Correctional Officer Curtis Godard Arrested for Exposing Himself to Co-Workers

Anne Arundel County police said a correctional officer has been arrested and charged in connection with exposing himself to female co-workers.

Police said detectives began investigating allegations of a man exposing himself and committing lewd acts to female co-workers at the Anne Arundel County Ordnance Road Correctional Facility at 600 E. Ordnance Road in Glen Burnie on Thursday.

Detectives interviewed women employees at the facility, who were victims. They said over the past several months a correctional officer had been exposing himself to them. On one occasion, the correctional officer also kissed one of the employees against her will, police said.

The investigation led detectives to obtaining an arrest warrant for Curtis Sylvester Godard, 51, of Severn.

Godard was taken into custody without incident on Thursday evening.

He was charged with two counts of indecent exposure, one count of second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense.

As the investigation continues, police are urging any other potential victims or anyone with information on the incidents to contact Detective Juan Honesto of the Sex Crimes Unit at 410-222-3457 or Metro Crime Stoppers.

Officer Frederick Allen Pleads Guilty to Two Counts of Sexual Abuse of Minor

A Baltimore police officer has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Baltimore City State’s Attorney said Frederick Allen, 49, sexually abused a child after knowing her and her family for years. Allen met the victim when she started attending the Fort Worthington Police Athletic League after-school program at the age of six or seven. During the years, Allen forged a close relationship to the victim and her family, frequently driving her home from school and attending family gatherings, officials said. The victim's mother also allowed her and her sister to visit Allen at his home, where the two girls would babysit for Allen and help him with minor home-improvement projects, officials said. In 2005, when the victim was 15 years old and working at the Fort Worthington PAL program, Allen, her on-site supervisor, began to engage in sexual acts with her. Officials said the sexual abuse continued through the victim’s freshman and sophomore years of high school. Allen also sent inappropriate text messages to the cellphone that he bought for her. Allen is scheduled for sentencing on May 23. As a condition of the plea, he was to resign from the police department within one week; however, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts immediately terminated Allen. The police department released a statement saying, "Frederick Allen's reprehensible acts only serve to bring discredit to the hard work of the women and men of the Baltimore Police Department. Due to his felony guilty plea for sexual abuse of a minor, Commissioner Batts rejected any resignation offer and immediately terminated Allen."

Officer Charles Hagge Arrested for Sexual Abuse of Minor

A Baltimore police officer was arrested Wednesday in Howard County and charged with sexual abuse and solicitation of a minor, county police said.

Charles Hagge, 44 of the 8800 block of Goose Landing Circle in Columbia was arrested after police say he communicated with a 14-year-old advertising prostitution services online.

Howard County police said investigators believe the two exchanged text messages before meeting at his home and engaging in sexual activity on three occasions between January and May 2013.

Police said Hagee was taken into custody at Baltimore police headquarters on charges of third- and fourth-degree sexual offense, sexual solicitation of a minor and prostitution. Hagee was being held on $75,000 bond and did not have a lawyer listed in court records.

Howard County police said Hagee was assigned to the Special Enforcement Section, an elite unit that investigates violent crimes. Baltimore police said Hagee worked in administrative roles and would be suspended with pay if he posts bond, per department policy.

For years, Hagee had been on a list of officers deemed untrustworthy by prosecutors, known as the "do not call" list, under the administration of former Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. The list was a tool for prosecutors to prevent police from working on cases in which their integrity might be challenged on the stand.

The Baltimore Sun reported in 2008 that Hagee had responded to a woman's 911 call in 2004 even though he knew he was the subject of her complaint, and then attempted to misdirect other officers into chasing a fake suspect.

At a department trial board, Hagee pleaded guilty in August 2006 to two administrative charges of conduct unbecoming a police officer and received a 10-day suspension, loss of 10 days' leave and involuntary transfer from the Organized Crime Division, according to court records.

He was allowed to return to enforcement work briefly in 2008, but after prosecutors discovered the 911 case and Jessamy placed him on the do not call list, he was assigned to administrative duties, according to records and news reports.

Hagee sued the Baltimore Police Department in 2009, alleging that he suffered racial and gender discrimination as a white male. He alleged that black and female officers in similar misconduct cases received lighter punishment. The lawsuit was dismissed.

