UPDATE: Hersl and Taylor have been found guilty – click here for details.
Original story below…
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A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment charging three previously indicted Baltimore City Police Officers with additional robberies.
The superseding indictment charges the defendants with racketeering conspiracy, robbery, extortion, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
The superseding indictment was unsealed on Friday and charges the following defendants:
Sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins, 37, of Middle River
Detective Daniel Thomas Hersl, 48, of Joppa
Detective Marcus Roosevelt Taylor, 30, of Glen Burnie
A federal grand jury also returned a separate indictment charging two additional defendants, who are not police officers but were posing as police officers, with robbing two Baltimore City residents and with brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. The indictment alleges that the two named defendants committed the robbery with a Baltimore City police officer. The second indictment was unsealed on Friday and charges the following defendants:
Thomas Robert Finnegan, 38, of Easton, Pennsylvania
David Kendall Rahim, 41, of Baltimore, Maryland
Jenkins, Hersl, and Taylor had previously been ordered to be held pending trial. Finnegan and Rahim will have their initial appearances in court on Friday.
The 6-count superseding indictment alleges that Jenkins, Hersl and Taylor engaged in 13 robberies, extortion, and time & attendance fraud. According to the indictment, beginning in 2011, the defendants stole money, property, and narcotics by detaining victims, entering residences, conducting traffic stops, and swearing out false search warrant affidavits.
According to the superseding indictment, in spring 2015, Jenkins stole at least 20 pounds of high-quality marijuana and at least $20,000 from two individuals who were conducting a drug sale at Belvedere Towers in Baltimore City. Jenkins falsely told the buyer and seller that he was a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent, to conceal his identity, and that he was seizing the money and drugs and would make a decision about whether to charge them later. Jenkins then drove Taylor and a co-defendant to a wooded area off of Northern Parkway and gave them $5,000 each from the stolen money. After the incident, Jenkins went to a strip club in Baltimore County where he then robbed a stripper.
According to the superseding indictment, in summer 2016, Hersl stole money from the car of an arrested suspect. Hersl drove one of his co-defendants to the parking lot of a local high school, which was near the incident, and gave him a portion of the stolen money. While Hersl and the co-defendant were splitting the stolen money, Jenkins broke into the arrested suspect’s storage unit and stole 2 kilograms of cocaine.
The superseding indictment alleges that in June 2016, Jenkins believed that a co-defendant owed him money, so Jenkins gave the co-defendant drugs and a firearm that had been seized in a law enforcement operation, and told him to sell them. The co-defendant, along with another co-defendant, sold the firearm to a drug dealer.
The superseding indictment also alleges that the defendants committed systemic time and attendance fraud, including claiming overtime when they were at home and on vacation.
According to the superseding indictment, between spring 2011 and October 2016, the defendants allegedly conducted 13 separate robberies, taking over $280,000, more than 2 kilograms of cocaine, other narcotics, a 9mm handgun, a $4,000 wristwatch, and other property.
The superseding indictment alleges that the defendants obstructed law enforcement by alerting each other about potential investigations of their criminal conduct, and turning off their body cameras to avoid recording encounters with civilians.
