They said Jenkins instructed them to carry BB guns to plant on suspects to justify their actions if they made a mistake. View all articles on the Gun Trace Task Force on The Baltimore Sun. He was also the ringleader of a criminal enterprise of police officers who were robbing people and dealing drugs. Across the country, these plainclothes squads have often been where scandals are born. The topic: Can we get Wayne Jenkins? Wayne Jenkins, who led . Judge Blake ultimately decided to sentence him to 25 years, saying she was taking into consideration the fact that he pleaded guilty and co-operated to some extent with the prosecutors. Although she did not address the court, in a letter to Judge Catherine Blake, Jenkins' wife Kristy asked for leniency. 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. He told the other officers to leave their cell phones and police vests in the car. April 25, 2022 5:45 PM EDT. She described how the unnamed officer talked about Jenkins: Hes probably the best drug detective in the city. His account and Jenkins claim that hed found the gun is evocative of testimony by two of Jenkins officers in the 2018 Gun Trace Task Force trial. "I still maintain my innocence. Jenkins, shown here with then-Commissioner Kevin Davis, was awarded a bronze star in April 2016 for his efforts to save injured officers during the unrest a year earlier. Ex-police sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins apologised in court for the crimes he committed while heading an elite squad called the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). This partnership lasted for five years. Credit: Baltimore Police. You guys willing to go kick in the dudes door and take the money? Jenkins said. He says he was told that because these officers were so successful at seizing guns, there was nothing to be done. Then 34, he was already an admired leader of aggressive street squads and would go on to head the elite Gun Trace Task Force, one of the Baltimore Police Department's go-to assets in the fight against violent crime. He admitted to knowing . 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. The two said Jenkins had found drugs in the ceiling of a mans vehicle. In September 2021, Jenkins spoke with BBC journalist Jessica Lussenhop from behind bars, and he claimed he never took money from Baltimore citizens. It was during these games that Stepp heard Jenkins boasting about the large drug stashes he often came across during his work as a plainclothes police officer. Stepp's moving on with his life - in a sense. "Absolutely. "It's a surreal story. 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. 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. Jenkins earned praise outside the department, too. In Jenkins' plea, it says that "in April 2015 following the riots after the death of Freddie Gray, Jenkins brought DS prescription medicines that he had stolen from someone looting a pharmacy so that DS could sell the medications". Prosecutors urged the judge to sentence him to the maximum 30 years, adding that the unit's corruption affected 1,700 criminal cases. One former supervisor never responded. Image Credit: Baltimore Police Department. The jury was shown axes, machetes and pry bars, as well as black masks that were found in Jenkins' van after his arrest. Wayne Jenkins. Please sign up today and help make a difference. Jenkins and members of his squad were praised for their work getting guns off the streets in an October 2016 police department newsletter. And yet, here we are, me in my closet "studio" and him at the front of a line of 20 to 30 other inmates, all waiting for their turn on the prison phone. "So you did take money, ultimately?" Fenton joined The Sun as a suburban reporter in 2005. "You have nightmares about police officers harassing you, beating you up, just locking you up, it's just a nightmare that I have and it basically hasn't gone away yet," he said. But when the sun came up on 1 March 2017, the city awoke to a vastly different reality. But, he added, I think that if I am held responsible for my actions, then the same should be with the officers for their wrongdoing.. For the most part, these defendants decided it wasnt in their interest to tell government authorities that. Wayne Jenkins was living a double life. But they needed more information. He said he started dealing drugs at age 9, selling. Their work is not to be confused with undercover operations, in which police officers assume a different identity and worm their way into a criminal organization. He had been stationed in North Carolina and would frequently make trips home to visit his family and his high school sweetheart Kristy, the . HBO asked Stepp to be a consultant on the project, which he enthusiastically agreed to do. Jenkins winced as the handcuffs were placed on his wrists, and US Marshals led him out of a back door of the courtroom. 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. A reporter also reviewed videos of judicial proceedings stemming from the officers arrests. Its a Viking mentality: You go out into the field among the bad guys, and you bring back a bounty, Davis said. These misconduct allegations came as Jenkins was serving in various plainclothes units well before his appointment in 2016 to head the Gun Trace Task Force, one of the departments most celebrated plainclothes squads. Jenkins entered a department steeped in zero tolerance a war on crime fueled by arrests for even minor infractions. Barksdale, the former deputy commissioner who crafted department strategies from 2007 to 2012, leaned heavily on plainclothes units. Here is everything you need to know about the real Jenkins and where he is now. Over the years, I wrote to all of these former officers in prison several times, asking them to help me understand their breathtaking