Former Officer Troy Gee Sr Receives Suspended Sentence for Child Sexual Abuse

A former Baltimore police officer received a five-year suspended sentence this week and was ordered to refrain from unsupervised contact with children after pleading guilty in September to second-degree assault.

Troy Jaquan Gee Sr., 34, had been charged in Baltimore Circuit Court with child sexual abuse for allegedly fondling a 13-year-old relative in March 2008. The girl reported the incident to police, and Gee was suspended without pay from the Police Department upon his arrest.

He has since resigned.

Officer Robert Cirello Accused of Throwing Tobacco Juice At Two Motorists

The Baltimore police officer who was arrested in connection with a traffic altercation in Bel Air last week is accused of throwing a cup of tobacco juice at two motorists and flashing his Glock handgun at them, according to arrest documents on file with the Harford County District Court.

Robert G. Cirello, a decorated seven-year veteran of the force and a member of its SWAT team, was off duty when he turned right into a northbound lane of Emmorton Road about 12:30 p.m. May 8. The driver of second car, who felt he cut them off, honked at Cirello, according to police documents.

Cirello, 30, of Abingdon, then stopped his sport utility vehicle, and as the second car slowed down and attempted to pass, Cirello tossed a cup of tobacco juice through its open windows, striking the driver and another occupant, they told police. The men allege that Cirello pointed a black handgun at them before driving away, court documents said.

When state police later stopped Cirello's vehicle near Routes 24 and 1, they noticed a black .40-caliber Glock pistol protruding from his waistband and arrested him without incident. Cirello, who is licensed to carry a weapon, admitted throwing the tobacco juice but denied pointing the handgun, documents say.

City officer accused of road rage Cirello, a New Jersey native and former paramedic who responded to the scene of the collapsed Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, won a departmental commendation and was invited to the Maryland governor's mansion after being shot in the line of duty in Patterson Park in September 2006. He served in the Southeast District of the Baltimore force for five years.

Cirello, who did not respond to messages seeking comment, was charged with two counts each of first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He was released on $20,000 bond. A court date is scheduled for June 4. Cirello is suspended from the police force until the criminal and departmental investigations are complete.

"The commissioner takes these kinds of matters extremely seriously," said Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Baltimore City Police. "The department is committed to seeing how the legal process plays itself out, of course, but behavior of the kind alleged will not be tolerated."
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Previous Information:

http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2009/05/officer-robert-cirello-arrested-for.html

Officer Robert Cirello Arrested for Road Rage

A Baltimore City police officer who is no stranger to controversy was arrested Friday and charged with assault and reckless endangerment in connection with a road rage incident in Harford County, Maryland State Police said Monday.

Officer Robert G. Cirello, 30, of Abingdon was driving in Bel Air about noon Friday when he and another driver got into an unspecified disagreement in traffic, state police said.

As the two vehicles reached Emmorton and Plumtree roads, the second driver said Cirello, who was off duty, flashed a gun, according to Sgt. Arthur Betts, a state police spokesman. The driver called police with a description of the vehicle.

Shortly afterward, officers located a vehicle matching that description at U.S. 1 and Route 24, found Cirello in possession of a handgun and made the arrest, Betts said. Cirello was booked at the Harford County Detention Center on two counts of first-degree assault, two of second-degree assault and two of reckless endangerment, police said.

He was released on $20,000 bond. Cirello did not immediately respond to phone messages left by The Baltimore Sun.

A New Jersey native and seven-year veteran of the city police, Cirello was the key figure in a 2006 incident in which four men said the officer improperly arrested them as they finished a game of pickup basketball in Patterson Park.

A jury agreed and awarded them a total of $1.85 million last May. The city ultimately settled the case for $320,000.

The men had said Cirello - in attempt to "prove he was King of the Park," according to court documents - drew his weapon in the process of arresting two of them, used pepper spray on the two and called for backup. Some spent weeks or months in jail awaiting trial before a jury acquitted all the men of assault charges.

Cirello asserted in a countersuit that the men converged on him in a hostile manner, one brandishing a knife, as he tried to evict them from the closed park. The jury rejected those counterclaims.

