By Brandon Soderberg and Baynard Woods

Thomas Allers, who was the sergeant of the Gun Trace Task Force for three years, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Judge Catherine Blake in federal court Friday. Allers was the eighth member of the Task Force to be indicted and the first to be sentenced.

Leo Wise, one of the U.S. State’s Attorneys prosecuting GTTF began by declaring Allers “betrayed the people of the city of Baltimore and the Baltimore Police Department,” and stressed that Allers’ role as Sergeant made him a “crucial actor” in robberies he allowed to happen, did not report to superiors, and engaged in with other GTTF members at the time, Jemell Rayam and Momodu Gondo.

“The very real fact that guilty people are going free because of [GTTF] actions,” Wise said of the hundreds of cases that have been dismissed due to GTTF officers lack of credibility. “Violent repeat offenders are going back out on the streets of our city…and it is all because of the actions of these men.”

Wise articulated the GTTF’s M.O. of robbing drug dealers, riffing on famed bank robber Willie Sutton who famously (and apocryphally) said, when asked why he robbed banks, “That’s where the money is.”

“In 21st Century Baltimore, you rob drug dealers because that’s where the money is,” Wise said.

Among the nine robberies Allers plead guilty to was the April 28, 2016 robbery of Davon Robinson for $10,000. As a result of that robbery, Wise said, Robinson was later shot and killed in front of his home, “in front of his child and the women he was living with at the time” because he could not pay a debt to a drug dealer.

Wise also mentioned that Allers’ robberies took place in “the privacy of home” and “not on the street,” which provided further cover and explains why Allers’ crimes were not revealed to the F.B.I. until after the initial indictment due to testimony from Rayam and Gondo.

For much of the morning, Allers, in gray prison garb, shackled, slumped in his seat, and shook his head at any mention of Rayam and Gondo, who Allers’ defense attorney Gary Proctor claimed were the instigators of the crimes which Allers could not control.

The Sgt. Thomas Allers who robbed and stole with other officers was hard to reconcile with the “Tommy” Allers, husband, father, guy who helped everybody out, and musician—as a singer-songwriter, frontman for a rock and country band called Last Call, and previously, an all-cop band named Three Little Pigz.

One of the many letters written to Judge Catherine Blake about Allers was from GTTF’s John Clewell, the only member not to be indicted. He calls Allers “a family man,” and mentions his backyard Tiki Bar, and provided an anecdote where Allers helped an informant, John, “suffering from addiction.”

“When Tom heard John talking about not seeing his father, Tom sprung into action and organized a road trip, on his day off, with John to see John’s father,” Clewell wrote.

Proctor also mentioned Allers’ son Trent’s own battles with drugs and Allers’ alcoholism which they said, was a way he coped with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder he endured due to years as a Baltimore Police officer.

Angel Allers, the former sergeant’s wife of 17 years, discussed her stepson Trent (who is alleged in the indictment to have accompanied Allers on a raid-turned-robbery) and how when Allers saw users on the streets of Baltimore they reminded him of his own son.

And even in prison her husband is trying to do the right thing.

“In the facility he is in now, he has broken up fights despite being one of the smallest people in there,” she said to the judge. “He’s still protecting people.”

She regretted encouraging her husband to apply for sergeant—she never had any idea that he would be held responsible for the actions of others, she claimed.

“It was the biggest mistake of my life to push him to be a sergeant,” she said, adding that he had tried to get Rayam and Gondo transferred out of the unit.

In his arguments, Wise countered this idea that Allers, the sergeant, had been corrupted by his subordinate. “The crucial, crucial actor in terms of oversight is the sergeant,” he said. “Unless the structure of these units is radically changed, the risk that a sergeant can take one of these units rogue is going to be there.”

Dozens of family and friends of Allers packed the courtroom, seemingly a testament to how well he was received within his own community even if many in the city of Baltimore felt terrorized by him. Among them, Wayne Lipham, Allers’ next door neighbor for 15 years. He described how the fence that separated their yards had two slats removed so Allers and Lipham could enter one another’s yard. Hanging on the fence was a sign which read, “Wayne’s World 100 Feet.”

“He could’ve got that by going to trial,” Lipham said of Allers’ 15-year sentence. “It’s just hard to figure out how a guy with all those years being a great cop, all of a sudden is working on a task force, tries to get rid of two of the guys, they don’t let him, and the wheels falls off.”

