Date: 06-13-2018

Case Style:

Case Number: 1:17-cr-00106-CCB

Judge: Catherine C. Blake

Court: United States District Court for the District of Maryland (Baltimore County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Leo J. Wise and Derek E. Hines

Defendant's Attorney: Harvey Bruner for Evodio Calles Hendrix

Paul F Enzinna for Maurie Kilpatrick Ward

Description: Balitmore, MD - Two Defendants In The Baltimore Police Department GTTF Racketeering Case Sentenced To Seven Years In Prison

United States District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced former Detective Evodio Calles Hendrix, age 32, of Randallstown, Maryland, and former Detective Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, age 36, of Middle River, Maryland June 8, 2018 for racketeering conspiracy. Hendrix was sentenced to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Ward was also sentenced to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Hendrix and Ward were formerly members of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force (“GTTF”).

The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur and Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

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.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI for its work in the investigation.

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

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