BALTIMORE _ Three Baltimore police officers charged months ago in a racketeering ring have been indicted on additional robbery charges by a federal grand jury, prosecutors said Thursday.
The grand jury also indicted two civilians with posing as officers to commit an armed robbery with help from an unnamed Baltimore police detective.
Sgt. Wayne Jenkins and Detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor committed 13 robberies, extortion and overtime fraud since 2011, federal prosecutors said. The three officers stole cash and drugs by detaining people, making traffic stops and swearing out false search warrants, prosecutors said.
The latest indictments escalate an ongoing case against officers in an elite plainclothes gun unit of the Baltimore Police Department.
In February, seven members of the unit were indicted on federal racketeering charges. Along with Jenkins, Hersl and Taylor, four other detectives were accused of shaking down citizens, falsifying reports and collecting fraudulent overtime payments _ all while federal investigators were inspecting the department for what they concluded were widespread civil rights violations.
On Thursday, prosecutors also announced the indictment charging Thomas Finnegan, 38, of Easton, Pa., and David Rahim, 41, of Baltimore with armed robbery.
In June 2014, officers in the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force searched a store in the Brooklyn neighborhood of South Baltimore and learned the owner had $20,000 in cash to pay off a tax debt. According to prosecutors, one detective told Finnegan and Rahim about the cash, provided them with police tactical gear, and parked outside the store owner's home to intercept any police. The two civilians robbed the store owner at her home that night, prosecutors said.
The indictments arrive as the Baltimore Police Department struggles to stem a surge in killings in the city and as it faces widespread reforms mandated under a court-ordered consent decree.
Federal agents turned their attention to the Gun Trace Task Force more than a year ago, amid an investigation into a Baltimore drug ring. The probe eventually drew the FBI and agents planted a recording device in a Baltimore police car.
The indictments announced in March also led prosecutors to drop criminal charges against dozens of people whose cases hinged on the word of the seven officers.
After the indictments, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said he would end plainclothes policing in Baltimore. The plainclothes officers, known as "knockers" or "jump-out boys," have developed a reputation on the streets for heavy-handed tactics. Davis has ordered officers across the city back into uniformed patrol.
The allegations also prompted Mayor Catherine Pugh to order an audit of police overtime costs, which have surged in recent years. Police blame the costs in part on a shortage of officers, but the indictments raise questions about how much of the overtime is fraudulent.
The seven officers were suspended without pay. Six of them initially pleaded not guilty. Jenkins is due in court Friday to plead.
In recent months prosecutors have worked to strike deals under which the officers would change their pleas. Rearraignment hearings, typically held to change a plea, have been scheduled for several of the officers.
Detective Evodio Hendrix has a rearraignment hearing scheduled for July 21. Detective Maurice Ward will plead guilty at a rearraignment hearing July 24, his attorney said last week.
Rearraignment hearings are scheduled for Detectives Jemell Rayam and Momodu Gondo in the fall.
Detectives Hersl and Taylor have a trial scheduled for January.
The officers face maximum sentences of 20 years in prison on conspiracy and racketeering charges. They're all being held until trial after judges decided they were a risk to public safety.