Proctor read from what he called a suicide note found in Allers’ home after he was indicted and his home was searched.

“I was wrong and I don’t know what to do,” the note read in part. “I’m tired of not sleeping.”

When Allers himself addressed Judge Blake, he spoke quietly.

“I never wanted to hurt anybody…I will live with this until the day I die,” he said.

He went on and mentioned how his time in prison had made him closer to “the lord,” and noted, “Everything happens for a reason.”

He ended with a send-off to those criticizing him.

“For everyone that wants to bash me on Facebook, writing me hate mail—God bless ya,” he said.

Blake acknowledged the testimony of his supporters and had read the dozens of letters that had been sent to her. “None of that either caused or excused… the criminal conduct he pleaded guilty to,” she said before announcing his sentence. His supporters in the courtroom erupted into tears.

Outside the courthouse, most of Allers family hurried away. A few sat huddled around in stunned bunches. Retired Lt. Steve Nalewajko, one of those who spoke on Allers’ behalf during sentencing, sat at a table outside the courthouse.

“He’s selfless,” Nalewajko said. “You threaten to lock up his son, you threaten to seize his wife’s assets and then you threaten him with 38 years and he pleads guilty and an innocent man goes to jail.”

According to Nalewajko, Gondo and Rayam made up the allegations against Allers, including that his son robbed a house with him, and prosecutors forced the charges.

“Gondo and Rayam get locked up right and plant a seed ‘can you testify and give us something that Allers did?,’ he said.

Michael Crutchfield, who said he had known Allers since he was six years-old, expressed the irreconcilable tension between the man described by the indictment and the man they knew.

“He may have gotten caught up and made some bad decisions. But all in all he was a great guy,” he said.

At many sentencings, there are victim impact statements to put a human face on the pain caused by the criminal. Although some family members of the victims were in the courtroom, there was an almost eerie imbalance to the proceedings as Allers was led away in handcuffs and many of those in the courtroom, wandered out sobbing, unable to reconcile the two different Tommy Allers presented in the court.

By Brandon Soderberg and Lisa Snowden McCray

Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa, who came into office on Jan. 19 and touted his integrity and devotion to transparency has been suspended following Thursday’s announcement that he had been charged “with three misdemeanor counts of failure to file a U.S. Individual Tax Return.”

Not long after Mayor Catherine Pugh announced his suspension, the Baltimore Sun reported that over the past few years, De Sousa has infrequently filed the mandatory financial disclosures with the city’s ethics board.

Deputy Commissioner Gary Tuggle will serve as acting commissioner.

The immediate responses to De Sousa’s charges yesterday made it seem as though it would be business as usual and the controversy whisked away. Officials were ready to forgive De Sousa before the full extent of the federal investigation was even revealed. Power protects power, always, and this was no exception with the mayor and councilmembers coming to the defense of the commissioner they’d put so much support behind just four months ago.

“I have full confidence in Darryl De Sousa in his capacity as Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department and trust that he will continue to focus on our number one priority of reducing violence,” Mayor Catherine Pugh said in a statement yesterday.

Councilperson Brandon Scott, the chair of the public safety committee and one of De Sousa’s most vocal supporters, did not respond to requests from the Real News for comment, but did tell the Baltimore Sun that he was disappointed but also had “faith in De Sousa.”

“He needs to own it, which he has, he needs to fix it and keep going with decreasing the numbers in our neighborhoods,” veteran City Councilperson Mary Pat Clarke said via a statement, presumably referring to De Sousa’s much touted ability to reduce crime.

And De Sousa himself, who could serve up to one year in jail and faces $25,000 fines for each of the years he did not file, released a statement of his own, where he admitted that he had not filed income taxes for those three years and apologized.

“While there is no excuse for my failure to fulfil my obligations as a citizen and public official, my only explanation is that I failed to sufficiently prioritize my personal affairs,” the statement read in part. “Naturally, this is a source of embarrassment for me and I deeply regret any embarrassment it has caused the Police Department and City of Baltimore.”

There was nothing in yesterday’s statement that mentioned the failure to disclose to the ethics board, revealed today. De Sousa, who has so far proven himself to be skilled at saying the right things and an artful dodger of tough questions, chalked the charges up as a personal matter, and Pugh, Scott, and Clarke essentially did the same.