In a subsequent filing, the officer implied the men were responsible for an incident in which he was shot while patrolling the same park later that year.

As TheSun reported at the time, unknown assailants ambushed Cirello as he got out of his patrol car in Patterson Park on Sept. 7, 2006, shooting him twice in the chest at close range. Police said body armor saved him.

That part of Cirello's countersuit was dropped when the plaintiffs requested documents related to the shooting investigation.

A paramedic before becoming a police officer, Cirello was among those who aided victims at the World Trade Center towers in New York after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Cirello has been suspended from police duty pending the outcome of the criminal case and a department investigation, said Detective Nicole Monroe, a city police spokeswoman.

His preliminary hearing is set for June 4 in Harford County District Court.
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http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story/City-Officer-Charged-in-Road-Rage-Incident/rWwxh9RH1kyuvXg7yE1feQ.cspx

Officer Robert Cirello Arrested for Road Rage

Officer Robert Cirello was arrested over the weekend after Maryland State Police say he was involved in a road rage incident around noon on May 8th.

According to charging documents obtained by ABC2 News, Cirello is accused of cutting off a car along Route 924 near Singer Road in Harford County. That car's driver honked at Cirello, who then stopped, forcing the other car to drive around him. When the two were side by side, the two victims say Cirello threw a cup of "tobacco juice" on them and pointed his 40 caliber Glock handgun at them.

Cirello was arrested by Maryland State Police and was scheduled for a suspension hearing on Monday.

Officer Robert Cirello was shot near Patterson Park in 2006 while on patrol after a rash of robberies. He was saved by his bullet proof vest.

In a separate incident, Officer Joseph Hannerman was arrested on May 8th just before 11pm for allegedly choking and punching his girlfriend in the face. The alleged assault occurred on the front porch of 2935 Mosher Street in Southwest Baltimore.

Hammerman is also scheduled for a suspension hearing Monday.
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-cirello0511,0,280671.story

Officer Reginald Watson Charged with Sexual Abuse of Minor

A Baltimore schools police officer was arrested Wednesday after being indicted by a grand jury on charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old student.

Reginald Watson, 35, is charged with sexual abuse of a minor, fourth-degree sex assault and second-degree assault for an incident that occurred Feb. 19 at Masonville Cove Community Academy, formerly Benjamin Franklin Middle School, in the 1200 block of Cambria St.

Details about the allegations were not available.

Watson, of the 2200 block of Fleetwood Ave., was indicted on Tuesday and arrested Wednesday and was being held on $50,000 bond. He has a bail review scheduled for Thursday morning in Baltimore Circuit Court.
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http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2009/04/baltimore_schools_reginald_wat.html

Baltimore Officers Beat Teen then try to Cover it Up

BALTIMORE

Two Baltimore police officers beat a teenager with a baton and a pool stick while he was handcuffed and shackled, then tried to cover up the attack with their sergeant's help, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Officers Gregory Mussmacher and Guy Gerstel and Sgt. Wayne Thompson face charges of civil rights violations in a six-count indictment.

Gerstel and Thompson have retired. Mussmacher, 34, has been suspended with pay since the April 2004 incident, even though he was convicted in February 2005 of second-degree criminal assault, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

Mussmacher remained under suspension because city police were cooperating with the FBI, which was investigating the beating, Guglielmi said. But Guglielmi could not explain why Mussmacher was not kicked off the force immediately after his conviction. Mussmacher received a suspended sentence and probation.

The alleged beating victim, Benjamin R. Rowland, filed a federal lawsuit against Mussmacher and Gerstel in 2007, seeking $6 million in damages. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

Rowland is identified only as "B.R." in the indictment.

According to the indictment, Mussmacher hit Rowland in the face with a baton and Gerstel struck him in the back with a pool stick after he was arrested on April 27, 2004. Rowland was 17 years old at the time.

The indictment says Gerstel obstructed justice by lying under oath in a state proceeding about the presence of two other officers when Rowland was arrested. Gerstel is also accused of making false statements to the FBI about his role in the beating.

