WATCH: Testimony in Baltimore Federal Corruption Case Implicates Slain Detective

BALTIMORE — Former Baltimore police Detective Momodu Gondo claims former homicide Detective Sean Suiter, who was shot and killed in the line of duty, stole money while on the job.

Gondo said it happened while Suiter was working as a police officer a decade ago.

The testimony raises new questions about the Suiter case, including how the investigation was handled and whether the Police Department was telling the public all that it knew.

The allegation that Suiter may have also been corrupt came from Gondo, who was a former Gun Trace Task Force detective.

Gondo testified that he started stealing money from people he targeted when he first went to specialized units in the department. He said other officers in the squad took money, too.

Defense attorney: “You started taking money in 2008 and 2009?”

Gondo: “Yes.”

Defense attorney: “You and Detective Sean Suiter?”

Gondo: “Yes.”

Defense attorney: “The five or six of you would take the money and split it up?”

Gondo: “Yes, that’s correct.”

Gondo named other officers as well: Tariq Edwards, Kenneth Ivery and the last name of a former city officer who’s now with the Baltimore County police. County police officials said they want information from the FBI.

It was the first time that Suiter was implicated as an officer who may have used his position in the Police Department, like members of the former gun squad, to steal for himself. Suiter worked with members of the squad before moving to homicide.

Suiter was fatally shot on Nov. 15 in west Baltimore while investigating a case. It happened the day before he was to testify before a federal grand jury the corruption investigation.

Police sources told the 11 News I-Team that shortly before Suiter’s death, there was concern that he seemed distraught about his pending appearance before the grand jury.

Gondo’s allegations were known to the FBI shortly after the gun squad members were indicted in March 2017, long before Suiter’s death, but former police Commissioner Kevin Davis repeatedly said Suiter was not a target of the investigation and said he had no information that Suiter was anything but a stellar officer.

Davis was fired last month.

Gondo also said Deputy Commissioner Dean Palmere coached officers on what to say after a fatal shooting in 2009. Former gun squad Detective Jemell Rayam shot and killed Shawn Cannady after a traffic stop. Gondo said Rayam said it was a close-range shot, and Rayam was heard to say: “I just didn’t want to chase him.”

The file on the shooting included a memo written by former Officer Kendell Richburg, providing a narrative to justify the shooting. It was written to Palmere. Rayam was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Richburg is now in federal prison on an unrelated drug case.

The 11 News I-Team has asked the Police Department for comment about the 2009 shooting.

The Suiter investigation remains open, with split theories between homicide and suicide.

Gondo pleaded guilty in October in federal court to racketeering and distribution of heroin, admitting to selling to and helping dealers.

Former Detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor are charged with robbery and overtime fraud in a federal corruption case.

The Baltimore Police Department announced Monday that it’s starting a new corruption unit to examine all the new allegations coming out of this trial.

Source: http://www.wbaltv.com/article/testimony-in-federal-corruption-case-implicates-slain-detective/16573578?src=app