Head of corrupt Baltimore police task force to plead guilty

BALTIMORE — The former leader of a specialized unit of Baltimore's police force will plead guilty in a corruption case. The Baltimore Sun reports Wednesday that former Sgt. Wayne Jenkins will enter a guilty plea Friday in federal court in Baltimore. The Sun says his lawyer confirmed the plea, but wouldn't specify what guilty counts to which Jenkins plans to plead.

Jenkins is among the group of detectives charged in a sweeping federal indictment with stealing from people they falsely accused. The elite unit was tasked with getting illegal guns off the streets of Baltimore, but federal prosecutors say they used their position to detain people on false pretenses, steal their money, fake police reports, lie to investigators, and defraud their department.

Jenkins' plea will make him sixth Baltimore officer charged in the case to plead guilty. His trial was scheduled to being on Jan. 22.

In additional charges announced last month, Jenkins was accused of duping a fellow officer into discovering a cache of heroin he planted in a car during a 2010 arrest. The duped officer was identified by Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis as Sean Suiter, who was fatally shot in the head with his own gun in November while probing a triple homicide in a particularly rough West Baltimore neighborhood.

Davis said Suiter was "not involved in any way, shape or form" in the deception and said Jenkins "was able to operate with impunity on this police department for far too long."

Suiter was scheduled to testify in the federal corruption case a day after he was killed.