Thompson and Mussmacher submitted false police reports about Rowland's arrest and how he was injured, according to the indictment.

Before beating Rowland, Mussmacher removed the teen's handcuffs, set aside his badge and gun and offered to fight Rowland, the indictment says. The teen was never charged with a crime as a result of his arrest.

Gerstel faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted of all three charges against him; Mussmacher faces 15 years, and Thompson faces five years.

No attorneys had entered appearances on the officers' behalf Wednesday, and their initial court appearances had not yet been scheduled, said Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Baltimore.

Joseph E. Spicer, who represented Mussmacher in the lawsuit, declined to comment. Rowland's attorney in the lawsuit, Robert L. Smith Jr., did not immediately return a message.

Judge Allows Class Action Civil Suit Against Strip Searches

A federal judge has granted class action status to two categories of people in a civil suit that claims officers at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center regularly and illegally detained certain arrestees too long and strip-searched people without cause.

The ruling, issued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, opens the door for tens of thousands of people processed from May 2002 through April 2008 to join the suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages. Central booking processes everyone arrested within city limits.

Class action status means "everything" to the success of the case, attorney William Claiborne said.

"Most of these cases are difficult to try. It's difficult for an individual to get a lawyer, it's difficult for an individual to persuade a jury that he's telling the truth," he said. "But when you have 50 or 60 or 100,000 people coming in, it changes the balance, it really changes the balance of power. It's like having a union."

Lawyers at the Maryland attorney general's office, which represents officials at the intake facility, were reviewing the opinion Friday and were unable to comment. Central Booking officials have denied any wrongdoing in court papers.

Strip searches are supposed to take place only under certain circumstances, yet Claiborne's case is one of a growing number of federal lawsuits alleging that unconstitutional strip searches by Maryland law enforcement officials are routine. A Baltimore man recently filed a civil suit alleging that a city police officer cavity-searched him on the sidewalk without cause, and a group of young women are suing Harford County officers with similar allegations.

This month, state Sen. James Brochin of Baltimore County filed a bill that offers specific strip-search guidelines in response to a Baltimore Sun article that related the experience of Rosemary Munyiri, a nurse who was arrested and strip-searched at Central Booking after a traffic stop.

The bill would prohibit officers from conducting strip searches on people arrested under certain circumstances or for certain minor offenses, allowing exceptions "if the officer has a reasonable suspicion" that certain contraband is being concealed, as the Maryland Court of Special Appeals has deemed appropriate. The bill would also establish rules for strip-search procedure.

A hearing on the bill is scheduled before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee tomorrow.

The suit Claiborne and his co-counsel filed began with nine people who claim they were treated improperly at Central Booking. They sought class action categories for:

•Those detained for more than 48 hours without having been brought before a commissioner, which is prohibited.

•People arrested for minor, nondrug, nonviolent offenses and strip-searched before they were brought before a commissioner.

•Those who weren't strip-searched privately.

•And male arrestees who were searched to their underwear when female detainees were not.

The latter two categories were denied class action status by U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake.

Officer Melvin Jones IV Indicted on Assault

A Baltimore police officer was indicted by an Anne Arundel County grand jury yesterday on first-degree assault charges stemming from a fight at La Fontaine Bleu in Glen Burnie last month.

Melvin Ellsworth Jones IV, 28, was off duty and attending an event Oct. 18 when he got into a dispute with another guest and punched him in the head until he lost consciousness, according to a statement of charges written by the victim, Charles W. Smith III, 45.

"The defendant was seen by several parties striking me in the back of the head with a shiny metal object in or on his hand," Smith wrote.

Smith was taken to a hospital, where he received 12 stitches for cuts, according to the charges. Jones, a Perry Hall resident who has been an officer since 2002, was arrested Oct. 24. He has been suspended without pay, police said.

Recently Promotoed Chief Philip Palmere is Found Guilty of Perjury

The man recently promoted to be chief of the state Department of General Services Police had once been recommended for termination from the Baltimore Police Department after an administrative board found him guilty of perjury and making a false statement in a court document.

