Crooked Baltimore Cops Hersl and Taylor Convicted of Robbing Drug Dealers as well as Innocent Victims, and Fleecing Taxpayers of Overtime

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

 U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake on May 28, 2019, sentenced former Baltimore Police Detective Jemell Lamar Rayam, 38, of Owings Mills, Maryland, to 12 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a racketeering conspiracy, including multiple robberies, and overtime fraud. 

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jennifer L. Moore of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

“This case exposed crime and corruption being committed by those sworn to uphold the law and protect citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.  “We will prosecute criminals whether they wear a badge or not.”

Rayam joined the Baltimore Police Department on July 12, 2005 and was later assigned to the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), a division of the Baltimore Police Department. According to his plea agreement, Rayam schemed to steal money, property, and narcotics by detaining victims, entering residences, conducting traffic stops, and swearing out false search warrant affidavits. In addition, Rayam prepared and submitted false official incident and arrest reports, reports of property seized from arrestees, and charging documents. The false reports concealed the fact that Rayam and his co-conspirators had stolen money, property, and narcotics from individuals.

According to his plea agreement, beginning in 2009, Rayam robbed civilians he detained and in some cases arrested and stole money and drugs from them.  Rayam shared the proceeds with co-defendants Momodu Gondo, Wayne Jenkins, Daniel Hersl, Marcus Taylor, and others, and on other occasions, he kept all of the proceeds for himself.  Rayam also sold, through associates of his, drugs that Jenkins stole from detainees and arrestees, gave them to Rayam, and split the proceeds of those sales with his co-defendant. 

Rayam participated in 15 robberies from June 2014 through October 2016. Rayam admitted that he was armed with his BPD service firearm during the robberies, that individual victims of the robberies were physically restrained to facilitate the commission of the offense, and that he authored false and fraudulent incident reports and other official documents in some cases in order to conceal his criminal conduct and otherwise obstruct justice.

Rayam also robbed detainees and arrestees with another police officer, who was not a member of the GTTF.  Rayam and this other police officer would falsely represent that they had a search warrant, when they did not, in order to gain access to someone’s home and would then steal money and other things of value.  In addition, Rayam had an associate who would inform him when a drug dealer had a significant amount of cash in his home and when the associate knew that the drug dealer would not be in the home.  Rayam would then rob the drug dealer’s home with the assistance of other associates of his who were not police officers. 

On October 5, 2016, Rayam and his co-conspirators robbed a drug dealer after he and Gondo placed a tracking device on the victim’s car without court authorization so that they could rob his apartment when he was not home.  Rayam and Glen Kyle Wells entered the victim’s apartment.  Rayam was wearing a ski mask and was armed with a BPD-issued firearm. Rayam and Wells stole a Rolex watch, a firearm, $12,000 to $14,000 in cash, and at least 800 grams of heroin.  After the robbery, Rayam and his co-conspirators split the money they had stolen.  Wells took the drugs and money, and Wells sold some of the drugs and gave Rayam a portion of the proceeds.  Wells then gave Rayam a quantity of drugs that he had been unable to sell, which Rayam in turn sold through an associate. 

On June 27, 2014, Rayam and his co-defendants executed a search and seizure warrant at a store that sold birdseed.  No illegal contraband or firearms were found at the location.  The storeowners, a married couple, had $20,000 in cash at the store that they intended to use to pay off tax liabilities they owed on two homes. Rayam later contacted two associates and agreed to rob the home of the storeowners.  The associates presented themselves as police officers and stole $20,000, while Rayam remained in the car so he could intercept the police officers that responded to the incident by pretending to respond to the incident himself.  Rayam split the proceeds with his associates.

Rayam admitted that on March 11, 2015, he, Gondo, former Sergeant Thomas Allers, and another person, who was not a police officer, searched a residence and discovered a large quantity of cash.  Rayam took between $8,000 and $10,000 of the cash. Gondo and Allers also took some of the cash. 

As detailed in his plea agreement, on July 8, 2016, Rayam and his co-defendants Hersl and Gondo detained two victims after a car stop.  Rayam stole money from one of the victims. At Jenkins’s direction, Hersl, Rayam, and Gondo transported the two victims to a BPD office to interrogate them.  Jenkins told his co-conspirators to treat him like he was the U.S. Attorney.  After speaking with one of the individuals, Jenkins, Hersl, Gondo, and Rayam then transported both of the victims to their home and robbed them of $20,000 among themselves.  Jenkins, Hersl, Rayam, and Gondo divided the $20,000.  Rayam authored a false incident report to conceal the stolen money, which Jenkins approved.