But the investigation that resulted in charges that claim De Sousa did not file taxes in 2013, 2014, and 2015, was led in part by Leo Wise and Derek Hines, the two U.S. attorneys responsible for prosecuting and investigating The Gun Trace Task Force. Plenty of people who don’t file their taxes aren’t charged by the feds.

Despite hot-cold responses from the mayor, De Sousa’s charges was really the latest in a long list of hiccups and screws-ups that have dominated the BPD veteran’s four-month term.

De Sousa, Artful Dodger

It is one thing to not jump to conclusions when it comes to a federal charges, but it is another thing to absolve someone when the reason not all of the information is available is because the investigation is ongoing.

The Federal Court’s Motion To Seal, which is why the information surrounding De Sousa’s charges is still rather vague, mentions that De Sousa remains under federal investigation and that the investigation involves “the destruction of evidence and possible witness tampering.”

Those are serious crimes and none of the comments from city officials even acknowledged that part of the news about the commissioner. As Neill Franklin, former Baltimore Police Commander and currently, head of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) told the Real News hours after the news broke, “I am very very curious here and concerned because this is not typical of the average citizen. Usually there is extensive communication with the IRS before being charged criminally with failure to file your taxes.”

These allegations come four months into De Sousa’s tenure as commissioner and is the latest in a series of missteps, controversies, and mistakes since Pugh fired former commissioner Kevin Davis and designated De Sousa his replacement on Jan. 19. Back then, Scott called the appointment of De Sousa, “a great decision by the mayor,” and simply added, “look at his record,” referring to De Sousa’s crime reduction ability in the districts he commanded.

De Sousa, Trigger-Happy Cop

Baltimoreans looking in De Sousa’s record also discovered a shocking history of police violence. In 1990, De Sousa chased down a dirt biker he said then, because he recognized the man and knew there was a warrant out for him. The chase resulted in De Sousa claims, the dirt biker trying to run him down and a subsequent crowd of more than 100 gathered in protest resulting in what the Baltimore Sun then called, “a melee,” between residents and police.

In 1995 alone, De Sousa was involved in the fatal police shootings of three men. De Sousa, as part of a mounted unit, shot and killed 26 year-old Garrett “Scooter” Jackson in February 1995, firing 13 times and hitting Jackson 10 times. At the time, the shooting was fairly high profile and organizers challenged De Sousa and the police’s version of events which claimed Jackson aimed a gun at police.

Then in December 1995, De Sousa, working plainclothes as part of the Violent Crimes Task Force, was involved in the pursuit of George Thomas Jr., who was shot and killed by De Sousa and two other officers, they said then, after he fired at them. The 50 or so shots fired by De Sousa and the other officers, Willis Richardson and Kevin Ruth, also struck bystander Melvin James, their bullets ricocheting off a wall and hitting James, who was 18 years old, in the head. James’ family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against De Sousa and the other officers.

De Sousa, Inherits A Mess, Makes It Messier   

There were other immediate concerns about De Sousa. Within days of becoming commissioner designate, there were a number of appointments announced then rescinded. Sgt. Alicia White, one of the cops charged with the death of Freddie Gray had supposedly been moved to Internal Affairs but when that information leaked to the public, police said that it was a rumor and never was the case. Thomas Cassella, a retired cop who had been in charge of security at the Horseshoe Casino however, was announced as a new Deputy Commissioner, but a leaked memo about his Internal Affairs file called that into question. The BPD claimed parts of the leaked memo were incorrect—though which part were never made clear—but it was announced Cassella would not be up for the position any longer.

Around the same time as the Cassella controversy, Special Agent Erika Jensen of the FBI  testified in the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) trial, which began just days after De Sousa became commissioner, that the FBI did not pull records from the Horseshoe Casino because they feared that police inside—then lead by Cassella—would leak information about the investigation the GTTF. As Pugh, Scott, and others offered up De Sousa as a skilled 30 year veteran who knew the city and could clean up the department after the corruption of GTTF, activists wondered how a knowledgeable veteran could not have known about GTTF while it was going on. Either he knew and said nothing, which was a problem, or he was blissfully unaware, which is perhaps an even bigger problem.

In the days leading up to De Sousa’s City Council Hearing, calls for his Internal Affairs Department file to be released publicly hit a fever pitch after rumors of accusations of sexual misconduct spread. Pugh said she viewed his file and saw nothing that concerned her though many, demanded De Sousa live up to his transparency platitudes and release it.