A Circuit Court judge ruled that the police trial board held in 1999 had erred by not allowing Philip Palmere to present two character witnesses. The court ordered a new hearing into allegations that he reported seeing a man - whom he had arrested - toss a gun to the ground when he had actually found the weapon in an apartment.

The department dismissed the charges and Palmere resigned from the force, ending a 15-year career in what his attorney described as a mutual agreement between the two sides. Prosecutors then dropped the gun case, sparing the defendant what could have been a 30-year prison sentence, and later dropped charges against another man Palmere had arrested.

Two years later, Palmere joined the DGS Police, a 200-member force responsible for protecting state office buildings in Baltimore and Annapolis, including the State House.

Dave Humphrey, a DGS spokesman, said in a statement that the department performed "a full background investigation, including a review of his Baltimore City Police personnel file. He retired in good standing with a service pension from the city force."

Christine Hansen, a spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, said that Palmere has performed well since he was hired.

A public Circuit Court file containing Palmere's appeal of his trial board conviction details the case made against him and the city Police Department's attempts to fire him. The board of his peers recommended that Palmere be suspended for 150 days for misconduct, making a false statement and two counts of improperly filing a report.

Then-police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier decided the punishment wasn't harsh enough. In an August 1999 letter that is contained in the court file, he wrote, "The egregious nature of the false statement requires termination." A police commissioner can overrule punishment recommendations by trial boards.

Secretary of General Services Alvin C. Collins declined through a spokesman to be interviewed for this article. He elevated Palmere to chief of the DGS Police on June 25. Three weeks later, the department issued a news release noting that the new chief has "brought new energy and new ideas" to the force.

Palmere referred calls to Michael Davey, the Fraternal Order of Police union attorney who represented him at his city police trial board. The attorney said the city department dismissed the internal charges and he believes his client's internal investigation file should have no bearing on his ability to lead the DGS police force.

"He was never charged criminally with perjury," Davey said. "He was never charged criminally with anything."

Baltimore City internal affairs detectives began investigating Palmere and his partner, Drew Dorbert, after they arrested Tavon Anderson in 1996 on gun and drug charges. Palmere wrote a statement of probable cause - a legal document to justify charges - that he saw Anderson throw a gun from his waistband and then watched it "spinning on the floor," according to court documents.

It was later revealed, according to court documents, that Palmere found the gun under a cabinet in the defendant's East Baltimore apartment. Drugs were also found in the apartment, he wrote.

Then-Assistant State's Attorney Mary Koch dropped charges against Anderson when she learned about the inconsistencies in the statement of charges. Palmere and Dorbert were brought up on internal charges. Dorbert retired from the Police Department before his trial board.

Palmere said in his May 1999 trial board hearing that he based his statement of probable cause on his partner's incident report, which said the defendant tossed the gun. Palmere said he only signed the statement of probable cause because he trusted the judgment of his partner.

"Officer Palmere stated he believed his decision to be a poor one," according to minutes taken during trial board and contained in the Circuit Court file.

After the gun and drugs were found, Palmere said, Anderson became worried that a drug boss would accuse him of cooperating with police. The defendant "began to cry stating that he was going to be killed ... for giving up the gun," according to a brief filed in Palmere's defense.

But, Koch, the prosecutor, said the officers could have protected the defendant without providing a false statement. "All he had to do was write a vague statement of charges then see the prosecutor," Koch said, according to the minutes kept in a court file.

The administrative trial board found Palmere guilty of misconduct, making a false statement, violating a law by making a false statement and two charges of improperly filing a report. Members said they recommended a 150-day suspension in part because of the officer's "exemplary record with the department over a fourteen year career."

Members also said that commanders said they "were willing to supervise Officer Palmere despite sustained charges" and "believed Officer Palmere's career was worth salvaging."

Frazier disagreed, writing in his letter that the "false statement could have lead to the unlawful incarceration of a citizen for several years under the mandatory sentencing guidelines. ... As evidenced by the trial transcript, Officer Palmere admitted that he signed his name to an affidavit he knew to be false."