Court records show that Hagee was not a police witness in any case filed in court from the time he was placed on the list until 2011, after the election of State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein, who vowed during his campaign to abolish the list. Hagee is listed as a police witness in about a dozen cases, including a burglary case from 2013 in which a man received four years in prison.

Asked for comment on the status of the do not call list, spokesman Mark Cheshire said the state's attorney's office does not maintain such a list.

"We conduct evaluations on case-by-case basis to determine if we can go forward with the evidence we have," Cheshire said.

City records show that Hagee earned more than double his base salary in fiscal year 2013, with gross pay of $138,800 on a base salary of $65,200. In fiscal year 2012, he earned about $130,800 on $64,600 base pay.

Officer Eugene Taylor Charged with Killing Girlfriend's Puppy

A Baltimore City police officer is charged with animal cruelty and abuse of an animal after allegedly killing his girlfriend's puppy, say Montgomery County Police.

Officers arrested 27-year-old Alec Eugene Taylor for intentionally and cruelly killing a seven-month-old puppy that belonged to his girlfriend. Taylor is charged with aggravated animal cruelty and abuse or neglect of an animal.

Police tell us that police officers and animal services officers were called to a home on Castle Boulevard on Feb. 28. Taylor's girlfriend told officers that Taylor had beaten and killed their seven-month-old Jack Russell Terrier named Rocko.

Officers later discovered that on Feb. 26 at approximately 4:30 p.m., Taylor sent a text to his girlfriend stating that Rocko had pooped on the carpet and that he had killed the dog. Police say Taylor also texted a photograph of what appeared to be a lifeless dog.

Police say Taylor told his girlfriend during a follow-up call that he was tired of cleaning up the dog's mess and that he had beaten the dog with a mop. He also told her he had put the dog in a dumpster in the parking lot. She asked Taylor to take Rocko out of the dumpster so that she could bury the dog, according to police. That evening, she returned home from work, took Rocko from a shoe box on the apartment balcony, and buried the dog at a neighborhood park in Hyattsville.

Animal Services officers recovered the dog and performed a necropsy, say police. Results show that the immediate cause of death was acute hemorrhagic shock likely due to blood loss from liver damage caused by blunt force trauma, according to police.

Animal Services Division officers spoke with Taylor, who stated that he used a mop to force Rocko from behind the dryer and then used his hands to choke Rocko until he was dead, say police.

Officers obtained a warrant for Taylor's arrest on Tuesday. Taylor turned himself into officers on Wednesday. He was transported to the Central Processing Unit and charged with aggravated animal cruelty (a felony) and abuse or neglect of an animal.

The Baltimore Police Department released the following statement:

"The Baltimore Police Department is conducting an administrative investigation into the incident contained in the charges filed this morning by the Montgomery County Police Department against Officer Alec Taylor. Allegations of animal cruelty are taken seriously by the Baltimore Police Department. Over the course of the last year significant emphasis has been placed on developing and training investigators to handle animal abuse incidents in Baltimore. Alec Taylor is a five-year veteran of the Department and will be suspended without pay."

Sgt. Kevin Simmons Charged with Soliciting Prostitution

A Baltimore City police sergeant was among four people arrested Wednesday night in a vice sting in Baltimore County.

County police said the men solicited prostitution and offered money to undercover detectives.

Sgt. Kevin Simmons, 40, is among those charged. The other three men were identified as Edward Yuditsky, 42, of Timonium; Trevor William Joseph Barnes, 44, of Mount Airy; and Mark Kane, 48, of Eldersburg.

The four men taken into custody were charged with two counts of prostitution. All except Kane, who also faces drug charges, were released on their own recognizance. Kane was held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $5,000 bail.

Simmons has been assigned to the Neighborhood Patrol Bureau in the Western District. He has been with the department since January 1996.

Officer Benjamin Whitmore Arrested for Assault

A Frederick police officer faces a second-degree assault charge in Garrett County, according to Richard Hetherington, deputy city police chief.

Benjamin Whitmore, a 2009 graduate of the Frederick Police Academy, has been placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of a criminal investigation conducted by the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office.


Frederick police will also investigate, according to a news release issued Tuesday night.
“We will do an internal investigation, and we will see how that goes,” Hetherington said in a telephone interview.

Hetherington did not disclose details Tuesday night about why Whitmore was arrested by the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office. In a news release, Frederick police said questions about the arrest should be directed to the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office.

