American Scandal - Police Corruption in Baltimore | Broken Boundaries | 3

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

In the summer of 2016, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins gets his most prestigious assignment yet: heading up the Gun Trace Task Force, one of Baltimore’s best plainclothes units. It's the perfect cover for his increasingly illegal activities. But what Jenkins doesn't know is that the task force is already under investigation by federal authorities.Need more American Scandal? With Wondery+, enjoy exclusive seasons, binge new seasons first, and listen completely ad-free. Start your free trial in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or visit wondery.app.link/IM5aogASNNb now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, this is Lindsey Graham, host of American Scandal. Our back catalog has moved behind a paywall. Recent episodes remain free, but older ones will require a Wondery Plus subscription. With Wondery Plus, you get access to the full American Scandal archive, ad-free, plus early access to new seasons and more. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. A listener note, this episode contains strong language. It's mid-August 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Detective Mamadou Gondo peers through the blinds of his second-story apartment window. Outside, he sees a black sedan parked just across the street, and a middle-aged man is sitting behind the wheel. He's been there for hours, and with every minute that ticks by, Gondo is growing more and more concerned he's under surveillance. Gondo paces his living room. For the past few months, he's been worried that he and his partner, Jamel Ram, are being investigated. And if they are, that could be a big problem,

because they've stolen significant quantities of drugs and cash over their many years on the Baltimore police force. For most of that time, Gondo felt confident that their crimes were flying under the radar. He and Ram serve on one of the department's most elite squads, the Gun Trace Task Force, and their commanders have always seemed happy with their work. But a few months ago, their longtime leader abruptly transferred to another unit, and something about the speed of his transfer struck Gondo as suspicious. So when Sergeant Wayne Jenkins was brought in to take over the squad, Gondo was wary at first. He thought Jenkins might be installed by Internal Affairs to root out wrongdoing. But if anything, it's been the

opposite of that. Jenkins has turned out to be every bit as crooked as Gondo and Ram, if not more. But Gondo still hasn't been able to shake his concerns about being watched. Now that he's seen this guy parked outside his building all day, he feels certain he's being staked out. He needs to do something about it. So Gondo grabs his keys and races out of his apartment, running down the stairs. But as soon as he opens the front door, he hears the black sedan's engine start up. It looks like the driver saw him coming and is trying to leave. Gondo rushes to his carport and throws himself into his vehicle. He peels out of the driveway just in time to see the sedan take a right at the end of the block.

Gondo steps on the gas and flies around the corner, keeping the black sedan in his sights. He trails it for a mile down tree-lined streets, past an ice cream truck and kids playing in the spray of a fire hydrant. Finally, he catches up to the sedan and cuts in front of it so the driver's boxed in. Gondo needs to find out who this guy is. He flings his door open, marches over to the other car, and pounds on the driver's window. The window opens just a crack. Yo, who are you? Why are you staking out my place? I don't

know what you're talking about. You're the one who started chasing me after you were sitting outside my apartment for hours. Streets are public property. I can sit there as long as I want. I didn't say you couldn't. I asked you why you were there. What are you, FBI? County? Man, you're paranoid. Answer my questions. Who are you? I'm no one. Just let me go. There's no reason I should be being watched. I didn't do anything wrong. I just do the work. Hey, that's good to know, man. Now let me go before I call the cops. Brother, I am a cop, but you already know that. I don't know anything about you.

I was just minding my own business when you came tearing up behind me. And if you really are police, I should report you. Gondo shakes his head, frustrated. This is going nowhere. Fine, whatever you say, but I better not see you outside my apartment again. Gondo heads back to his car and starts up the engine. He backs up so the sedan can get out. The driver pulls away, glaring. Even though the driver admitted nothing, Gondo is certain that he's law enforcement. When the car is out of sight, he reaches into his pocket and calls his squad leader, Wayne Jenkins. He needs to set up a meeting with Jenkins right away. If Gondo or anyone else on the gun trace task force is under investigation, the whole team could be in serious trouble.

the whole team could be in serious trouble. In the past decade, Boeing has been involved in a series of scandals and deadly crashes that have dented its once sterling reputation. At the center of it all, the 737 MAX. The latest season of Business Wars explores how Boeing allowed things to turn deadly and what, if anything, can save the company's reputation. Make sure to listen to Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal. For years, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins thought he had beaten the system.