Davey said that after his client's case was returned for a rehearing, it lingered until after Frazier left the department. "They finally decided, 'We'll just dismiss the case and let him retire,'" the attorney said. "It wasn't part of any official agreement. The department looked at it as a way to get rid of [the case]. My guy was happy to retire."

Philip Palmere's career
March 1985: Joins Baltimore Police Department.

February 1996: He and another officer arrest Tavon S. Anderson and charge him with drug dealing and handgun possession.

October 1996: Prosecutors drop all charges against Anderson.

December 1997: Administrative charges are brought against Palmere, alleging he wrote in court documents that he saw Anderson throw a gun to the ground. Police say he found the gun inside an apartment.

June 1999: A three-member police trial board finds him guilty of perjury and making a false statement. Board recommends that he be suspended for 150 days without pay.

August 1999: Then-police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier increases the penalty to termination.

September 1999: Palmere appeals to Baltimore Circuit Court.

January 2000: Circuit Judge Alfred Nance remands the matter to the trial board, concluding that Palmere should have had the opportunity to bring two additional character witnesses to testify on his behalf.

March 2000: Palmere retires from Baltimore City Police Department.

August 2002: Joins Department of General Services Police.

June 2008: Palmere named DGS chief.

Former Officer Charged with Rape

A former Baltimore police officer has been arrested on charges that he forcibly raped a 16-year-old girl last year while on the force, officials announced yesterday.

Rohan Mays, 27, of the 800 block of Rose Haven Road near White Marsh was indicted Friday by a city grand jury on a charge of second-degree rape.

The charge means no weapons are alleged to have been used in the crime.

The rape is alleged to have occurred between June and July last year. Baltimore police spokesman Donny Moses confirmed yesterday that Mays was on the force during that time.

Mays resigned from the Police Department last month, prosecutors said.

The former officer is being held without bail until a hearing is set. Burns declined to say where Mays is jailed.

In January, a Baltimore officer, William D. Welch of Timonium, was accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl inside a station house. In that case, prosecutors dropped a second-degree rape charge in exchange for Welch's no-contest plea to misconduct in office. Under that plea, he did not admit guilt but conceded that the state had enough evidence to convict him.

Welch resigned from the force.

Officer Tommy Sanders III Charged with Manslaughter

A Baltimore grand jury indicted a city police officer yesterday on charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man he was questioning in Northeast Baltimore in January, according to the state's attorney's office.

It is only the second time since 1996 that a Baltimore officer has been indicted in an on-duty police-involved shooting. The January shooting was one of 16 by city officers this year that have resulted in a dozen fatalities, one short of the number killed in all of last year.

Officer Tommy Sanders III, 37, is expected to surrender to authorities, city prosecutors said in a statement released after the indictment was returned. He is a six-year veteran of the force.

Paul Blair, the head of the city's Fraternal Order of Police, described Sanders as "very upset" and added: "He's got a family. ... He lives in the city, the type of police we want working in this department. Hopefully, he will have a fair day in court, and all of the facts will come out."

Sanders is charged with shooting Edward Lamont Hunt, a 27-year-old man he had deemed suspicious and had stopped about noon in the Hamilton Park Shopping Center on Northern Parkway. Sanders and Hunt struggled,and Hunt pulled away, police said.

Police said at the time that Sanders, fearing for his life, shot Hunt. Witnesses told The Sun that the officer searched Hunt before letting him go and shot him in the back a few moments later. Police have said that no weapon was found, but that drugs were discovered near the location.

Eddie Moore, 32, told The Sun that he was with his young daughter and watched the officer search Hunt twice and make him put his hands on his head before Hunt pulled away. Moore said the officer went after Hunt, firing at his back.

"They were standing there for a few minutes," Moore said. "Then the officer frisked Hunt again, patting down both of his legs. When the officer pulled out a pair of handcuffs, Hunt pulled away, and the officer ran after him firing."

The shooting elicited anger from the city branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which called for an independent investigation. The FBI is conducting a civil rights investigation. Hunt was black, as is Sanders.