Whitmore was arrested by Garrett County sheriff’s deputy Eric Parks, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

According to online court records, Whitmore, 28, of the 1600 block of Coopers Way in Frederick, was released from jail on bail Sunday.

Whitmore holds the rank of officer and has worked for the agency for about five years, Hetherington said. He was assigned to the agency’s patrol division, according to the news release.

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Two More Officers Suspended Over Beating

Prince George's County police said Thursday that they have suspended two more officers in connection with an incident last month in which officers in riot gear beat an unarmed University of Maryland student who had taken to the streets with hundreds of others to celebrate a victory by the men's basketball team over Duke University.

With those suspensions, a total of four county officers have been relieved of their police powers in connection with the attack of John J. McKenna, 21. The March 3 beating was captured on video by another student and has been aired all across the world since McKenna's attorney released it on Monday.

The video shows McKenna skipping on a sidewalk before stopping before a phalanx of officers on horseback. As McKenna backs up, two county officers in riot gear rush him and knock him against a wall; at least one of them hits McKenna repeatedly with a police baton. As McKenna crumples to the ground, the video shows, a third officer rushes in and strikes him repeatedly with his baton.

McKenna suffered a concussion and other injuries, his attorney said.

The FBI, the state's attorney's office and police internal affairs detectives are all investigating the incident.

In addition to the beating, they are focusing on official charging documents filed by Officer Sean McAleavey against McKenna and another student.

The charging documents allege that McKenna and Benjamin C. Donat, 19, assaulted officers on horseback and their mounts, and were injured by horses. Prosecutors dropped charges against McKenna and Donat before the video surfaced.

McAleavey is the only suspended officer who has been publicly identified by officials.

In another development, Maj. Daniel A. Dusseau, commander of the 1st District and the official who was in charge of the police response the night of the beating, is retiring, officials said.

Dusseau, a 21-year veteran, has taken a job in the private sector and will retire at the end of the month, said Maj. Andy Ellis, a police spokesman. Ellis said the retirement is unrelated to the controversy over the College Park incident.

Said Dusseau: "My retirement and movement to another job is something I've been working on since I was eligible to retire and has nothing to do with the incidents going on in College Park," he said.

Officer Aaron Bailey Accused of Defrauding the County of $400,800

Montgomery County sued one of its police officers Wednesday, alleging that he defrauded the county of $400,800 while running a company that provided firearms training to officers.

Central to the officer's fraud, the county alleged, was that he enticed colleagues to take training classes by offering them deeply discounted weapons upon completion of the classes -- $99 for a handgun valued at several times that, for example. As for the training, that was free to the officers who enrolled because it was paid by the county's tuition assistance program.

The lawsuit said that it amounted to the officer using tuition assistance funds to subsidize the weapons, which one official has called "the candy" to get other officers enrolled in the training classes.

The officer, Aaron Bailey, declined to comment through his attorney, Charles Rand, who said he had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment until he does. It is unclear what their defense will be, but some officials have speculated that what Bailey did was akin to department stores offering "loss leader" merchandise, which they lose money on, simply to get shoppers in the door.

The lawsuit is the latest twist in the county's troubled tuition assistance program, which top officials have acknowledged was not properly monitored. In recent years, employees have used the program to take classes ranging from "Bible Doctrines" and "Aerobics" to "The Christian Home" and "Life on the Down Low."

Within the next week, Montgomery County's inspector general, Thomas J. Dagley, is expected to release the findings of his office's investigation into the tuition assistance program.
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Former Officer Pierre Dorsey Charged with Impersonating a Police Officer

A former city police officer is due in court this morning after being charged with posing as an undercover officer at a Southwest Baltimore high school.

School police say 26-year-old Pierre Dorsey of the 4400 block of Shamrock Ave. told an officer he was working for the principal of Edmondson High School on an undercover detail to investigate illegal activities occurring in the school and crimes that involved students at nearby Edmondson Village Shopping Center.

But Dorsey said he did not have any identification, and the principal said that she had not asked Dorsey to conduct any observation, according to records. She believed he had been assigned there by the Police Department. When she approached him, he had flashed a yellow Baltimore City license and said he was not required to carry a badge in his undercover capacity, records show.

Anthony Guglielmi, a city police spokesman, confirmed that Dorsey worked for the department from 2005 until his resignation in 2007. Citing personnel rules, Guglielmi said he could not reveal whether Dorsey had been facing internal discipline when he resigned.

