"Everything I tell you, I will take a polygraph," Jenkins says near the beginning of that first phone call. Yet another of Jenkins' friends said something I wasn't expecting. He had a criminal case to fight, and his freedom was more important. The idea that the Gun Trace Task Force went rogue simply because their sergeant was uniquely evil ignores all the systemic ways in which he was encouraged to operate the way he did, and the larger policing culture that supported him (it should also be noted that several of the squad's members started stealing money long before they joined the GTTF). Then he said something that struck Ward as bizarre: He said he was going to take the marijuana to his home, and burn it all. It was nicknamed The Barn an apparent homage to the offices of a corrupt police unit on the television series The Shield. The show, modeled after a 1990s Los Angeles Police Department scandal, featured a strike team that roughed up suspects, lied about their investigations and took a cut of their drug busts. He says Stepp pressured him into it. Or harm you or even kill you.". A former member of the unit, Sergeant Thomas Allers, also pleaded guilty. They also didnt give chase. He said they were confiscating the cash and 20 pounds of marijuana. "My dad would be alive today would it not be for his actions that day. In September 2021, Jenkins spoke with BBC journalist. Jenkins rushed off to join them. He claims that it was Stepp's idea to start selling drugs together, not the other way around. But the Baltimore states attorneys office continued to use Jenkins. You didnt catch me in nothing.. He is working on a book about the Gun Trace Task Force, to be published by Random House. Detective Marcus Taylor on Thursday was sentenced to 18 years in prison on racketeering charges, including robbery and overtime fraud. They said Jenkins instructed them to carry BB guns to plant on suspects to justify their actions if they made a mistake. Jenkins signed a plea agreement in 2017 that detailed seven robberies that he participated in along with other members of the unit, as well as his drug dealing partnership with Donald Stepp, the former bail bondsman and cocaine dealer who testified at trial. None of the cases led to any police department discipline for Jenkins, his personnel records show. You never know until you get on this side, including me, what you do to families.". On 1 March, 2017, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins and six of his subordinate officers from the Gun Trace Task Force walked into the Baltimore Police Department's Internal Affairs building, believing they were there to clear up a minor complaint about a damaged vehicle. Jenkins later alleged in official paperwork that Simon had pointed a weapon at Frieman and that he ran Simon down to stop the threat. He also acknowledged stealing the man's $4,000 (2,956) watch, which he gave to Stepp to sell. Barksdale, the former deputy commissioner who crafted department strategies from 2007 to 2012, leaned heavily on plainclothes units. Ex-police sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins apologized in the courtroom for the crimes he committed at the same time as he was head of an elite squad referred to as the Gun Trace Task . They said he prepared an arsenal of weapons and tools to begin carrying out burglaries. He reminds me that the US Attorney's office found him more credible than Jenkins. I never heard back from the Baltimore Police Department. "He perverted the criminal justice system.". 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. It was difficult for me to understand and parse all of Jenkins' denials, now. Critics argue Barksdale was among police leaders who fostered a warrior culture, to the citys detriment. The plaintiffs prevailed in three of them, either through a jury verdict or the citys decision to settle the case. Jenkins was a rising star in the department, because of his ability to regularly bring in huge seizures of drugs and guns. ", Despite this happening more than once, Jenkins remained in his superiors' good books and when Fries was promoted in 2007 he decided to also give Jenkins a boost because he was "the best officer [he] had working under [his] command.". It is simply not true., U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake denied Oakleys motion to suppress the evidence. Jenkins, who had been suspended during the investigation, went back to work, making no fewer than three dozen arrests over the rest of the year, most of them gun cases. I have no idea what he wants to say, or why after four years, he's breaking his silence. But in less than a year, Sergeant Jenkins was put in charge of the new plainclothes squad in West Baltimore. Jenkins' lawyer mentioned that he has been assaulted at least once by another inmate who was targeting him for being a former police officer. Not all the allegations against Jenkins came from lawsuits. Meanwhile, his Twitter account is full of pictures of him on set, hamming it up with Bernthal and some of the other actors. Because believe me, I'll stand my ground in a second.". Claiming to be a DEA agent, Jenkins then