Wayne Jenkins who was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for years of robberies, drug dealing and other crimes has asked a judge to release him just four . Or harm you or even kill you.". "I fear nothing he knows or anything. In fact, Fries went on to promote Jenkins in June 2006 into a high-profile plainclothes unit called the Organized Crime Division. "It's still hard though, because I get a lot of pain in my mouth at night. In a recent interview, Simon told The Sun, I never had no BB gun. After the indictments, one of Jenkins supervisors told Internal Affairs investigators she had believed he was the best gun cop this department has ever seen.. It was there that the full extent of the officers' misconduct became public. "Right off the bat, we wasn't living lavishly. One of the most surprising witnesses was a man named Donald Stepp, a bail bondsman, who revealed that he'd been selling drugs Jenkins brought him from work. But the scope and breadth of these allegations were staggering. Sneed. Prosecutors investigated and even presented evidence to a grand jury but concluded they didnt have enough evidence to obtain an indictment. None of the cases led to any police department discipline for Jenkins, his personnel records show. You tried catching me all day, and you cant, because Im telling the truth, Jenkins told the lawyer. Homegrown commanders took pride in being known as having knockers. Of all seven men, the last person I thought would ever agree to an interview was Jenkins, the fallen "golden boy" of the Baltimore Police Department. We Own This City airs Mondays at 9 p.m. Hed grown up in the working class suburb, where his father worked two jobs, including at Bethlehem Steel. They also didnt give chase. The important difference, however, is that the drug dealers never swore an oath to serve and protect. I mean, it had velocity, Jenkins said. The courtroom was also packed with Jenkins' family and friends. Jenkins is currently in prison. I was a hero," Jenkins says of his activity during the unrest. He's doing, as he likes to say, "rather swell". "I never took a thing. But they needed more information. He admitted to knowing . Police who went rogue - Wayne Jenkins and Momodu Gondo, Jenkins, centre, before he took command of the Gun Trace Task Force, Clockwise from top left: Evodio Hendrix, Daniel Hersl, Jemell Rayam, Maurice Ward, Marcus Taylor, Momodu Gondo, Equipment that two of the GTTF officers testified was going to be used for home invasions, Donald Stepp inside Baltimore Police headquarters, in a photo taken by Wayne Jenkins, Shawn Whiting, centre, at a press conference held by victims of the GTTF. Wayne Jenkins was living a double life. On an oddly balmy January night, Jenkins and Fries were working the McElderry Park neighborhood in East Baltimore when they noticed two brothers drinking Steel Reserve beers on the sidewalk outside their rowhouse. Jenkins released the men and told them hed follow up with them later. It feels a little bit like splitting hairs. "It was a front for a criminal enterprise," Stepp said of the Gun Trace Task Force. "He is no more than a common criminal," Davis' daughter, Shirley Johnson, said of Jenkins. Dan Horgan said his mentality was your typical Marine camaraderie, teamwork. He admitted to knowing . The second declined to comment. Jenkins and members of his squad were praised for their work getting guns off the streets in an October 2016 police department newsletter. Some of the most upsetting conversations I had were with people who felt victimised twice -- by both the officers and by the criminals. Please sign up today and help make a difference. When Jenkins was allowed to speak, he turned first to face the Davis family and apologised repeatedly. View all articles on the Gun Trace Task Force on The Baltimore Sun. Wayne Jenkins was living a double life. Yes. In September 2021, Jenkins spoke with BBC journalist Jessica Lussenhop from behind bars, and he claimed he never took money from Baltimore citizens. Jenkins says that the veteran goaded him into taking money. In the spring of 2015, the city of Baltimore was rocked by civil unrest after the in-custody death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. "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. I continued working on this story for as long as I did out of some hope that the more the public learned about the corruption in the police department, the better chance there might be of some kind of true, systemic reform. ", 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. In his plea deal, Jenkins admitted he planted heroin on Burley to try to justify the fatal collision. They said he prepared an arsenal of weapons and tools to begin carrying out burglaries. From 2006 to 2009, Jenkins was the subject of at least four lawsuits alleging misconduct. 