Dorsey told school police that he was assigned to the Southwestern District and gave the name and phone number of Duane Verderaime from the City Union of Baltimore. Verderaime did not return phone messages.

Officers towed Dorsey's vehicle from the school and inside found a black bag with books containing tickets for traffic and criminal citations, as well as citizen contact tickets.

According to court records, Dorsey's wife, Centria Dorsey, works at Edmondson High School and also told police that her husband was working on behalf of the principal. Edie House-Foster, a city schools spokeswoman, confirmed that Centria Dorsey was an employee and said that Pierre Dorsey had been visiting the school beginning in October, though she said he was not there every day.

A phone number for Pierre and Centria Dorsey was out of service, and neither could be reached for comment. Records show that they faced foreclosure proceedings last month.

Lt James Cifala Charged with Receiving Child Porn

An Anne Arundel County police lieutenant is in federal custody on charges he received child pornography in the form of sexually explicit text messages and digital pictures sent to his cell phone by a teenage girl more than 30 years his junior.

Lt. James B. Cifala, 47, could be sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison if convicted. A detention hearing is scheduled today.

"This case is particularly disturbing because it involves an individual who had a professional duty of protecting our children," Richard McFeely, the special agent in charge of the Baltimore office of the FBI, said in a statement.

According to a redacted FBI affidavit filed, a mother and stepfather contacted the agency's Baltimore division in September, concerned that their daughter, who was born in 1993, was involved in a sexual relationship with an adult male.

Text messages between the girl and a man named "Johnny," identified by agents as Cifala, are explicit.

"You were great today," reads an Aug. 15 message sent from Johnny. "Sex with you is fun," the girl replied.

Between Aug. 14 and Sept. 6, 2009, there were more than 1,300 exchanges, mostly texts, between their cell phones. The girl told agents she also sent nude photos to Cifala, who is also accused of sending images of himself. Cifala made his initial appearance in Baltimore U.S. District Court on Thursday, wearing what appeared to be police apparel: a dark, long-sleeved shirt with epaulets and cargo-style pants. He was arrested Wednesday.

A defense attorney, standing in temporarily, declined to comment on Cifala's behalf, as did three family members, including his wife, who were in the courtroom. She passed Cifala his blood pressure medication after the brief hearing, and the couple exchanged a kiss by putting their lips to their fingertips and touching hands before he was led from the room in cuffs.

Anne Arundel County police spokesman Justin Mulcahey said Cifala, a 27-year member of the force, is still employed with the department. He declined to address whether he had been suspended, as was suggested in court. Department regulations allow an officer to be suspended without pay if charged with a felony.

"The Police Department holds its officers to the highest ethical standards," Col. James Teare, Sr., chief of police, said.

The Arundel state's attorney's office said that it's unlikely Cifalo was an arresting officer recently because of his rank. Still, officials plan to review whether his testimony is central to any pending cases, said spokeswoman Kristin Fleckenstein.

Baltimore Officer Charged with Raping His Wife at Gunpoint

A Baltimore police officer has been suspended from the force after his arrest on charges that he raped his wife at gunpoint during an argument over her marital infidelity, according to court charging documents.

The 37-year-old officer, an Iraq war veteran, is charged with felonies that include rape, assault and using a handgun in the commission of a violent crime. The officer, whom The Baltimore Sun is not naming to shield the woman's identity, is being held at the Baltimore City Detention Center on $500,000 bail.

The officer joined the Police Department in February 2001 and was most recently assigned to the Special Operations Section.

The officer's attorney, Shaun Owens, declined to comment on the case.

Officer Derrick Shannon Under Investigation for Neglect of Duty

A Baltimore police officer is being investigated for possible neglect of duty after the family of a shooting victim said he failed to take a report about a missing person.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that the family of Marcal Walton, 33, had called police Monday morning to report him missing, but were told by a Central District officer that he would not take a report because Walton was "locked up."

The officer apparently was unaware that Walton had been found Sunday afternoon in an alley in the 2300 block of Ocala Ave., dead of gunshot wounds.

Officer Derrick Shannon, a four-year veteran, has not been suspended while he is under investigation for possible neglect of duty, said Guglielmi, who noted that the missing person call had been placed after Walton's body had been found.