confiscated the drugs and money but did not arrest the dealers. You guys willing to go kick in the dudes door and take the money? The bottles were winged at us. We Own This City, an HBO Max miniseries out April 25, about a Baltimore Police Department (BPD) task force unit that went rogue, highlights some of the . Homegrown commanders took pride in being known as having knockers. What had he gotten himself into? Inside the police department, the Gun Trace Task Force was known for its success in capturing suspected drug dealers, their stashes and their illegal firearms. But two pronounced their innocence and went to trial, which I covered for the BBC. He is very remorseful.". I lived modest, we wasn't enriching ourselves," he answers. Prosecutors pointed to the fact that Jenkins fabricated evidence, like producing a bogus iPhone video of his officers cracking a drug dealer's safe, when they had in fact already broken into it and stolen $200,000 in cash. The line goes dead, and I feel like I've barely gotten anywhere. They had the autonomy to catch and release suspects and develop informants. BALTIMORE The Baltimore City Board of Estimates paid out a $6 million settlement Wednesday to the family of a bystander who died during a police chase by the . While he may not be ready to let go of his animus towards Jenkins, Stepp's strange journey seems - at least for now - to be heading towards a happy ending. 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. And Jenkins, whod been identified as a rising talent early in his career, was celebrated among department brass and rank and file officers as a leader with an uncanny knack for delivering the goods. Jenkins had to affirm under oath in front of a federal judge that what the document said was true. I wish I would never have stopped that vehicle," he said. This call is from", A human voice breaks in: "Wayne Jenkins.". When the man stopped his car and started to run away, Jenkins drove after him and into someones front yard, where he struck him. Then, in November 2017, he was given further charges of destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations, and deprivation of rights under color of law. Jenkins got a bronze star for his part in the 2009 recovery of 41 kilograms of cocaine $1 million worth in a mans truck. They said that while they had their backs turned, someone had clocked OConnor and taken off. Jenkins said: "I never had [theft complaints] because I never took money off individuals. Near Druid Hill Park, amid the shouting, sirens and buzzing choppers overhead, he commandeered a state prison department van and helped pull injured officers inside. Wayne Jenkins, who led the Gun Trace Task Force, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges including racketeering, robbery and falsifying records. Over the course of four phone calls (courtesy of some traded bags of crisps), Jenkins paints a picture of the Baltimore Police Department as a place where indoctrination into corruption starts almost immediately. "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 crime - just get him.". Wayne Jenkins from Baltimore was sentenced to 25-years-in-prison. 2023 BBC. Instead, they go out looking for illegal activity people exchanging drugs or displaying bulges under clothing that could be guns. Image Credit: Baltimore Police Department. It was still daylight, and Jenkins opened a black and red duffel bag. For the most part, these defendants decided it wasnt in their interest to tell government authorities that. When I saw the video, Webb later told The Sun, it didnt corroborate what was in the statement of probable cause at all.. My hope - maybe a naive one - was that hearing one of these men speak candidly about how he crossed over to the dark side would help the public better understand the casual, day-to-day corruption that can happen in policing. The drop-offs included marijuana, cocaine and MDMA, all of which Stepp did his best to sell. Five of the former officers, including Jenkins, pleaded guilty. You will not be charged for this call. Jenkins, along with Detective Ben Frieman, had followed an African American man driving a nice car through Northeast Baltimore. Then-Police Commissioner Anthony Batts had created a Force Investigation Team to inspire public trust that police leaders were keeping an eye on officers use of force. I ask this friend why he didn't say anything to anyone. In federal court, Mickey Oakley argued that the officers who arrested him including Jenkins and future Gun Trace Task Force member Daniel Hersl had lied about the circumstances leading up to the arrest and had illegally searched his home. And in the midst of that investigation, another arose. Prosecutors investigated and even presented evidence to a grand jury but concluded they didnt have enough evidence to obtain an indictment. In an incident to which Jenkins would later plead guilty, the officers handcuffed two men. The show briefly depicts Wayne Jenkins' wife in episode 5, and we are told that Wayne takes time off for the impending birth of his child. They direct their work, approve overtime pay and provide reports to higher-ranking supervisors. Wayne Jenkins a former Marine? In May 2014, three Baltimore prosecutors convened a meeting. What if a complaint was made? 