When told of the indictment yesterday, Hunt's girlfriend, Lakia Jeter, said: "I'm glad. I just hope it sticks. I hope that they found him guilty." Jeter said that she'd never seen Hunt with a weapon. She said Hunt had worked in Owings Mills and had moved from Virginia to live with her and their young son.

"That's what makes me feel bad, he came here to start a family for me," Jeter said. "This man was killed for nothing, as far as I can tell. Police cannot just go around killing people because they have a weapon and a badge."

But Michael J. Belsky, the officer's attorney, said Sanders has not been accused of any malice. "It is a very explainable and defensible situation," he said. "We intend to present evidence in court to explain that his was a fully explainable correct decision on the part of the officer." Sanders did not testify before the grand jury, said Michael Davey, another attorney representing him.

Sterling Clifford, a city police spokesman, said Sanders has been on administrative duty since the Jan. 30 shooting. The homicide unit investigates all police-involved shootings and turns its investigation over the prosecutor's office to review. State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy examines each case to determine whether she believes laws have been broken.

The last city officer to be indicted and convicted of a police-involved shooting while on duty was Sgt. Stephen R. Pagotto, who shot Preston E. Barnes in 1996 and was convicted of manslaughter in 1997. The conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeals, which concluded that the departmental guidelines he violated did not rise to the level of a criminal act.

Most shootings by city police are ruled justified. Jessamy has refused to take some to a grand jury, including one in 1997 in which an officer shot a man armed with a knife outside Lexington Market. The shooting was captured on videotape and sparked an outcry over the use of force. The city paid relatives of the man a half-million-dollar settlement, but the officer was never criminally charged.

"We can count on one hand the number of police officers who've been indicted for police-involved shootings," said Tim Dixon, a trial attorney who used to be a city police lieutenant. "Mrs. Jessamy doesn't take a lot of them there. There must be something particular about this that she wants the community to weigh in on."

Yesterday's indictment means that the grand jury believes there is probable cause that the officer committed a crime, but a trial will be needed to determine guilt or innocence. An arraignment is set for Aug. 29. The two counts, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, represent the lowest charges for a homicide under Maryland law.

To convict on a charge of voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors must prove the officer honestly believed he needed to take a life, but any other reasonable person in the same situation would not have felt that way. To prove involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors must show that the officer acted in a "grossly negligent" manner.

"Neither is more culpable than the other," said Byron L. Warnken, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. "One is voluntary. Both are felonies with a 10-year sentence."

Officers Shoot developmentally Disabled Man

Authorities say a man was shot in a police shooting in east Baltimore.

It happened about 2:40 a.m. Tuesday in the first block of South Robinson Street, near Baltimore Street.

Police say officers broke up a fight between two men and arrested one of them. According to police spokesman Donny Moses, the man was being patted down by an officer and reached for a gun. That's when, an officer fired several times. Police say the man ran, then collapsed a short distance away and died at the scene.

Nancy Worrell says the man was her son, Bryant. She said her son was developmentally disabled and recently graduated from a special high school. She claims that as police searched him, they choked him. And she says her son was shot in the back after he broke away.

Baltimore police officer accused of sexual assault

Jackass of the Day Award!!!


Baltimore police officer Troy Gee Sr., who has been on the force for 11 years, has been suspended without pay, after being charged with four sex offense counts, two counts of assault and one count of sexual CHILD abuse.

A police spokesman said that 32 year old Gee assaulted a 13-years old female relative Wednesday at his home. Officer Gee fondled the young girl while in his basement and wouldn’t let her leave. The young girl also told the police that Officer Gee took a photo of her with his cell phone camera.

The young girl waited until Gee left for work, before reporting to a relative what had happened. The relative then told the girls mother who immediately called the police.

Officer Gee is currently suspended pending an administrative review, which will take place after the court case has concluded.

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And these are the fine men that we're suppose to look up too and trust. Makes me sick!! Hope he gets double the time for disgracing his badge. Hope you get held down and ass fucked until you almost bleed to death. Sick Fuck!!