Police also disclosed new details about Walton's killing. They first received a report around 2:40 p.m. Sunday that Walton had been abducted from a home in the 1700 block of Hollins Ave. near the county line, and 20 minutes later responded to the shooting, not far from Mondawmin Mall in West Baltimore, where they found his body, Guglielmi said.

Walton, who had a long record of drug arrests and a handgun arrest in Baltimore County, pleaded guilty in 1997 to a charge of drug distribution.

In 2000, Walton received a phone call from a man offering to sell stolen jewelry that helped police track down one of the killers of Baltimore County police Sgt. Bruce A. Prothero, who was moonlighting as a security guard at a jewelry store.

According to news reports, county police were able to track a call from Troy Wilson, who had offered to sell Walton jewelry stolen during a February 2000 robbery in which Prothero was shot. Wilson is serving a life sentence.

As of Tuesday evening, Walton was the city's only homicide victim so far this year. Baltimore recorded nine killings in the first five days of 2009.

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.

Sgt Eric Janik Arrested for Pointing his Weapon in Haunted House

Authorities in Maryland said an off-duty police officer was arrested for pulling his handgun and pointing it at the chest of an actor in a haunted house.

Baltimore County police said Baltimore Police Department Sgt. Eric Michael Janik, 36, pointed his gun at Michael Brian Morrison, 32, who was dressed as "Leatherface" from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," while walking through "The House of Screams" in Essex with a female city police officer and his 9-year-old daughter just after 10 p.m. Sunday, the Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday.

County police said Janik, who smelled of alcohol and was slurring his speech after the incident, initially denied pulling out his handgun during the haunted house tour but later told officers he drew the weapon and pointed it at the ground. However, multiple witnesses said he pointed the gun at Morrison.

Janik, who was suspended from the police department, was charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He was released on $25,000 bail.

Officer Mark Lunsford Charged with Stealing Money & Jewelry

A Baltimore police officer assigned to a federal drug task force was arrested by the FBI and charged Thursday with stealing money and jewelry from houses hit on drug raids and with embezzling from funds used to pay confidential informants, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office.

Officer Mark J. Lunsford, 40, who has been on the force for six years, was placed by a federal judge on home detention with electronic monitoring during an appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. He had been assigned to Baltimore's Drug Enforcement Administration, which conducts high-end narcotics investigations.

"These allegations represent an egregious abuse of trust," Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in an interview. FBI agents arrested the officer Wednesday night after he left work. He was charged with making a false claim, making a false statement and embezzlement.

Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, said Lunsford is being suspended without pay. "The department doesn't tolerate any behavior that undermines the integrity of the agency or the hard work of our police officers," he said.

Neither Lunsford, who earned $97,196 with overtime in fiscal 2008, nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

Authorities said a confidential informant used by the DEA and city police tipped them off to the allegations. One of the items stolen from a drug raid at a hotel room, according to court documents filed Thursday, was a stainless steel Aqua Master diamond watch that retails for $18,000. The source told the FBI that Lunsford ordered him to "repair the watch and sell it and share the proceeds with him," according to the affidavit. The watch was sold for about $4,200 in New York.

The court documents describe the informant as unreliable because of his "inability to follow instructions and candor issues." The FBI dropped him as an informant, but court papers said the DEA and Baltimore police continued to use him for information.

After the informant came forward to FBI agents, prosecutors said in court documents, they secretly recorded conversations between Lunsford and the informant.

The affidavit alleges that Lunsford listed the informant on drug cases that the informant hadn't worked and would then tell his superiors that the informant deserved bonuses. In one case, he falsely linked the informant to a secret wiretap on a drug case "in the county" and then got the informant a $10,000 bonus from the DEA, according to prosecutors.

The prosecutors said Lunsford then split the money with the informant.

On July 1, the FBI said, agents caught Lunsford meeting with the informant outside a federal office in Elkridge and discussing a drug case: "I put in there that you gave me the information about ah ... what's the guy's name? That's that [expletive] house we're gonna hit. Who knows? We might get lucky," Lunsford told the informant, according to the court documents.

During that same conversation, prosecutors said, Lunsford told the informant "that he stole three [PlayStation] video games from the residence of a person [federal agents] had interviewed," according to court documents.

Lunsford then told the informant, "Me and you are the only ones that know we split that ten grand, right?" the documents say. The informant answered, "Oh yea, nobody knows."

Later, authorities said, Lunsford arrested a man during a raid and seized $17,490. Prosecutors said Lunsford put the informant, who had nothing to do with the case, in for a 20 percent bonus.