In his role as an officer with the Baltimore police, Jenkins ignored probable cause and violated people's civil rights to secure arrests. He also often stole from drug dealers, pocketing their cash and reselling their drugs. But despite his criminal behavior, Jenkins became a star within the department. Because he made a lot of arrests and got a lot of guns off the street, Jenkins got promoted again and again. Then, in the summer of 2016, Jenkins was given his most prestigious assignment yet, heading up the Gun Trace Task Force. This task force was considered one of Baltimore's best plainclothes units. They operated with near impunity and without much oversight. But this

squad of super cops was actually a squad of super criminals. Many of the officers on the task force were running their own schemes, similar to Jenkins, and as far as any of them knew, the higher-ups were completely unaware of their illegal activities. But the gun-traced task force wasn't flying under the radar as they thought. Nearly a year before Jenkins was named the head of the squad, federal investigators had started to realize something was seriously rotten in the Baltimore Police Department. This is Episode 3, Broken Boundaries. It's October 2015, a little less than a year before Mama Dugondo chased down a man he believed was staking out his apartment. In an interrogation room at the Harford County Sheriff's Department, about 45 minutes northeast of Baltimore,

Corporal David McDougal is packing up his files. He's just completed an interview with a local drug dealer named Aaron Anderson, and he's feeling good about how it went. For months, McDougal has been on a mission to stop the spread of heroin in Harford County. The rural and suburban area has been plagued by overdoses, and policing addicts hasn't helped the situation. So McDougal has turned his attention to stopping the drug suppliers, and Anderson is the biggest supplier he's bagged yet. But McDougal knows that Anderson is still far from the top of the food chain. So just now, McDougal struck a deal with Anderson. To avoid jail time, Anderson is going to help McDougal take down one of the biggest dealers in the county, a guy named Antonio Shropshire Jr.

To McDougal, it feels like the first major success in his entire investigation. But just as McDougal finishes packing up the last of his files, he hears a knock at the door and looks up to see one of his colleagues scowling through the small window. McDougal's stomach sinks. He can tell from the look on his colleague's face that something bad's going down. McDougal tucks the files under his arm and joins his colleague in the hallway. Hi, what's up? McDougal's colleague shows him a small black box with a magnet attached to one side.

We just pulled this GPS tracker off Anderson's car. What's the problem? I had a tracker on Anderson's car back when we started trailing him. Yeah, but it's not our tracker. This is a second one. Colleague hands the tracker to McDougal, who studies it more closely. Yeah, you're right. This isn't one of ours. Who do you think placed it? Other cops?

No, I checked the databases. No other agencies listed that they were investigating Anderson. But you know, Anderson's apartment was broken into not too long ago. He suspected Shropshire's crew. Maybe there's a connection here. If we find out that one of Shropshire's guys put this tracker on Anderson's car, that could be a big break. Sounds like you better subpoena the manufacturer. Yeah, we need to find out who purchased this thing. McDougal heads to his desk to start typing up the subpoena, thrilled to have this new lead.

He has a feeling that if he can find out who put this tracker on Anderson's car, it could be the linchpin in his case against Shropshire. So McDougal eases into his chair and sets the GPS tracker down next to his keyboard. It's hard to believe that such a cheap, off-the-shelf device could bring down one of the biggest drug dealers in the county. But that's what McDougal loves about police work. Even the smallest things can break a case wide open. McDougal quickly secures the subpoena and sends it over to the manufacturer.

And the very next day, he gets a response by email confirming that the GPS tracker was sold just last month to a man named John Cluel. McDougall doesn't recognize the name, so he runs a search in the state court database to see if Cluell's ever been arrested. And when the results come back, McDougall is shocked. John Cluell isn't a criminal. He's a cop, a detective in the Baltimore Police Department, assigned to a plainclothes unit called the Gun Trace Task Force. For McDougall, this immediately sets off red flags. Police officers are allowed to place GPS trackers on civilian cars, but only using department-approved devices, and only if they have a warrant to do so. But according to the GPS manufacturer,

Cluel bought this tracker online, had it shipped to his home address, and was paying the monthly service fee with his personal credit card. McDougal is almost certain that Kluwe is up to something, but investigating other cops falls outside his jurisdiction. So McDougal packs up everything he's found and turns it over to the FBI. And when the FBI reviews McDougal's files, they agree with his assessment. Baltimore Police Detective John Cluell needs to be looked into further. The FBI opens an investigation codenamed Broken Boundaries. They assemble a team of lawyers and detectives, including Corporal McDougall, and assign FBI

