thomas allers baltimore police racketeering
Thomas Allers - The Baltimore police sergeant was the eighth officer from the department to be indicted in a federal racketeering case.
A Baltimore police sergeant was indicted on federal racketeering charges, authorities announced Wednesday. He is the eighth from the department to be indicted in the case.

Sergeant Thomas Allers, 49, of Linthicum Heights, was the officer in charge of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force, from which seven members have already been indicted for allegedly robbing residents.

Allers was charged with nine counts of robbery and extortion and allegedly stole more than $90,000, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

According to the recently unsealed indictment, he also alerted others on his team of the investigation into their conduct.

Allers, who has been with the Baltimore Police Department since 1996, headed up its special Gun Trace Task Force from 2013 until he was reassigned to a different unit on June 14, 2016, the district attorney said.

The task force to investigate firearms has since been disbanded by the police commissioner.

"The Baltimore Police Department remains dedicated to constitutional policing. I condemn any and all criminal activity that erodes our trust with the community," Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said in a statement on Wednesday.

The racketeering probe began in 2015 when the DEA found evidence of corruption by a Baltimore City police officer during a drug investigation, after which the FBI was brought in for a covert examination.

Seven officers on the special task force were indicted in March on racketeering charges.


Comment: 7 Baltimore cops indicted & arrested for robbery, extortion, filing false reports & fraud


corrupt baltimore police officers
© APBaltimore detectives Daniel Hersl (top left), Evodio Hendrix, Jemell Rayam, Marcus Taylor, Maurice Ward (bottom left), Momodu Gando and Wayne Jenkins were busted on racketeering charges.
"We are and have been embedded with the FBI/Baltimore field office's Public Corruption Task Force," Davis said. "This partnership ensures that police officers that commit criminal misconduct will face the certainty of accountability."

Allers was arrested and appeared in court Wednesday upon the unsealing of his indictment, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

The indictment alleges that he was involved in robbing individuals during investigations and lying on official reports. In these cases from 2014 to 2016, he was accused of stealing $700 to $66,000 from victims who in some instances had not committed crimes:
  • Allers and other officers allegedly robbed people at a residence after making an arrest there, stealing more than $10,000. One of the residents was later fatally shot because he was unable to pay a drug-related debt, the district attorney said. Allers signed off on a report that said no money was taken from the residents in the case, which was from April 28, 2016.
  • Allers signed off on a report stating that $1,624 was seized from a residence in Baltimore where he executed a search warrant, when the district attorney alleges he took more than $7,000. The resident had $8,000 from drug sale proceeds, $300 for BGE, $900 for rent and $200 in her daughter's birthday money. That case was from March 2, 2016.
  • Allers and other officers were accused of taking $5,700 upon finding $6,000 in a home in Baltimore City, money the homeowners made from used car sales and a tax refund. The officers filed a report saying that $233 was taken in the case, which occurred on April 3, 2015.
On top of falsifying official paperwork from seizure reports to charging documents, the indictment says that Allers let other members of the task force know about the racketeering probe when their conduct was under investigation.

Authorities said Allers faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.