crimes. They walked far enough so they couldnt be seen from the street. It was still daylight, and Jenkins opened a black and red duffel bag. It turned out that federal agents had the unit under surveillance for months. Back before our interview, Jenkins' representative wanted me to speak to some of his old high school friends. He's due to be released in 2038. But Whiting is not so optimistic. When I saw the video, Webb later told The Sun, it didnt corroborate what was in the statement of probable cause at all.. And of course, Jenkins is also hoping for a sentenced reduction of some kind. It was billed at the time as the largest cocaine seizure in department history, one of Jenkins many large-scale seizures. Sneed's attorney Michael Pulver concluded, per Fenton, that the officers had "fabricated this story to hide the fact that they intentionally assaulted and falsely arrested and imprisoned Mr. Wayne Jenkins, Gun Trace Task Force officer, The woods of Powder Mill Park, where Det. They are not typically tethered to specific posts, or burdened by responding to 911 calls. But during the subsequent investigation, Frieman told detectives that he never saw a gun in Simons hand and that rather than being in imminent danger he was around a corner and out of sight when Jenkins ran down Simon. Wayne Jenkins joined Baltimore's police department way back in 2003 as a beat cop patrolling the streets of Baltimore. More than 50 people including current and former police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys and victims were interviewed. He goes on and on gushing about Sergeant Jenkins, Assistant States Attorney Jenifer Layman said. Back then, Jenkins escaped scrutiny again. When the officers circled back later, the two were still outside holding beers. The longest sentence was handed down to Jenkins: 25 years. He points to the plea agreement, in which Jenkins agreed that his cut of their drug sales came to roughly $250,000. Plainclothes officers, as the description suggests, just work in street clothes usually casual rather than uniforms. Jenkins did not testify at the trial, but in a way, he was the star of the entire proceeding. Baltimore Police Sgt. Command created the monster, she said, and allowed it to go unchecked.. Ward, now working with Jenkins for the first time, recalled the officers pulling over a car in East Baltimore that had two trash bags full of money. 2023 BBC. FOX45 looks at the 8 former officers of the Gun Trace Task ForceThe ring leader of the squad Wayne Jenkins is currently serving the longest sentence out of the members federally indicted on . I ask, slightly confused. It's going to happen again," he said. Weeks later, I search these locations myself to see if I can find anything. Credit: U.S. Attorney's Office. De Sousa, who later served as commissioner and is currently serving time on federal tax charges, says he doesnt remember the case. Ward wasnt sure what to make of it. Shawn Whiting, a man whose house was robbed of $16,000 and a kilo-and-a-half of heroin, testified that he knew that as a drug dealer, his word counted for much less than the officers'. He admitted to knowing . Hed grown up in the working class suburb, where his father worked two jobs, including at Bethlehem Steel. Because believe me, I'll stand my ground in a second.". Jenkins was hired by the Baltimore Police Department in 2003, according to state records obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Wayne Jenkins, Baltimore's dirtiest cop, is sentenced: It still doesn't feel like justice Jenkins was supposed to get guns off the street in Baltimore but wound up running a vicious. In fact, Fries went on to promote Jenkins in June 2006 into a high-profile plainclothes unit called the Organized Crime Division. When Jenkins was allowed to speak, he turned first to face the Davis family and apologised repeatedly. Ward and the other cop followed Jenkins into the woods. At OConnors trial, Fries remarked that the others were worthless and didnt meet the standards of the organized crime unit. Used to tell me he won it playing poker.". I lived modest, we wasn't enriching ourselves," he answers. Jenkins later alleged in official paperwork that Simon had pointed a weapon at Frieman and that he ran Simon down to stop the threat. They ordered us to f--- them up; we f---ed them up, one of the responding officers, Robert Cirello, now retired, said later in an interview with The Sun. The line goes dead, and I feel like I've barely gotten anywhere. 'You say this, you say that, right?' Then they spilled out of the house and onto the sidewalk, struggling. Youve got to be willing to dig into their s--- and confront them, Barksdale said. All seven now sit in federal prisons scattered across the country. In January, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh fired her police commissioner and replaced him with former Deputy Commissioner Darryl De Sousa, who promised sweeping reforms to the department. He said together, they'd sold about $1m worth of narcotics. 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 . The sergeant took no one else from the flex squad. After he was sent to federal lock-up, I wrote Jenkins a letter once a year - along with many other journalists, book authors, producers and documentary filmmakers - requesting an interview. None of the cases led to any police department discipline for Jenkins, his personnel records show. There is no love lost between these two former friends. It didn't take long before Stepp began to suspect that Jenkins ratted him out. He was scared. Wayne Jenkins is a former BPD Sergeant who served as the leader of the Gun Trace Task Force. During his 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, along with Detective Ben Frieman, had followed an African American man driving a nice car through Northeast Baltimore.