Special Agent Erica Jensen to lead the case. Jensen is a veteran of the agency, with over a decade of experience investigating both criminal street gangs and public corruption. It seems like this case might involve both. So when Jensen starts digging in, the first thing she needs to find is a connection between Cluel and Aaron Anderson, the drug dealer who owned the car on which Cluel's tracker was found. The prevailing theory is that Cluel is somehow involved in the Harford County drug trade, either through Anderson or Antonio Shropshire Jr. But when Jensen starts digging around, she finds nothing. Kluwil doesn't have any complaints filed against him, and he doesn't

appear to have any connection to either Anderson or Shropshire. So Jensen shifts her focus to Kluwil's colleagues on the Gun Trace Task Force, and she makes a startling discovery. Two of the other officers on the task force have deep ties to the Harford drug trade. According to records, Kluel's colleague Jamel Ram once lived next door to Aaron Anderson, and Detective Mamadou Gondo grew up very close to where Shropshire and his crew deal drugs. These connections aren't enough to get a wiretap on the officer's phones or anything, but the discovery tells Jensen that she's on the right track, and the investigation continues. Then, in the spring of 2016, Jensen gets the breakthrough she's been waiting for.

It's late in the day, and Jensen is in her office, reviewing notes, when a fellow investigator, John Siraki, appears in the doorway. Siraki is from the Baltimore Police Department's Internal Affairs Division, on loan to the FBI for this investigation. He asks if she has him in it, and Jensen tells him to come in. Siraki eases himself into the chair

across from Jensen's desk and explains that he was recently going through the wiretap they have set up on Antonio Shropshire when he came across an interesting call from Shropshire to Detective Mamadou Gondo of the Baltimore PD. Hearing this, Jensen's eyebrows shoot up. Seraki hands her a USB drive, encouraging her to listen for herself. Jensen plugs in the drive and starts the recording. Shropshire's deep voice comes through the speakers of her computer.

He tells Gondo he found a GPS tracker on his car and asks if Gondo knows anything about it. Gondo tells Shropshire to call him back on FaceTime so he can see the tracker for himself. Jensen pauses the recording and jokes to Seraki that there seems to be a GPS tracker on every car in Baltimore. It was a tracker on Aaron Anderson's car that sparked this whole investigation. Seraki chuckles, but tells Jensen to keep listening. The best part is yet to come. So now Jensen watches a video captured from Shropshire's FaceTime. On this recording, she hears Gondo instruct Shropshire

to pull the phone back so he can get a better view of the tracker. When Gondo can see it, he confirms that the tracker is definitely the kind used by law enforcement. He can't tell which branch, but some cop has his eye on Shropshire. Shropshire raises his voice in alarm, telling Gondo that he's going to put it on someone else's car to throw the cops off. But Gondo's voice suddenly gets guarded. He mumbles something about not even knowing who he's talking to. Seraki pauses the video and smirks, noting that Gondo clearly has realized too late that Shropshire's phone might be tapped. Jensen stops the recording and launches out of her chair. This is it, she tells Seraki. This is the evidence they need to get a wiretap on Gondo's

phone. Jensen thanks Seraki and then sits back down, rolls up her sleeves, and starts typing up a warrant application. With the evidence that Mamadou Gondo was helping a drug dealer evade law enforcement, Jensen's warrant gets approved. The FBI puts a wiretap on Gondo's phone, and within days, they begin to hear him making some very suspicious calls. It's not quite the hard evidence they need to prove that Gondo is corrupt, but within a month, Jensen has proof that the Gun Trace Task Force's impressive arrest stats shouldn't be taken at face value. One day, Jensen hears Gondo call an informant after pulling over a drug dealer named Nicholas DeForge. The informant tells Gondo that DeForge

has a gun in the right pocket of his jacket. The informant swears she saw DeForge put it in there when he left the house. But as the officers search DeForge, Gondo starts getting irritated. He tells the informant that DeForge isn't even wearing a jacket. Eventually, the officers find a gun in DeForge's backpack and then place him under arrest. But there's something about the call between Gondo and the informant that raises Jensen's suspicions. So she pulls the arrest report and discovers it tells an entirely different story than what Jensen heard on the phone. For one thing, it makes no mention of the call from the informant. Instead, it says that officers saw DeForge place the gun