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. This partnership lasted for five years. Finally, in March 2015, Internal Affairs chief Rodney Hill informed Jenkins that he was being charged internally with misconduct, neglect of duty and failure to supervise the officer in his charge, according to a leaked copy of the case file obtained by The Sun. A lot of what he told me was much more systematic. Baltimore detectives convicted in shocking corruption trial Stepp grew up in Middle River, where he was friends with Jenkins's older brother. In the bedroom, Jenkins says he and a veteran supervisor found a suitcase filled with tens of thousands of dollars in cash. ", Paul Schiraldi/Baltimore Police Department/HBO, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. In fact, it's highly likely - if not certain - that many of the people Jenkins' put in prison himself had those tactics used on them by prosecutors. After an FBI investigation into the unit discovered the GTTF's crimes, federal officers arrested Jenkins alongside several others in the unit. Former Baltimore Police Sgt. Jenkins rushed off to join them. He served 20 months of a five year sentence in connection with the Gun Trace Task Force case, before being granted a compassionate release. In Baltimore, theyre often referred to as knockers, a reference to their historically aggressive tactics. But then, about an hour later, the phone rings again. "How police act towards people ain't changed," he told me recently. He is serving the harshest sentence : 25 years . Until this point, I'd only heard Jenkins on. The line goes dead, and I feel like I've barely gotten anywhere. ', "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 crimejust get him.". When I saw the video, Webb later told The Sun, it didnt corroborate what was in the statement of probable cause at all.. Critics argue Barksdale was among police leaders who fostered a warrior culture, to the citys detriment. "It's a surreal story. He also apologised to Burley, who was not in the court, to his wife and to his father, and begged the judge for the opportunity to get out in time to be a grandfather. "I never had [theft complaints] because I never took money off individuals. Its a Viking mentality: You go out into the field among the bad guys, and you bring back a bounty, Davis said. In court, Ward apologised to the victims, to his family and to the Baltimore Police Department, as well as to his co-defendants. While researching the We Own This City true story, we confirmed that the real Wayne Jenkins had spent three years in the Marines before joining the Baltimore Police Department in 2003. Ward and the other cop followed Jenkins into the woods. He says something that I've never heard anyone admit out loud. Burley's vehicle struck another, killing Mr Davis. Attorneys in the integrity unit had approached another officer involved in the arrest, asking him pointed questions about whether Jenkins had lied about the drugs. 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. They said that while they had their backs turned, someone had clocked OConnor and taken off. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. He's due to be released in 2038. It showed Sneed calmly standing across the street looking on, never even raising his arms. Become a subscriber today to support investigative reporting like this. "What chance do we have when you have people like Jenkins and his co-defendants fabricating evidence?". Jenkins joined Baltimore's police department in 2003, first becoming a beat cop and patrolling the streets of Baltimore. But Jenkins wanted to argue the details in his plea agreement, saying many of them weren't true. Wayne Jenkins will be played by Jon Bernthal, the same actor who portrayed "The Punisher". "He drew first blood," Stepp says of Jenkins. Jenkins, who is serving a 25-year sentence in a federal prison in South Carolina, declined to speak with The Sun. "This was a great abuse of the public trust," said Judge Blake. He calls Stepp "the biggest exaggerator I've ever met in my life". HBO asked Stepp to be a consultant on the project, which he enthusiastically agreed to do. 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. 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. For example, in January 2006, Jenkins and Sergeant Michael Fries had an altercation with brothers Charles and Robert Lee after they continued to drink beer on the front step of their grandmother's home when the policemen had told them to stop. Turmoil has continued at the Baltimore Police Department, an agency that saw four commissioners in little more than a year among them De Sousa, now in prison for tax fraud. In an incident to which Jenkins would later plead guilty, the officers handcuffed two men. Still, a yearlong investigation by The Baltimore Sun found warning signs that Wayne Jenkins wasnt such a good cop. He started counting the money, $20,000 in all. Credit: Baltimore Police Department, Its a Viking mentality: You go out into the field among the bad guys, and you bring back a bounty. They said Jenkins instructed them to carry BB guns to plant on suspects to justify their actions if they made a mistake. Plenty of times he's gone behind me and found them.. Taxpayers footed the bill. Though Simon says he reported the incident to the police departments Internal Affairs office, he ultimately stopped cooperating on advice from his defense lawyer. Jenkins admitted that he stole drugs from work and delivered them to Stepp, who would turn around and sell them. Some defense attorneys say their clients told them Jenkins had robbed them. 