According to the statement of facts agreed upon as part of Rayam’s plea, in the fall of 2016, Jenkins approached Rayam and asked him to sell drugs that Jenkins had stolen from detainees.  Rayam agreed and sold the drugs Jenkins gave him and shared the proceeds with Jenkins.  Jenkins maintained that Rayam owed him money for drugs that Jenkins had given him.  After seizing a firearm and marijuana, Jenkins told Rayam to sell the firearm and marijuana in order to pay Jenkins the money that Jenkins believed Rayam owed him.  Gondo subsequently arranged for an associate of his, who was a drug dealer, to buy the firearm and marijuana.  Gondo’s associate gave Rayam money for the sale of the firearm and marijuana. 

Rayam also admitted that he routinely submitted false and fraudulent individual overtime reports defrauding the Baltimore Police Department and the citizens of the State of Maryland.  On these reports, Rayam falsely certified that he worked his entire regularly assigned shifts, when he did not, and that he worked additional hours for which he received overtime pay, when he had not worked all and in some cases any of those overtime hours.  Rayam also admitted that he submitted false and fraudulent overtime reports on behalf of his co-defendants.

Lastly, Rayam admitted to obstructing law enforcement by alerting his co-defendants about potential investigations of their criminal conduct, coaching them to give false testimony to investigators from the Internal Investigations Division of the BPD, and turning off his body-worn cameras to avoid recording encounters with civilians. 

A total of eight former members of the BPD Gun Trace Task Force were convicted for racketeering and related charges.  Former Baltimore Police Sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins, age 38, of Middle River, Maryland was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for a racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, two counts of robbery, destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation, and four counts of deprivation of rights under color of law. Former Detectives Daniel Thomas Hersl, age 49, of Joppa, Maryland and Marcus Roosevelt Taylor, age 32, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, were convicted after a three-week trial and were each sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, for racketeering conspiracy and racketeering offenses, including overtime fraud, and robbery. Former Sergeant Thomas Allers, age 49, of Linthicum Heights, Maryland was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, for racketeering conspiracy and racketeering offenses, including nine robberies.  Former Detective Momodu Gondo, age 36, of Owings Mills, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for a racketeering conspiracy and for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin.  Former Detectives Evodio Hendrix, age 34, of Randallstown, Maryland, and Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, age 39, of Middle River, were each sentenced to seven years in federal prison, after pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy, including several robberies and overtime fraud.

Crooked Baltimore Cops Hersl and Taylor Convicted of Robbing Drug Dealers as well as Innocent Victims, and Fleecing Taxpayers of Overtime

BALTIMORE, MD.  – While six of their co-defendants entered guilty pleas, two Baltimore Police officers assigned to the Gun Trace Task Force decided to contest the corruption charges against them.

Name: DONALD STEPP
Register Number: 63581-037
Age: 55
Race: White
Sex: Male
Released On: 01/28/2021

Hersl and Taylor each face 20 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy, 20 years in prison for racketeering, and 20 years in prison for Hobbs Act Robbery. 

On February 12, 2018, a federal jury convicted Detective Daniel Thomas Hersl, 47, of Joppa, Maryland and Detective Marcus Roosevelt Taylor, 30, of Glen Burnie, Maryland for racketeering conspiracy and racketeering offenses, including robbery and overtime fraud.

Hersl and Taylor were convicted of racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, and Hobbs Act Robbery. The two defendants were acquitted of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

In some cases, there was no evidence of criminal conduct by the victims; the officers stole money that had been earned lawfully.

According to evidence presented at the three-week trial, Hersl and Taylor stole money, property, and narcotics from victims, some of whom had not committed crimes; swore out false affidavits; submitted false official incident reports; and engaged in large-scale over time and attendance fraud.

In some cases, there was no evidence of criminal conduct by the victims; the officers stole money that had been earned lawfully. In other instances, narcotics and firearms were recovered from arrestees. In several instances, the defendants did not file any police reports. The amounts stolen ranged from $200 to $200,000.