in the backpack. It also says they found the gun almost immediately, even though Jensen knows they didn't. Jensen has a hunch there's even more to this arrest, so she pulls the recordings of all the calls DeForge has made from jail. And what she hears reveals that the case is even bigger than she imagined. But before she tells the rest of her team, she wants to make sure she's interpreting what she heard correctly. So she schedules a meeting to get a gut check from one of the lawyers on the Broken Boundaries team, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise. And when Jensen walks into Wise's office, she's visibly excited. Wise asks what's going on, but all Jensen is willing to say is that she's brought something for him to listen to and that she wants his unbiased opinion. Wise nods, and Jensen begins

playing a recording of a phone call DeForge made from jail. At first, DeForge just vents to his girlfriend about feeling like he's been set up. Then the girlfriend asks about the $1,500 in cash DeForge had the day he was arrested. DeForge is confused. The police told him they gave it to her, but DeForge's girlfriend says no. They gave her his wallet, but there wasn't any money in it. DeForge says he never kept much money in his wallet. Most of his cash was in a money clip in his pocket.

But DeForge's girlfriend is adamant that the police never gave her a money clip. Jensen stops the recording. She says she checked the evidence log, and the Gun Trace Task Force didn't log any cash from DeForge. Jensen tells Wise that she knows it sounds unbelievable, but she thinks the Gun Trace Task Force might have stolen DeForge's money. Wise nods and says he thinks so too. Jensen then leans forward, hoping that Wise is on the same page. She tells him she doesn't want to make any arrests now, but she thinks this corruption probably runs deep within the Gun Trace Task Force. And if they want whatever charges they

make to have real teeth, they'll need to demonstrate a pattern and get evidence on everyone involved. It's quickly revealed that Wise is on board, but it won't be easy to build the case. Wise speculates that Gondo and his partner Jamel Ram will be hesitant to trust an undercover officer. Jensen agrees, thinking the only way to proceed is a sting operation. They need to catch the Gun Trace Task Force in the act. On January 5th, 2024, an Alaska Airlines door plug tore away mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of a plane that carried 171 passengers. This heart-stopping incident was just the latest in a string of crises surrounding the

aviation manufacturing giant, Boeing. In the past decade, Boeing has been involved in a series of damning scandals and deadly crashes that have chipped away at its once sterling reputation. At the center of it all, the 737 MAX, the latest season of business wars, explores how Boeing, once the gold standard of aviation engineering, descended into a nightmare of safety concerns and public mistrust. The decisions, denials, and devastating consequences bringing the Titan to its knees. And what, if anything, can save the company's reputation.

Now, follow Business Wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge Business Wars, the unraveling of Boeing, early and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune, and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Cone. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about. Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party, so. Yeah, that's what's up. But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down.

Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was f***ed up. I hit rock bottom, but I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace, from law and crime, this is The Rise and Fall of Diddy. Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus. By the summer of 2016, FBI agent Erica Jensen and her Broken Boundaries team have had a wiretap on Detective Mamadou Gondo's cell phone for about six weeks.

In that time, they've heard a number of suspicious calls, suggesting that Gondo is spending money far beyond a police officer's salary. But they still need definitive proof that Gondo and his colleagues on the Gun Trace Task Force are engaged in criminal activity. and his colleagues on the Gun Trace Task Force are engaged in criminal activity. So in June 2016, the Broken Boundaries team moves ahead with a sting operation. They decide to stage it by parking a motorhome in southeast Baltimore, right on the county line. They rig it up with hidden recording devices and fill it with props to make it seem like someone has been traveling in it. And then they plant $4,500 in cash as bait.

To put the sting into motion, they turn to Corporal David McDougall's supervisor from the Harford County Sheriff's Department. This supervisor calls the Gun Trace Task Force and tells them that the Sheriff's Department needs an assist. He spins a yarn about arresting a drug dealer who has told them about a motorhome, including where to find the key. Since it's over the city line and out of the Sheriff's Department's jurisdiction, he asks the Baltimore police to secure it. The hope is that when Gondo, Jamel Ram, and others find themselves alone in a motorhome with $4,500 in cash, they'll take it, and the hidden recording devices will catch them in the act. And at first, it seems like everything is on track.