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. Stepp turned everything over to the US prosecutors. Jenkins doled out $5,000 to each of the two officers and instructed them not to make any big purchases. Not long after Stepp flipped on his former friend, Jenkins pled guilty. Donald Stepp was released from federal prison back in January of this year. In February 2017, Jenkins was charged with two counts of racketeering conspiracy; racketeering, aiding and abetting; racketeering; two counts of robbery and aiding and abetting; and two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He idolizes this guy, said Shelley Glenn, another prosecutor. "The largest share of the blame, the largest share of those crimes belongs to him," US attorney Leo Wise told the court. An officer who sometimes worked with Jenkins, Keith Gladstone, pleaded guilty last month to going to the scene of Simons arrest to plant the BB gun a response, Gladstone admitted, to a phone call from a frantic Jenkins asking for the help. Plainclothes officers, as the description suggests, just work in street clothes usually casual rather than uniforms. Jenkins' lawyer mentioned that he has been assaulted at least once by another inmate who was targeting him for being a former police officer. Jenkins was a rising star in the department, because of his ability to regularly bring in huge seizures of drugs and guns. Hill said in the interview that De Sousa reduced the punishment to verbal counseling in effect, no punishment at all. "It's that simple.". He walked into the court wearing a maroon prison uniform. I did give drugs to Donny [Stepp, who testified he and Jenkins sold $1 million worth of narcotics] for the last couple of years I was police, but I didn't take people's money because then they would know you were dirty. For the most part, these defendants decided it wasnt in their interest to tell government authorities that. His eye socket was fractured. The daughters of 86-year-old Elbert Davis also told the court about the 2010 car crash Jenkins caused while he was pursuing a man named Umar Burley. My thoughts return to Kenneth Bumgardner, a hard-working father who was chased by the squad when they suspected him of having marijuana. They testified he told them to carry BB guns to plant if they ever injured or killed an unarmed person, that he often took large quantities of drugs off of suspects without submitting them to the police evidence room. At one point, dozens of pharmacies were looted and millions of dollars worth of medication went missing. On June 7, 2018, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Far from it. "Later on that evening, Gondo did give me money, that means hours later, I'm talking hours later, he gave me money.". In 2010, when Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale wanted a special squad to go after elusive suspects, Jenkins was picked for the group. Officers in plainclothes units often operate in the shadows of a police department. I sold drugs as a dirty cop," he says. "It ain't over. "There was cameras everywhere, so I would never have took a dollar," he tells me. Updated: Mar 1, 2023 / 02:16 PM EST. Last month, Mr De Sousa was indicted for failure to pay his taxes by the same prosecutors who brought the GTTF case. It didn't take long before Stepp began to suspect that Jenkins ratted him out. According to Jenkins convicted partner in the drug dealing, the police sergeant had been stealing drugs off the street for years and profiting from their illegal sale. Seething frustration was spilling into the streets that afternoon in 2015. He points to the plea agreement, in which Jenkins agreed that his cut of their drug sales came to roughly $250,000. It's going to happen again," he said. The officer they talked to didnt seem like a candidate for that, the lawyers said. They drive unmarked vehicles. 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. Maurice Ward says he, Sgt. A line prosecutor, Molly Webb, had been notified by a defense attorney of the footage footage that the police department hadnt submitted to her. "I'm finally trying to get my life back on track," he told me. De Sousa, who is now serving a federal sentence for tax evasion, said through his attorney that he does not remember the Jenkins case. As backup arrived, Jenkins spotted a man named George Sneed across the street. Several of the former officers also took the stand - now wearing prison jumpsuits instead of uniforms - and detailed the tactics encouraged by their leader, Jenkins. You will not be charged for this call. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, L-R: Former Baltimore police Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, and Jon Bernthal as Jenkins in HBO true-crime drama "We Own This City. Wayne Jenkins' police vehicle when he was arrested in 2017. Another was to talk about how futile life inside the penal system is. Detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor went forward to trial and a jury found them guilty of robbery, extortion and fraud in February. One of the most shocking incidents from the plea agreement is an event that Jenkins now unequivocally denies. Blake who in 2017 would wind up presiding over the Gun Trace Task Force corruption case noted that the other officers present backed Jenkins account. I never aimed nothing at him . Stepp and Jenkins' history runs deep. The unit began looking into a case involving Jenkins, in which he had run down a young man with his unmarked Dodge Avenger early in 2014. De Sousa, who later served as commissioner and is currently serving time on federal tax charges, says he doesnt remember the case. "Immediately, we get together and you go over your story.

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