• Count One, racketeering conspiracy, charged 14 acts of robbery and extortion violations committed by Hersl and Taylor in 2015 and 2016 when they were officers in the police department’s Gun Trace Task Force, a specialized unit created to investigate firearms crimes.
• Count Two, a substantive racketeering charge, alleged those crimes as well as 16 acts of robbery and extortion committed by Hersl and Taylor beginning in 2015 before they joined the task force.
• Count Three and Five, charged Taylor and Hersl, respectively with Hobbs Act Robbery and Extortion.
• Count Four and Six, charged Taylor and Hersl, respectively with Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence

Prosecutors report that it was proven at trial that Hersl and Taylor stole money, property, and narcotics by detaining victims, entering residences, conducting traffic stops, and swearing out false search warrant affidavits. In addition, the defendants prepared and submitted false official incident and arrest reports, reports of property seized from arrestees, and charging documents.

The following six co-defendants had all previously pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges;

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

•Gondo 10 years •Jenkins 25 years •Hersl 18 years •Taylor 18 years •Allers 15 years •Hendrix 7 years •Ward 7 years

•           
• Sergeant Thomas Allers, 49, of Linthicum Heights, Maryland

Rayam admitted that on March 11, 2015, he, Gondo, former Sergeant Thomas Allers, and another person, who was not a police officer, searched a residence and discovered a large quantity of cash.  Rayam took between $8,000 and $10,000 of the cash. Gondo and Allers also took some of the cash.

Name: THOMAS ALLERS
Register Number: 63378-037
Age: 53
Race: White
Sex: Male
Release Date: 06/11/2030
Located At: FCI Coleman Low

•             Detective Momodu Bondeva Kenton Gondo, a/k/a GMoney, and Mike, 36, of Owings Mills, Maryland

Detective Momodu Bondeva Kenton Gondo, 34, was hired by the department in 2005.

Gondo was 23 and two months out of the police academy in 2006 when he was shot three times in the back while off duty during an armed carjacking outside his home in the city.

Gondo had arrived at his home in the 5700 block of The Alameda on Dec. 5, 2006, when he was approached by a gunman, police said. Gondo struggled with the gunman before he managed to pull out his semiautomatic service weapon and shoot him.

Police charged Collin Hawkins in the shooting. During the trial, the only evidence presented was Gondo’s identification of his alleged assailant in a photo array. The jury acquitted Hawkins. He was later sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in a November 2006 carjacking.

Gondo lived in Owings Mills. He earned $71,400. He made $29,100 in overtime in 2016.

Name: MOMODU BONDEVA GONDO
Register Number: 62925-037
Age: 38
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Release Date: 09/07/2025
Located At: FCI Butner Low

•             Detective Evodio Calles Hendrix, 32, of Randallstown, Maryland

Name: EVODIO CALLES HENDRIX
Register Number: 62927-037
Age: 36
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Release Date: 02/16/2023
Located At: FMC Devens

•             Sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins, 37, of Middle River, Maryland

Sgt. Wayne Earl Jenkins, 36, was hired by the department in 2003.

He was one of two officers named in a March 2014 incident in which police said he struck an armed suspect with his car.

Officers arrested the man and officers recovered a pistol, the department said at the time.

Jenkins was named in a settlement in 2008. Baltimore City officials agreed to pay $75,000 to Timothy O’Conner of Bel-Air after he said Jenkins struck him.

O’Conner was involved in an argument outside a bar in Southeast Baltimore in 2005 when officers responded. O’Conner allegedly cursed at one of the officers and said he was then struck by Jenkins.

Jenkins lived in Middle River. He earned $85,400 a year. He made $83,300 in overtime in 2016 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

1Name: WAYNE EARL JENKINS
Register Number: 62928-037
Age: 41
Race: White
Sex: Male
Release Date: 07/16/2038
Located At: FCI Ashland

•             Detective Jemell Lamar Rayam, 37, of Owings Mills

Rayam and two other detectives were driving past an alley near the 2800 block of W. Garrison Ave. on March 6, 2009, when they stopped to question Shawn Corey Cannady, according to news accounts at the time. The officers said Cannady began to drive the car toward them, and Rayam fired once, striking the car, which crashed into a house. Cannady died two days later. Baltimore City officials agreed in 2013 to pay Cannady’s family $100,000.

The other shootings, in June and October 2007, did not cause deaths, and the department deemed them justified. Rayam received a citation of valor for his role in one of those shootings.