Jensen is sitting in the command center, listening to the wiretap on Gondo's phone, as other task force members make their way to the motorhome. And when they arrive on the scene, she sees the task force scoping out the area and checking for surveillance cameras. Jensen knows this isn't normal behavior for police officers securing a site on behalf of other law enforcement. This is the behavior of criminals making sure their tracks are covered. But then something shifts. Rayam calls Gondo and tells him something feels off. He's not sure he buys that the sheriff's department can't spare anyone to secure the motorhome, and he wonders out loud if maybe this is a setup by Internal Affairs.

Gondo gets where Ram is coming from, but he's less worried and thinks they should go inside and take a peek. Jensen's heart pounds. If the task force members go inside but don't take the bait, the video of them acting by the book will be powerful evidence in their defense if this goes to trial. by the book will be powerful evidence in their defense if this goes to trial. Jensen can practically hear the defense attorney's impassioned speech railing against an overzealous government that has tried to set up these hardworking, unappreciated police officers who wouldn't dream of stealing money. So Jensen has just seconds to decide what to do. Ray M and the other officers are approaching the motorhome. Her whole case could succeed or fail depending on whether or not they fall for the sting. But at the last possible

second, Jensen decides she can't risk it. She grabs her phone, dials the number for David McDougal, and tells him to call it off. McDougal wonders if she's sure, but Jensen says she is. Jensen hangs up and then slumps in her seat, hoping she wasn't too late to stop the Baltimore cops from entering the motorhome. On a clock on the wall, she watches the second hand tick by, waiting for McDougal to call back, and finally her phone rings. It is McDougal, and he's caught them in time and waved them off. Jensen lets out a sigh of relief. Her investigation lives on to see another day. But now she needs to figure out another way to catch these corrupt cops in the act.

She has ideas for other potential sting operations, but now they all seem too risky. These cops are smart and suspicious. To bring them down, Jensen is going to need to be patient and careful. Just a few weeks after the aborted sting operation, the Gun Trace Task Force gets a new leader, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins. And at first, Erica Jensen welcomes the change. Agent Jensen actually knows Jenkins. Back in 2013, Jenkins arrested a suspect Jensen had been wiretapping. At the time, she found Jenkins to be abrasive, but she respected his police work. So Jensen proposes to the Broken Boundaries team that they bring Jenkins in on their operation as a kind of inside man. But David McDougal has reservations. In his role as a narcotics cop, McDougal has heard rumors that Jenkins might have ties to the drug trade too. So McDougal proposes that they wait, let Jenkins settle into his new

role, and see what Gondo says about him on the wiretap. McDougal's instincts prove correct. The day after Jenkins takes over the squad, the Broken Boundaries team overhears a phone call Gondo makes to Detective Maurice Ward, who worked with Jenkins on his previous plainclothes squad. In the call, Ward vouches for Jenkins as a fellow crooked cop, telling Gondo about the overtime fraud Jenkins routinely pulls and how Jenkins recently oversaw the robbery of a drug dealer named Orise Stevenson. So instead of becoming a member of the Broken Boundaries team,

Jenkins becomes another one of their targets. Agent Jensen continues to listen to Gondo's phone calls, but she knows the wiretap is only revealing a fraction of the criminal activities taking place on this crew. To get a more complete picture of what these guys are up to, Jensen wants to place a device inside Gondo's service vehicle that can record both audio and video. But to get a warrant for this, the Broken Boundaries team needs to prove that Gondo is having criminal conversations in his car. It's a catch-22. To get the warrant, they need proof of criminal conversations. But to get the proof, they need the warrant. So for two months, Jensen and her team hold off.

They continue listening to Gondo's phone calls, building their case with what they can. But then, in mid-August, Gondo spots and confronts an FBI agent surveilling him outside his apartment building. The agent denies being law enforcement, but Jensen is worried about what this means for her investigation. At this point, both Gondo and Jamel Ram about what this means for her investigation. At this point, both Gondo and Jamel Ram have expressed concern about being under investigation, and Agent Jensen is worried that they'll change their behavior, making it harder for Operation Broken Boundaries

to build its case. Above all, though, she's worried that Gondo might ditch his phone, thinking it's tapped. So before that happens, Jensen needs more than ever to get a recording device into Gondo's car. But the warrant is still a no-go, so Jensen scours the Baltimore Police Department handbook, looking for a kind of loophole or exemption. And she finds one. Baltimore police officers waive their expectation of privacy while in their service vehicles. This means they can be monitored while in their cars, no warrant necessary. Now Jensen just needs to find an opportunity to plant the device. And in late August 2016, a few weeks after Gondo's encounter with the agent staking out his

