BALTIMORE _ The former supervisor of the corrupt Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force entered a guilty plea to racketeering Wednesday afternoon, becoming the fifth officer in the case to plead guilty.
Sgt. Thomas Allers, 49, was charged with stealing more than $100,000 over three years while he was the supervisor of the unit.
He now faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Allers was detailed to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force in June 2016, officials have previously said, and was assigned to that unit at the time the federal case against the other officers were handed down.
His defense attorney, Gary Proctor, said earlier this week Allers was not cooperating with authorities in their continuing case and had "no plans to do so going forward."
Allers led a unit once praised by the Police Department as key to its crime-fighting strategy of taking guns off the streets. The unit has been disbanded, its members accused of robbing and extorting citizens, falsifying paperwork to cover their tracks and filing for unearned overtime for years.
Allers was not part of the initial indictment in February of the seven active members of the unit, but the former supervisor was charged in August with racketeering conspiracy and robbery. Federal prosecutors alleged he participated in nine robberies between 2014 and 2016.
According to the indictment, Allers' adult son, who was not a police officer, participated in a raid where $66,000 was taken by father and son and two other detectives. Allers' son has not been charged. In another incident, police said a man robbed by Allers was unable to pay a drug debt and was murdered as a result.
Eight city police officers have been charged in the case, as well as a Philadelphia police officer who once worked in Baltimore. A trial is tentatively scheduled for January for two officers who have pleaded not guilty and another who has not entered a plea. All nine are in jail while awaiting sentencing or trial.