According to prosecutors, Lunsford wrote that "without the valuable intelligence provided by the [informant], the [suspect] would not have been arrested." Prosecutors said, "As Lunsford well knew at the time he submitted the claim for an award to DEA, the [informant] had provided no intelligence to him."

Prosecutors said the DEA allowed the informant to receive a $3,498 bonus and cut a U.S. Treasury check to the informant. The informant cashed the check and handed the money back to a DEA supervisor, who gave the informant marked $100 bills. Prosecutors said the informant then met with Lunsford to give him his share of the bonus in a parking lot in Sykesville. The FBI said agents had that meeting under surveillance.

Officer Michael Sylvester Arrested for Theft & Possession

The court documents just filed in the arrest of a Baltimore police officer accused of stealing money from a drug dealer (who turned out to be an undercover detective) provide a detailed account of the case.

Authorities say the officer was targeted because of complaints and moved from a drug task force working Pennsylvania Avenue to the Northwest Police District. There, he was put in charge of training a rookie cop (done, police tell me, to avoid tipping the officer that he was under suspicion). The rookie is not in any trouble.

Members of the department's Internal affairs Integrity Unit set up the sting for Thursday night in the 3900 block of Carlisle Ave., in an area normally devoid of drug dealers. At 9:45 p.m., an undercover officer parked a green Cadillac at Carlisle and Mt. Holley Street while another officer called 911 and described a suspicious green vehicle driving around the block, supposedly looking to buy drugs.

At 9:48 p.m., a dispatcher sent Officer Michael Sylvester (in picture) to the call and told him a person was sitting in the Cadillac for 15 minutes and "acting strange." At 9:50 p.m., court documents say Sylvester pulled up beside the vehicle and shouted, "What are you doing here?" The undercover officer answered, "I'm waiting for my home boy to come meet me."

The court documents say Sylvester ordered the driver to turn off his ignition, turn over his license, get out of the car and sit on the curb. The man gave Sylvester permission to search the car and he emptied his pockets onto the front seat of the car. The charging papers say Sylvester conducted the search alone. After the search, court documents say Sylvester told the driver he was free to go and drove off.

Police say that the uncover officer had $259 in marked bills in his pants pocket and an additional $135 in marked bills in the arm rest of the Cadillac. After Sylvester and the training officer left, the undercover says in court documents that $50 was missing from the money that was in his pocket and $20 was missing from the money that had been in the car.

Undercover police officers followed Sylvester through the remainder of his shift, which ended at 11 p.m. They stopped Sylvester in the parking lot of the Northwestern District after he had changed into civilian clothes and was about to get into his personal vehicle. A lieutenant escorted the officer to an office while detectives searched his locker and reported, according to the charging documents, finding three blue zip lock bags containing suspected cocaine in the breast pocket of his uniform.

Police say Sylvester, 29, is being charged with theft and drug possession.
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http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story/Officer-Arrested-for-Theft-and-Drug-Charges/lRUMPY1yvUGSDMKYCHb2Cw.cspx

Officer Hikeen Crampton Charged with Insurance Fraud

A Baltimore police officer who overcame the odds growing up in West Baltimore to patrol his old neighborhood, was indicted Friday on charges of insurance fraud and attempted felony theft, the state attorney general said.

Hikeen D. Crampton Sr., 30, of Rosedale, is accused of fraudulently claiming in late 2008 that his Cadillac Escalade had been stolen when he had traded it in for another vehicle. The indictment follows an investigation by the Regional Auto Theft Task Force, the insurance fraud division of the Maryland Insurance Administration and the attorney general's office.

The charges were filed in Frederick County, where the claim was filed, said Shanetta J. Paskel, an official with the attorney general's office.

Crampton was profiled in a front-page article in The Baltimore Sun in 2001 after he graduated from the Baltimore Police Academy and requested a patrol assignment in his old neighborhood, a notorious drug zone. The youngest of 10 children, he graduated from Douglass High School and managed a McDonald's before joining the police academy.

"Some people ask me, 'Why do you want to come back?' " Crampton said at the time. "I want to help my community."

He received an award from Baltimore County last year after he observed the robbery of an armored car while off duty and caught the suspect, holding him until county officers arrived. In 2005, while working plainclothes in the Western District, he also arrested one of the stars of the infamous "Stop Snitching" video.