apartment, an opportunity presents itself. Gondo leaves town, and the minute he does, a team of FBI agents tow his service vehicle to an FBI facility where they can put in the recording device. There, they install a camera and microphone at the back of the car, angling the camera so that it can capture most text messages that Gondo sends or receives. Then they tow the car back to Gondo's apartment. The night after this equipment is installed, Jensen is back at the FBI's regional headquarters, watching footage from Gondo's car in real time, and she's shocked by what she sees. The Gun Trace Task Force is out in two separate vehicles. Jenkins is driving one car with a detective named Marcus Taylor. Gondo is driving the other, with Ray M in the passenger seat and Detective

Daniel Hursall in the back. The crew have stopped at a gas station just west of downtown Baltimore. Agent Jensen knows from other conversations that they like to stop drivers for not fastening their seatbelt as they pull away from the pump. And suddenly, Detective Taylor's voice squawks through the radio from Jenkins' car. He saw a driver at the gas pumps rolling a joint. Jenkins' car peels out after a Chevrolet, and Gondo takes off after him. Gondo then flips on his police lights, but Rayanne barks for him to turn them off. Without the lights, it's hard to identify Gondo's unmarked car as a police vehicle. All the while, through the camera, Agent Jensen can see raindrops hitting the windshield. This is bad news. The roads are undoubtedly growing slick,

and suddenly, there is a loud crash. The Chevrolet Jenkins and Gondo were chasing, plowed through a red light, and t-boned another car going through the intersection. The car that was hit spins through the street, and the Chevy hops up on the curb, its driver seemingly unconscious. Gondo slams on his brakes, but Jenkins' car is out of sight. Agent Jensen watches breathlessly as rain hits the windshield, wipers going. She sees Gondo turn to Ray out. Well, shit, what do we do now? Well, we gotta see if everyone's okay. There are cameras all around here. We didn't look like we were driving too crazy, did we? I don't know. But I can get on the radio and say I got a report of an accident.

But from the backseat, Herschel tells Rayam and Gondo not to do anything. He's on his cell phone relaying instructions from Jenkins, who says they should just hang out until someone else reports it. Then, if the responding officers say anything about pulling security camera footage, they'll hear it. Gano nods. I don't think the traffic cameras around here can zoom in. They won't be able to pick up our tags. I don't think anyone will know we're involved. But Rayam shifts uncomfortably. Why don't we just go on to the scene like we just happened on it? We can just be like, is everything okay? No way, man. What if the driver recognizes us from the gas station? Herschel's phone rings again.

It's Jenkins, ordering them back to headquarters. He doesn't want them to stop and check on the accident. So Gondo starts up the car, and as the guys head back, they start to relax. One of them even laughs and says he wonders what drugs were in that Chevy. So Gondo starts up the car, and as the guys head back, they start to relax. One of them even laughs and says he wonders what drugs were in that Chevy. Meanwhile, in her office, Jensen removes her headphones, her hands shaking. She can't believe the officers are leaving the scene of an accident without even attending to people who might be injured in the crash. She debates reporting the officers herself,

but she can't think of a way to do that without jeopardizing the investigation. Instead, she starts pacing the room. She needs to find some way to get these officers off the street as soon as possible. Watching them is not enough. They're robbing people, violating their civil rights, and now people are hurt because of their actions. If Jensen and her team don't intervene soon, these rogue cops could get someone killed. So Jensen decides she can no longer afford to wait.

It's time for her investigation to start actively moving toward making arrests. I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mum's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery+. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti.

It read in part, This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me. And it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is Season 2 of Finding, and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

In the fall of 2016, FBI Special Agent Erica Jensen hits an unexpected setback in her investigation of Baltimore PD's Gun Trace Task Force. At November, the task force's corrupt leader, Wayne Jenkins, goes out on paternity leave for three months. And in Jenkins' absence, the Gun Trace Task Force slows down on all fronts. As a unit, they make fewer arrests. Detective Danny Herschel takes a month of personal time to remodel his house, and other officers spend most of their time hanging out in the office. The few times they are out in the streets in Mamadou Gondo's car, Jensen hears Gondo and Jamel Rayam on the hidden microphone repeatedly discussing whether they are under investigation. They usually dismiss the idea, but they keep circling back to it.