Rayam lives in Owings Mills. He earned $71,000 a year. He made $30,800 in overtime in 2016.

Federal prosecutors grilled Rayam on overtime abuse and played taped phone calls that seemed to show a callous disregard for stealing taxpayer money by padding overtime or filing overtime slips for hours they didn’t work.

Rayam broke down twice during his testimony.

The prosecutor asked Rayam about a car crash caused by a chase the Gun Trace Task Force initiated on August 31, 2016 near the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Rayam seemed confused at first and said, “There were so many crashes.” He was referring to the number of crashes the unit caused by chasing.

When he recalled the crash, Rayam said this crash, “was bad, it was real bad.”

He testified that Sgt. Wayne Jenkins ordered the squad to do nothing and listened to the police radio to see if it would be reported. Rayam said he wanted to check on the passengers but Sgt. Jenkins wouldn’t let him.

“I was being a follower. I should have called it in and I just didn’t,” Rayam testified.

Rayam said Jenkins was worried citiwatch cameras caught their chase.

Taped phone call revealed Det. Hersl said they could just file overtime slips showing they clocked out before the crash.

Rayam broke down about the crash saying it could have been you, referring to the jury. 

“It could have been any one of you guys. It could have been my mother,” he said on the stand.

Rayam broke down again and said, “Even though I was doing so much bad, it got to a point where too much was too much.”

In cross examination, Hersl’s attorney brought up that Rayam was suspended for 2 years after an internal affairs investigation found he took $11,000. He was placed with the Gun Trace Task Force when he was reinstated.

The defense also brought up that Rayam was involved in 3 shootings in 29 months.

The main defense continues to paint Sgt. Jenkins as the ringleader and the member were just following orders.

Rayam described Jenkins as untouchable or a “prince” in the department.

Name: JEMELL LAMAR RAYAM
Register Number: 62929-037
Age: 40
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Release Date: 05/23/2027
Located At: FMC Rochester

•             Detective Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, 37, of Middle River.

According to the plea agreements, Hendrix and Ward admitted to participating in four robberies from February through August.  Hendrix and Ward also admitted that they were armed with their Baltimore Police Department (BPD) service firearms during the robberies, that individual victims of the robberies were physically restrained to facilitate the commission of the offenses, and that they authored false and fraudulent incident reports and other official documents in some cases in order to conceal their criminal conduct and otherwise obstruct justice.

For example, on February 17, 2016, Ward and one of his co-defendants stole $500 from an arrestee.  Ward then authored a false BPD incident report to conceal the robbery. 

On March 22, 2016, Hendrix and Ward admitted that they, along with two of their co-defendants, robbed a safe they found in the basement of a house they were searching, stealing more than $200,000 in the basement of a house they were searching. 

Similarly, on June 24, 2016, while executing a search warrant in a home, Hendrix stole money and later, after the search, gave a portion of it to Ward. 

On August 24, 2016, Hendrix stole money from an arrestee and then gave a portion of the cash to Ward. 

Hendrix and Ward also admitted that they and their co-defendants routinely submitted false and fraudulent individual overtime reports defrauding the Baltimore Police Department and the citizens of the State of Maryland.  On these reports, Ward, Hendrix and their co-conspirators falsely certified that they worked their entire regularly assigned shifts, when they did not, and that they worked additional hours for which they received overtime pay, when they had not worked all and in some cases any of those overtime hours. 

According to their plea agreements, Hendrix and Ward also admitted that they submitted false and fraudulent overtime reports on behalf of their co-defendants, with their co-defendants’ knowledge and at their direction, and that their co-defendants submitted false and fraudulent overtime reports on their behalf in return.  They both admitted that the practice at the GTTF was that if a sub-set of the GTTF had a gun arrest, all members of the GTTF, regardless of whether they had actually participated in the arrest, would submit individual overtime reports, as if they did, and receive salary and overtime for it. 

Ward was also sentenced to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. 

Name: MAURICE KILPATRICK WARD
Register Number: 62931-037
Age: 41
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Release Date: 02/16/2023
Located At: FCI Milan

Sentencing dates for Hersl and Taylor have not yet been scheduled.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the FBI, DEA, Baltimore County Police Department, and Harford County Sheriff’s Department for their work in the investigation. Acting U.S. Attorney Schenning also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leo J. Wise and Derek E. Hines, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.