Baltimore Police officer charged with lying about record-setting bust in which nearly 7 pounds of cocaine were found in truck
It was billed as the biggest cocaine bust in Baltimore Police Department history: officers from the elite Violent Crimes Impact Division conducting surveillance on a West Baltimore drug trafficker a decade ago found 41 kilograms of cocaine in the back of a truck.
“Just good old fashioned police work from the ground up," read the commendation awarded by the department to officers in on the bust.
But as the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal continues to break down the mythology around the department’s hard-charging plainclothes units, federal prosecutors say that record-setting bust was not as it appeared.
Detective Ivo Louvado was charged Thursday with lying to the FBI about participating in a scheme to sell cocaine from that bust. Prosecutors said in court records that he and two others conspired to sell 3 kilograms that were not reported as seized, giving the drugs to a confidential informant to sell and dividing the proceeds among themselves. Louvado’s alleged cut: $10,000.
Louvado is the 14th officer charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the continuing investigation — sparked in 2015 by a drug case that led to a wiretap of a police officer — that uncovered long-running misconduct by members of the Gun Trace Task Force, including robbing citizens, lying in police reports and drug dealing.
Two other officers were implicated in the latest charges — former Sgt. Keith Gladstone, who pleaded guilty to taking in part in a BB-gun planting incident and has not been sentenced yet, and an officer identified only by his initials, “V.R.”
The Sun reported last week that police said Det. Victor Rivera, who was part of the unit at the time of the cocaine bust, was suspended as part of an ongoing investigation. Police now say he retired this month. He has not been charged with a crime.
The charging document says “V.R.” sold the cocaine to a confidential informant of his, and that “V.R.” received the proceeds and shared them with Louvado and Gladstone.
The case has been on federal investigators’ radar for some time: Prosecutors say Louvado voluntarily participated in an interview with the FBI in May 2018 and was asked about the cocaine seizure. The defendant charged in the drug bust, Trenell Muprhy, had his federal sentence of 20 years reduced by five years in February 2019 after a joint motion by prosecutors and Murphy’s defense attorney. He is due to be released next January.
The Sun reported last week that Rivera, Louvado and Craig Jester, who also took part in the bust, were suspended along with at least one other officer with ties to GTTF Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, who is serving a 25-year sentence in connection with being the ringleader of the GTTF, and Gladstone.
The charges say that 41 kilograms were submitted as evidence, but Louvado, Gladstone and “V.R.” later found three more kilograms from the Murphy seizure that were left behind. It is not clear whether it was an oversight or intentional.
“Rather than turn this cocaine into BPD, Louvado, K.G. and V.R. agreed to sell the cocaine and split the proceeds from its sale,” the charging document reads.
“V.R.” coordinated the sale with an informant who was a drug dealer, and split the proceeds with the other officers.
The officers received a Bronze Star from the department for the bust and other efforts. The commendation said then-Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale had tasked members of the Violent Crimes Impact Division to step up enforcement and that the squad, led by Sgt. William Knoerlein, “accepted the challenge.”
“In a thirty-day period they arrested five violent traffickers along the I-95 corridor netting 44 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $5,000,000,” the commendation read. “None of these cases utilized any complex investigative measures, just good old fashioned police work from the ground up.”
Reached for comment Thursday, Barksdale, who retired in 2013, maintained that the misconduct was largely hidden from top supervisors. ("Largely" but not entirely???)
“If these guys drifted off and turned to the dark side, I’m not defending them,” Barksdale said.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/cr...zny-story.html
It was billed as the biggest cocaine bust in Baltimore Police Department history: officers from the elite Violent Crimes Impact Division conducting surveillance on a West Baltimore drug trafficker a decade ago found 41 kilograms of cocaine in the back of a truck.
“Just good old fashioned police work from the ground up," read the commendation awarded by the department to officers in on the bust.
But as the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal continues to break down the mythology around the department’s hard-charging plainclothes units, federal prosecutors say that record-setting bust was not as it appeared.
Detective Ivo Louvado was charged Thursday with lying to the FBI about participating in a scheme to sell cocaine from that bust. Prosecutors said in court records that he and two others conspired to sell 3 kilograms that were not reported as seized, giving the drugs to a confidential informant to sell and dividing the proceeds among themselves. Louvado’s alleged cut: $10,000.
Louvado is the 14th officer charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the continuing investigation — sparked in 2015 by a drug case that led to a wiretap of a police officer — that uncovered long-running misconduct by members of the Gun Trace Task Force, including robbing citizens, lying in police reports and drug dealing.
Two other officers were implicated in the latest charges — former Sgt. Keith Gladstone, who pleaded guilty to taking in part in a BB-gun planting incident and has not been sentenced yet, and an officer identified only by his initials, “V.R.”
The Sun reported last week that police said Det. Victor Rivera, who was part of the unit at the time of the cocaine bust, was suspended as part of an ongoing investigation. Police now say he retired this month. He has not been charged with a crime.
The charging document says “V.R.” sold the cocaine to a confidential informant of his, and that “V.R.” received the proceeds and shared them with Louvado and Gladstone.
The case has been on federal investigators’ radar for some time: Prosecutors say Louvado voluntarily participated in an interview with the FBI in May 2018 and was asked about the cocaine seizure. The defendant charged in the drug bust, Trenell Muprhy, had his federal sentence of 20 years reduced by five years in February 2019 after a joint motion by prosecutors and Murphy’s defense attorney. He is due to be released next January.
The Sun reported last week that Rivera, Louvado and Craig Jester, who also took part in the bust, were suspended along with at least one other officer with ties to GTTF Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, who is serving a 25-year sentence in connection with being the ringleader of the GTTF, and Gladstone.
The charges say that 41 kilograms were submitted as evidence, but Louvado, Gladstone and “V.R.” later found three more kilograms from the Murphy seizure that were left behind. It is not clear whether it was an oversight or intentional.
“Rather than turn this cocaine into BPD, Louvado, K.G. and V.R. agreed to sell the cocaine and split the proceeds from its sale,” the charging document reads.
“V.R.” coordinated the sale with an informant who was a drug dealer, and split the proceeds with the other officers.
The officers received a Bronze Star from the department for the bust and other efforts. The commendation said then-Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale had tasked members of the Violent Crimes Impact Division to step up enforcement and that the squad, led by Sgt. William Knoerlein, “accepted the challenge.”
“In a thirty-day period they arrested five violent traffickers along the I-95 corridor netting 44 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $5,000,000,” the commendation read. “None of these cases utilized any complex investigative measures, just good old fashioned police work from the ground up.”
Reached for comment Thursday, Barksdale, who retired in 2013, maintained that the misconduct was largely hidden from top supervisors. ("Largely" but not entirely???)
“If these guys drifted off and turned to the dark side, I’m not defending them,” Barksdale said.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/cr...zny-story.html
I guess your life is so boring you need something to do 