But one thing Jensen doesn't hear is the squad planning or executing any more crimes. Their concerns about being watched seems to have altered their behavior. And then, in early 2017, near the end of Jenkins' paternity leave, the Gun Trace Task Force seems to start breaking up. Ray M is recovering from leg surgery and is being moved to a desk job. Gondo and Herschel are about to get reassigned. Agent Jensen realizes that if she's going to bring these officers down, she needs to move as soon as Jenkins gets back from leave.

But there's still one major weakness in her case. None of the squad's victims are willing to testify against them. Many of the victims are worried about detailing their own criminal behavior to the FBI. Others feel like cooperating with any form of law enforcement is a violation of the no-snitching code that pervades the streets of Baltimore. The FBI knows there's not much they can say to quell these victims' concerns, but they need to find at least one that's willing to talk. So Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise reaches out to someone who might be able to help.

So Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise reaches out to someone who might be able to help. Defense Attorney Ivan Bates has represented numerous clients who have been victimized by Wayne Jenkins. So he's thrilled to hear that federal authorities are finally taking Jenkins' crime seriously. But when the feds ask if any of Bates' clients would be willing to talk, Bates can only think of one. About a year ago, Jenkins pulled over a man named Orise Stevenson without probable cause. During that encounter, Jenkins claimed to be a federal agent. He then obtained Stevenson's home address, entered his house without a warrant, and stole two kilos of cocaine and over $100,000 in cash. He also arrested Stevenson for drug possession, but Bates was

able to convince a judge that Jenkins' hyper-aggressive tactics were a violation of Stevenson's civil rights and the charges were dropped. So Stevenson would love nothing more than to see Jenkins get taken down. But now that he's a free man, he has no motivation for talking to authorities. He even changes his phone number so the FBI can't reach him. But Bates knows that Stevenson has a strong case against Jenkins, and he has a feeling that with a little convincing, Stevenson might come around. So Bates invites Stevenson to his office to discuss cooperating with the FBI. As Bates escorts Stevenson into his office, he notices Stevenson eyeing a vintage advertisement on the wall. The ad's for Bull Durham Tobacco and depicts a racist image of a group of black people

eating a watermelon on a porch. Stevenson turns to Bates. Now, why would a black man hang something like this in his office? Yeah, I found that in a thrift store and I forced myself to buy it, even though I thought it was one of the most vile things I'd ever seen. It's there to remind me of all the racism inherent in our legal system. Yeah, man, you're a weird guy. Well, that may be true, but we have an opportunity to fight that racist system together now. No, I'm not talking to the FBI. You want me to tell them that I had more drugs than the police said I did? No, I want you to tell them that a bunch of highly decorated police officers stole from you. No way.

The federal prosecutors have assured me that they're not interested in pressing any charges against you. And you believe them. It doesn't matter if I believe them. I'll get it in writing. Stevenson shrugs and looks away, unconvinced. Bates leans forward. Look, I got the charges against you dropped, didn't I? You were looking at decades in prison and you didn't face a day. You won the lottery. Now think about all the people that Jenkins and his guys have busted who were not so lucky. Those

people are just like you, except I wasn't able to help them. And they're sitting in jail, most of them for crimes they did not commit. You could help them get justice. No, no, no, I don't think so. You're a good lawyer. You don't need someone like me to take this guy down. Well, it is true my win rate against Jenkins is above average, and I'm proud of that. I get all kinds of evidence suppressed when he's the arresting officer. But it's not because I'm that good. It's because he's that bad.

He shouldn't be on the streets ruining lives. But I can't stop him by myself. I'm that good. It's because he's that bad. He shouldn't be on the streets ruining lives, but I can't stop him by myself. I need your help. Stevenson shifts in his seat. I don't snitch. When you're speaking about dirty cops, it's not snitching. It's doing the right thing. I'll think about it. Bates nods and Stevenson gets up to leave. Bates has done everything he can to convince Stevenson to talk to the police. He just needs to give him the time and space to decide what he's going to do. It's a big step for Stevenson to take. But Bates has seen a fighting spirit in Stevenson. He has a feeling that spirit is going to kick back in.