Anthony Guglielmi, a city police spokesman, said the Police Department learned of the allegations in June, when Crampton was suspended with pay.

"The allegations are concerning, but we have an obligation to see the system through and we're going to reserve comment until this is over," Guglielmi said.

Attempts to reach Crampton for comment were unsuccessful.

An arraignment has been scheduled for Sept. 25.

Officer Dina Hoffman Charged with Perjury

ROCKVILLE, Md.

Montgomery County police say an officer is facing perjury charges.

The Howard County State's Attorney's Office announced the indictment of Officer Dina Hoffman on Friday, charging her with one count of perjury and one count of misconduct in office.

Hoffman is accused of testifying in court in April that a driver, who was cited for drunken driving in May 2008, had been behind the wheel of the vehicle when she first encountered him. But surveillance video from a building shows the driver was in the back seat of the car when she arrived.

Police say Hoffman, a three-year veteran of the Montgomery County force, is now on administrative leave. Officials asked Howard County to handle the case because two Montgomery County state prosecutors were witnesses to Hoffman's testimony.
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http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/082109_police_officer_charged_with_perjury_in_dui_case

FBI Investigate Several DC Officers for Gambling Connected to Homicides

Federal investigators are looking into allegations that several D.C.-area law enforcement officers were involved in a Maryland gambling ring that may also be connected to homicides, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

The probe has targeted five Prince George’s County police officers, a District police official and a former D.C. Housing Authority officer, the report said. The officers allegedly helped protect illegal gambling sites that rotated around Southern Maryland. Sometimes the officers reportedly wore uniforms while providing security for high-stakes craps games with pots as high as $100,000.

Prince George’s County Police Chief Roberto Hylton said he turned over the entire probe to the FBI after he took over the department earlier this year. Three of the suspected officers have retired or are on leave. The probe has been under way since 2007.

Former Officer Robert Flanagan Wants His Sentence Reduced

The attorney for a former Baltimore police officer who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking nearly $380,000 from a Howard County bank in December 2007 asked a three-judge panel in Circuit Court on Thursday to have his jail term cut in half.

Debra Saltz said that her client, Robert Flanagan of Dallastown, Pa., was "extremely desperate" and still suffering from the effects of the illness that forced him to leave a nine-year law enforcement career when he took the money from a Bank of America branch.

Calling the sentence imposed by Judge Richard S. Bernhardt excessive to the point of cruel and unusual punishment, Saltz said at one point during the hearing, "In my mind, he would have been better getting drunk, driving down the road and killing someone. He would only get 18 months."

Judge Lenore R. Gelfman immediately disagreed, saying that someone guilty of vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol could receive up to 15 years.

Flanagan, then 38, had worked for a year as a guard for Dunbar Armored Security after leaving the Baltimore police force because of post traumatic stress disorder. Assistant State's attorney Lynn Marshall said that Flanagan was dismissed from Dunbar because of discrepancies in the money he collected and what he turned in.

Dressed in his old uniform but lacking proper credentials, Flanagan persuaded an employee at the Bank of America branch on Baltimore National Pike to turn over $379,000 in cash. Flanagan and his wife, Robin, were arrested later that day. About $200,000 has never been recovered.

The employee who gave Flanagan the money as well as the branch manager were later fired, which Judge Bernhardt later cited as one of the reasons for the 10-year sentence. Since it was a first offense, Flanagan could have received as little as six months of probation.

Charges against Robin Flanagan were later dropped when she cooperated with police.

"We don't know what happened to that money, and we'll never know," Saltz said.

But Marshall contends that Flanagan still knows where the money can be found.

"He stashed that money somewhere," Marshall said. "He will do jail time so he can have a nice nest egg when he gets out."

Flanagan, who is being jailed in Cumberland and is receiving treatment for PTSD, according to his lawyer, declined to speak on his own behalf.

At the time of his arrest, Flanagan was out on bond after being arrested in Baltimore County on a similar charge. Flanagan pleaded guilty to taking $70,000 from a Target store in Towson while dressed as an armored guard, and was given five years in jail to run concurrent with his sentence in Howard County.

Saltz said that he should have been given the same length term in Howard County, but Marshall argued that the Baltimore County judge who sentenced Flanagan was aware of his 10-year sentence in Howard County.

Gelfman, along with Judge Louis A. Becker and Judge Diane O. Leasure, will make their decision later.