Darryl De Sousa intervened to prevent the punishment. the dim light of the Baltimore Police Departments downtown nerve center, Sgt. Sergeant Wayne. He's opening a consulting service called Stepp Right Consultants, to give guidance and insight to men and women who are about to enter the federal penal system. He was convicted on multiple counts including racketeering, robbery and falsification of records. He woke up on a frigid city street with his jaw shattered, and couldn't eat solid food for months. The matter was referred to the police integrity unit of the Baltimore states attorneys office for investigation. Another was to talk about how futile life inside the penal system is. Prosecutors went as far as having witnesses appear before a grand jury, according to records obtained by The Sun. Back before our interview, Jenkins' representative wanted me to speak to some of his old high school friends. Wayne Jenkins, Baltimore's dirtiest cop, is sentenced: It still doesn't feel like justice Jenkins was supposed to get guns off the street in Baltimore but wound up running a vicious. All seven members were soon in handcuffs. He admitted to knowing . After three weeks of astonishing testimony, the jury found the two remaining officers guilty. Until this point, I'd only heard Jenkins on. Marcus Taylor split up $20,000 in cash they stole in 2015. Credit: Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun, serving a federal sentence for tax evasion. Wayne Jenkins, Gun Trace Task Force officer, The woods of Powder Mill Park, where Det. The apartment complex had a camera in the parking lot. But Whiting is not so optimistic. Because believe me, I'll stand my ground in a second.". "I'm finally trying to get my life back on track," he told me. It was nicknamed The Barn an apparent homage to the offices of a corrupt police unit on the television series The Shield. The show, modeled after a 1990s Los Angeles Police Department scandal, featured a strike team that roughed up suspects, lied about their investigations and took a cut of their drug busts. Jenkins was a decorated cop and had a reputation for his role in several high-profile drug busts. Stepp was on home confinement for six months with an ankle monitor until this summer. As the leader of the unit, he received the longest prison sentence and the federal authorities who prosecuted the squad viewed him as its most culpable member. Jenkins was stationed in North Carolina but often made the long trip back home to Middle River. I will continue to fight to prove my innocence.". The officers with him hesitated, Ward said. When the phone rings, I put the call on speaker and hear a robotic, pre-recorded female voice: "You have a prepaid call. A surveillance video suggesting Jenkins may have planted drugs in a suspects car did make its way to the police integrity unit of the Baltimore States Attorneys Office in 2014. Jenkins did not testify at the trial, but in a way, he was the star of the entire proceeding. But then, about an hour later, the phone rings again. He told me that frequently, when he or his fellow officers didn't feel like submitting the drugs they seized or doing arrest paperwork, they'd simply confiscate people's drug stashes and let them go. Credit: U.S. Attorney's Office. 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