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. He served 20 months of a five year sentence in connection with the Gun Trace Task Force case, before being granted a compassionate release. 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. "I got 25 years. Maurice Ward, the former detective now in prison, also remembers De Sousa coming to the rescue and reducing the punishment, though he believes Jenkins was still suspended. Amid controversies over the years, police brass would publicly disband the units, then reconstitute them with the same personnel under a different name. "He's never been a true friend," Stepp says. In a 26 page letter hand written from his cell at the Federal Corrections institution in South Carolina, former Baltimore Police Sergeant Wayne Jenkins tells a judge that he saved a . In 2010, when Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale wanted a special squad to go after elusive suspects, Jenkins was picked for the group. I ask. His supervisors and others either failed to see the red flags or chose to ignore them. Former Baltimore Police Sgt. "This is not the man I know," she wrote. He also says that he only made roughly $75,000 off of the narcotic sales, as opposed to the figure put on it by Stepp. One such warning came in 2010 from a Baltimore man caught drug dealing. But nothing more. Jenkins would stop bringing those big drug seizures to the evidence room, and instead give them to Stepp to sell. No one took anything, but Jenkins later mused about the possibilities. 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. Command created the monster, she said, and allowed it to go unchecked.. He told the other officers to leave their cell phones and police vests in the car. He was scared. Later, Jenkins did more than talk about such a theft. When Jenkins was on paternity leave, commanders groused that his squads productivity dropped. Jenkins earned praise outside the department, too. Would they report the incident? He idolizes this guy, said Shelley Glenn, another prosecutor. After three weeks of astonishing testimony, the jury found the two remaining officers guilty. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. As adults, they ran into each other again at an underground card game frequented by Baltimore Police officers. Reflecting on the revelations of his misconduct, Lt. Marjorie German concluded that department leaders gave Jenkins too much leeway because they were enamored of his results. Hes given us all hes going to give us, Glenn said. Jenkins pleaded guilty in January and admitted taking part in at least 10 robberies of Baltimore citizens, planting drugs on innocent people and re-selling drugs he stole from suspects on an almost daily basis, including heroin, cocaine and prescription painkillers. I never aimed nothing at him . Both men have requested new trials. And that's what I did.". He says something that I've never heard anyone admit out loud. "There was cameras everywhere, so I would never have took a dollar," he tells me. He points to the plea agreement, in which Jenkins agreed that his cut of their drug sales came to roughly $250,000. Using wiretaps and hidden recording devices, they had accumulated a wealth of evidence showing the officers were robbing citizens, filing for hundreds of hours of overtime they never worked, stealing drugs and even selling illegal firearms back on the streets. 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. "How police act towards people ain't changed," he told me recently. Jenkins was a member of the Baltimore police department's Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), a plain-clothed unit tasked with finding guns and drugs in bulk in a bid to tackle the city's high murder. In Justin Fenton's book We Own This City, on which the HBO series is based, the Baltimore Sun journalist explained that Jenkins would often be "caught in a lie" while giving evidence to a jury, but no complaints were put on his record. Plainclothes officers made the most arrests, they seized the most drugs and money, assets, former Police Commissioner Kevin Davis told The Sun. He was arrested along with almost every member of the unit in March 2017. Not long after Stepp flipped on his former friend, Jenkins pled guilty. The officer they talked to didnt seem like a candidate for that, the lawyers said. He was also the ringleader of a criminal enterprise of police officers who were robbing people and dealing drugs. Back before our interview, Jenkins' representative wanted me to speak to some of his old high school friends. He claims that he was told early on to lie on police reports and warrant applications in order to make their arrests sound like they were done with proper probable cause, meaning a legal reason to stop someone. At the time, Stepp was running his own bail bond company, Double D Bail Bonds. Still, a yearlong investigation by The Baltimore Sun found warning signs that Wayne Jenkins wasnt such a good cop.
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