Officer charged with drug dealing dealt heroin in police parking lot, according to feds
The Baltimore police officer charged with running his own drug ring was so brazen, federal prosecutors say in court papers backing up an indictment filed Tuesday, that they say he dealt drugs from the parking lot of the Northwestern District station.
It's just one of the details contained in 50-page affidavit that details part of the FBI investigation that included wiretaps on phones and surveillance. Read Justin Fenton's full story here. And here is one part about the stationhouse:
Authorities charge Baltimore Police Officer Daniel Redd with running a suspected heroin organization with Tamim Mamah, also known as Abdul Zakaria. On March 31, at 9:55 a.m., the FBI says it intercepted this telephone conversation:
Mamah: Where you say you want me to meet you at?
Redd: At my building. Not down where, where I work, at but at the building. You know how you meet me on the lot?
Mamah: Yeah
Redd: No, not down, not down at Park Heights. Up at the building.
Mamah: Oh, okay, okay, okay, alright, okay
Redd: Up near the five mile, you know up there at my station.
FBI: "Subsequent law enforcement video surveillance observed Redd leaving the Northwest District Police Station, located at 5271 Reisterstown Road, while in full police uniform, retrieving something fromhis car, the 2004 Acura TL, and placing it in his jacket pokcet. Redd was then observed walking to another part of the parking lot. ... I believe that Redd and Mamah met in the Baltimore City Northwest District Police Station parking lot so that Redd could give Mamah a quantity of heroin."
Here are some of the latest scandals to hit city police:
February -- Federal authorities arrest 17 city officers and two owners of a towing company as part of a what prosecutors described as scheme in which drivers of damaged or disabled cars were steered to a repair shop in exchange for kickbacks for police. Five police officers and the owners have pleaded guilty. Court documents implidate as many as 50 officers.
2006 -- A sergeant and six plainclothes officers in the Southeastern District were accused of embellishing or making up cases to obtain arrest warrants. None of the officers were charged with crimes and it's unclear what, if anything, happened with the internal investigation.
2006 -- Two Baltimore police detectives were sentenced to each serve more than a century in prison for shaking down drug dealers for money, and stealing cocaine and heroin for their informants. They argued that their tactics were widely used and endorsed as part of legitimate undercover work.
2005 -- Police commanders disbanded the Southwestern District's "Flex Squad" after an officer was charged with raping a woman in the police station. Detectives reported finding drugs haphazardly kept in desk drawers and evidence that members had been planting contraband on suspects. Nothing ever came of the broader investigation into the squad.
Categories: Courts and the justice system
Comments
If these claims are true, then we not only live in a prohibition-derived police state, but we live in a *corrupt* prohibition-derived police state.
Do yourself and your kids a favor and demand an END to the federal marijuana prohibition.
Posted by: Jillian Galloway | July 20, 2011 12:31 PM
This just stinks. You wonder why drugs are as easy to get in Baltimore than it is to get a haircut. The Baltimore Sun needs to do more. I miss the days of real investigative journalism. This should motivate our biggest paper to do more. We need follow up on this latest scandal. I find it hard to believe this guy was a lone wolf. I would love to see the day when the Sun actually looks for news to report.
--
As I reported, Redd has been under suspicion for years. But there's a difference between a whisper campaign and reportable facts. It took a six month wiretap investigation by the FBI to bring this to light, and as of July 20, 2011 wiretaps are not among my options in reporting. I think our reporting on the shooting of an unarmed informant in NW Baltimore (http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-03-07/news/bs-md-ci-informant-killed-20110307_1_informant-shooting-investigation-police-headquarters) is just one example showing that we're willing and able to investigate the department. This current story is also not over. -JF
Posted by: Darron | July 20, 2011 8:40 PM
This is just another case where our so called "serve and protect" officers are abusing their uniform. This guy better be fired, without an investigation, and without pay!! What a disgrace.
Posted by: D. Provo | July 21, 2011 11:53 AM
I thought Rupert Murdoch said wiretaps were okay? ;)
Posted by: Cham | July 21, 2011 8:36 PM
There is a problem in the leadership: there are always going to be scum, slime police littered among those who want to honestly protect & serve.
Any law-abiding citizen (that would be those of us who are born and legally entitled tobe here...since there seems to be a problem understanding what that means) can see that Crime pays. It pays with the politician's that we continually elect: regardless of party. We see it with those deemed celebrities (even when they are untalented, media ho's), we see it related to murderer's and rapist, drug dealers and the like.
This human, alleged police heroin dealer, if convicted needs to be made an example of: he should receive a stifling sentence; honestly I think he deserves the death penalty for the absolute criminality of it all given his position.
But, how do you decrease the tempation for a cop who sees the largese of the dealers? who sees the backstabbing politics played out in the police department? who sees criminality in how promotions and decisions are made in any department?
Often departmens are picking from the bottom of the barrel to get employees...some already have relatives in gangs and locked up...
The people (us) are at a disadvantage and the behavior of the scum cops and politicians: judges, defense attorney's, aclu and others contribute to baltimore being the killing field it is.
Posted by: Lynn | July 25, 2011 11:33 AM