He did not release because he did not have to release it.

De Sousa, Rushed Into Office

All of this dominated the Feb. 21 City Council hearing, where council members got to question De Sousa and there was ample public comment. The overwhelming sense from the public was that city officials should take their time selecting the next head of the Baltimore City Police Department and not rush to judgement. After all, the previous commissioner, Kevin Davis, remained the interim commissioner from July 2015 to Oct. 2015. And many, including Scott, had pointed out the revolving door nature of commissioners in Baltimore—De Sousa is the eighth since 2000. Previous commissioner, Davis, arrived with an illegal and unconstitutional detainment on his record stemming from a 1999 case in which he essentially kidnapped, Brian Romjue, a man who was seeing the niece of another police officer. Ultimately, Romjue was paid out a $90,000 settlement. The Commissioner before Davis, Anthony Batts, arrived with the mishandling of the notorious rioting after the death of Oscar Grant in Oakland and domestic violence accusations from his time in Long Beach.

Among those who urged council not to rush to judgement in approving De Sousa was Brendan Walsh, who runs the soup kitchen Viva House. Back in 1995, a frequent face at Viva House was Scooter Jackson, the man De Sousa shot and killed.

“I have the autopsy report and it says that the cause of death was homicide,” Walsh said, with De Sousa just a few feet away from him. “Those 13 bullets? Three of them were in the back.”

Before he ended his testimony, Walsh told the chambers, “It seems like we’re rushing this thing too fast.”

ShaiVaughn Crawley, an activist who spoke out against De Sousa at the February hearing was not surprised by the De Sousa charges and sees it as part of an ongoing pattern of Baltimore officials dismissing activists warnings.

“It’s always been the same kind of scenario over and over again,” Crawley said. “People say something and of course their voices don’t get heard or they get heard only for a moment and then it gets ignored again.”

De Sousa’s responses to councilmembers at the hearing also provided a glimpse into his political savvy reflected in his statement about his tax charges. When Scott asked if De Sousa supported the idea of making the Baltimore Police Department a city-run institution instead of a state-run one (as it currently is), De Sousa avoided the question and said, “If that law does change, I’ll support it.”

The De Sousa hearing was the first major test for some of the council’s younger members, who had been celebrated following their 2016 victories and heretofore avoided some of the baggage that older members carry, and who tend to be more savvy when speaking about progressive ideals. Despite tough questioning from Scott, and Zeke Cohen, only Ryan Dorsey ultimately voted “no” to approve De Sousa the next week, Feb. 26.

“In the wake of Commissioner De Sousa’s confirmation, I talked to the press about my reservations over the brisk nature of it, and what I characterized as non-answers to certain questions,” Dorsey said in a statement following the De Sousa charges. “I feel the most productive discussion we can have in the meantime is one that focuses on the importance of thorough vetting and thoughtful confirmation procedures for such important public positions.”

De Sousa, A Disappointment

Since his confirmation, De Sousa’s crime-stopping reputation has also mostly seem like city official-created hot air. While he has touted a shift in policing which marked a reduction in crimes during the month of February, that has not remained. And in April there were 33 homicides in the city, more than one a day. On May 9, the day before De Sousa was charged, Baltimore endured its 100th homicide of the year—the second fastest Baltimore has arrived at the number in a year.

In that especially deadly month of April, De Sousa made a ridiculous appearance at an Eric B. and Rakim show in Baltimore with Pugh where he apologized for policing.

“I want to take the time to apologize for what police had did,” De Sousa said and then promised change to the department. Jeers and boos and some applause followed.

That same month, De Sousa recently had to testify in the trial of Malik Thompson, a man De Sousa said possessed a loaded handgun when he pulled him over in 2014. During the trial, Thompson’s lawyer criticized De Sousa’s “sloppy” police work that day, and a jury ultimately acquitted Thompson, unable to locate enough evidence to convict and failing to find De Sousa’s testimony entirely convincing.

Baltimore’s current commissioner could not seal the deal on a case involving his own police work.

De Sousa, Protected By Pugh

On the day Baltimore hit 100 homicides, Mayor Pugh spoke to the Baltimore Sun, commenting on the victim, a 16 year-old. She didn’t mourn the slain teen, she stressed that he had a criminal record and said that he was, “not just somebody playing basketball on the basketball court.”