On February 2nd, 2017, after ultimately deciding to talk, Stevenson sits in front of a grand jury and testifies to the details of his run-in with Jenkins. It's a huge step for the Broken Boundaries investigation, but the team's work is far from finished. And as prosecutor Leo Wise exits the courtroom, lawyer Ivan Bates hands him a thick file folder and tells him these are other cases he might want to look into to help build his case against Jenkins. And after being convinced, several of Bates' clients talk to the federal authorities about their dealings with Jenkins. When viewed alongside the recordings from the wiretap on Mamadou Gondo's phone and the hidden recording device in his service vehicle,

this testimony paints a compelling picture of criminal cops running amok. So before the end of the month, prosecutors are able to secure indictments against seven members of the Gun Trace Task Force. Wayne Jenkins, Mamadou Gondo, Jamel Ram, Maurice Ward, Marcus Taylor, Evadio Hendricks, and Daniel Herschel, all charged with conspiracy, extortion, and robbery. It's a victory for the entire Broken Boundaries team, as well as for defense attorneys like Ivan Bates, who've been sounding the alarm against corrupt officers on the Baltimore police force for years. And with the indictment secured, it's finally time for Special Agent Jensen to start making arrests. But there's someone she needs to talk to first, Baltimore Police Commissioner

Kevin Davis. So she sets up a meeting with Davis to walk him through the evidence her team has collected. Davis was aware that the FBI was working on an anti-corruption case. Still, when he sees the details, his jaw drops. It's bad enough that so much corruption and criminal behavior happened on his watch, but the Gun Trace Task Force was supposed to be an elite unit, reserved for Baltimore's best and most effective officers. Instead, Jenkins and his crew abused their status, taking advantage of the trust the department placed in them and using their power to commit major crimes. Davis shakes his head. It's clear to him that this has been going on for years,

because these officers wouldn't have reached this level of brazenness and sophistication overnight. Jensen agrees, and then apologizes for keeping him in the dark. Davis waves his hand. He understands why she did. If he had any inkling of what the squad was doing, he would have pulled them off the streets immediately. But that would have ended the investigation, and along with it, the opportunity to get justice for anyone victimized by these crooked cops. Davis sits quiet for a moment, staring off into space. Jensen asks if he's okay, and Davis nods. He's just thinking about all the ramifications this is going to have.

The headlines, the protests, the cases that will have to be reexamined. Trust in the Baltimore Police Department is going to plummet, and they've just barely started to earn it back after Freddie Gray's death. Jensen nods. It's all true. Davis sighs and then says he's relieved, though, that the Baltimore Police Department officers assigned to the Broken Boundaries team, men like Sergeant John Siracchi, did their jobs well. They didn't leak anything to their fellow officers, and maybe the public can give the department credit for that.

Jensen wavers. That seems optimistic. She's not sure how much the public will care about intra-law enforcement cooperation. But Davis has had enough bad news for one day, so Jensen changes the subject. She reminds him that they still need to arrest these officers, and it won't be an easy task. These are seven highly trained cops. If they get word that an arrest is imminent, they could flee or even possibly go on a rampage. Davis nods. He shares her concerns. He suggests that the best way to keep any of the officers from fleeing or doing anything dangerous is to get the full Gun Trace Task Force to show up together somewhere without raising their suspicions

and then arrest them all at the same time. To work out the logistics, Jensen arranges for a meeting between Davis and the Broken Boundaries team. She's nervous and excited all at once. It's been over a year since she started investigating the Gun Trace Task Force. She's heard them abandon an injured man in a car crash for which they were partially responsible. She'd heard them refer to themselves as drug dealers. She'd heard them pull off extensive overtime fraud and repeatedly violate the civil rights of ordinary citizens. Now they're going to pay. But only if she can pull off this arrest

and finally bring these rogue cops to justice. From Wondery, this is Episode 3 of Police Corruption in Baltimore for American Scandal. In our next episode, federal investigators bring their case against the Gun Trace Task Force and the squad fights to prove their innocence. Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a survey at wondery.com slash survey. If you'd like to learn more about Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force, we recommend the books We Own This City by Justin Fenton and I Got a Monster by Baynard Woods and Brandon Soderbergh. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details.

And while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Trishan Paraga. Sound design by Molly Bach. Music editing by Katrina Zemrack. Music by Lindsey Graham. This episode by Katrina Zemrack. Music by Lindsey Graham.

This episode is written by Austin Rackless. Edited by Emma Cortland. Our senior producers are Gabe Riven and Andy Herman. Executive producers are Stephanie Jens, Jenny Lauer-Beckman, and Marsha Louis for Wondery.