One day later, Pugh was defending her commissioner, who shot and killed three people on duty many years ago, who had just been hit with three misdemeanors and still under federal investigation making it clear that those adjacent in power receive very different than the treatment that other people in much less high-profile positions charged with crimes.

A day after that, Pugh announced De Sousa’s suspension, following outcry from The Fraternal Order Of Police for Baltimore have demanded De Sousa take a leave of absence. When a Baltimore Police Officer is charged with a misdemeanor, they are suspended with pay and their duties as an officer restricted until the case go to trial—and usually it’s the commissioner that demands the suspension. What to do when the suspended is the commissioner, FOP President Gene Ryan argued, should not be any different.

“The Commissioner is well aware of Departmental policies as they relate to any criminal conduct committed by our members and we have every right to expect that he be treated the same as the men and women who serve him,” the statement from Ryan reads in part. “While Mayor Pugh has determined that it is not in the interest of the city to ask for his resignation, we feel very strongly that it is in the interest of the Baltimore Police Department to ask that Commissioner De Sousa relieve himself of his duties.”

Around the same time that Pugh announced De Sousa’s suspension, Lorren Hayman of the community group Stand Up Baltimore expressed support for De Sousa on behalf of herself and other community groups and an upcoming “Praise Rally” for the now-suspended commish.

“I work directly for Stand Up and whenever we call him for any youth event, he’s there. We decided to do this praise rally because he’s been involved in three of the praise rallies that have been held by Keys Development for the youth and going back to school, so we thought it only appropriate to pay it forward,” Hayman said.

Hayman believes De Sousa, who has admitted to not filing his taxes, is being targeted because of his attempts to clean up BPD—she calls it “a witch hunt.”

“This is a personal matter that should be handled as such. It doesn’t speak to his 30 years of service,” she said. “Why aren’t we bringing up the fact that for how many years he had paid his taxes?”

The Baltimore Bureau on May Day protests, fights for clean water and air, misogyny in Annapolis, the legacy of the Catonsville 9, and the people hurt by corrupt cops—and a preview of a new show

For the sixth consecutive week Palestinians in Gaza headed to the Israeli border to demonstrate the “Great March of Return.” Israeli soldiers continued their attacks on the protesters, wounding over 160. Special correspondent Noor Harazeen reports from Gaza

Story Transcript

NOOR HARAZEEN: It is the fifth Friday of the Great March of Return protests here in the Gaza Strip. And as you can see behind me, thousands of Palestinians are participating in the protest today, close to the border line between Gaza and Israel. The black smoke you’re seeing behind me is caused by Palestinians. They burned some tires in order to create this black smoke to blind Israeli snipers from attacking and targeting Palestinian protesters. According to the Palestinian medical sources, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza strip since the start of the Great March of Return is up to 45 Palestinians, including two journalists, and the number of injuries is up to 6,000 Palestinians.

Israeli troops on Friday wounded more than 160 armless Palestinian protestors with live fire and tear gas bombs near the Gaza border fence with Israel during the sixth week of the Great Return March, health officials in Gaza said. The protestors took to five protest sites along the Gaza border with incendiary kites, burning large amounts of tires to provide protection from Israeli snipers.

ABU ADHAM: We are using slingshots, kits, stones, and burnt tires to protest. And we will continue protesting even if we lose our lives. We want to send a message to the world that this is our land and it’s our right to return back to it.

NOOR HARAZEEN: Organizers called round 6 of the weekly border demonstrations, which began in late March, the Friday of Palestinian Workers, to highlight the plight of workers in the Gaza Strip, where more than 40 percent of its population is unemployed, and suffering deteriorating political, humanitarian, and economic conditions.

ASHRAF SHANAN: Despite wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet, I don’t feel safe at all. And probably the situation since the beginning of the Great Return marches, I feel more at risk than during the previous three Israeli wars in Gaza. Even for, for my wife and kids, they are terribly afraid about me being in this location, because they know that two journalists from Gaza were killed while covering the news, and dozens more were injured due to Israel’s use of excessive force against the peaceful protesters in Gaza.

NOOR HARAZEEN: Despite the wave of heat hitting Gaza, and time for final term exams, the numbers of protestors remarkably increased after Friday’s prayer. Organizers plan to sustain the momentum the rallies have gained to reach its climax on May 15, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Catastrophe (Nakba) Day, when more than 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 were expelled from their lands in what is now Israel.