Skip to main content
Press Release

Baltimore City Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Theft

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland
Undercover Operation Conducted by FBI, Baltimore Police Department and Other Agencies

Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore City Police officer Maurice Lamar Jeffers, age 47, of Savage, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to theft of government property and stealing property as a federal officer.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Interim Commissioner Kevin Davis of the Baltimore Police Department.  

“The agents carried out an undercover operation and obtained a video recording of the defendant stealing cash while he believed he was executing a search warrant,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “I want to thank the officers of the Baltimore Police Department and other agencies that assisted in this investigation.”

Jeffers has been a sworn member of the Baltimore Police Department for the last 12 years, and was assigned as a Task Force Officer (TFO) to the U.S. Marshals’ Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force (CARFTF).  As a TFO, Jeffers received special deputation to execute arrest and search warrants supporting the federal task force. Jeffers was responsible for locating and arresting offenders who had active local and federal arrest warrants and assisting in locating individuals for other jurisdictions and agencies upon request.

According to information provided to the court at his plea hearing, acting on information provided by a confidential source, law enforcement conducted a covert operation in which agents rented a hotel room and set up audio and video recording devices. Law enforcement also hid approximately $3,000 in pre-recorded cash in a pocket of a jacket and inside a pair of shoes in a duffle bag. The cash belonged to the FBI.   

Jeffers and his colleagues were told that a local law enforcement agency was conducting a narcotics investigation and that the target of the investigation was staying at the hotel room. Jeffers and his partner were told to secure the room so that the local law enforcement agency could later execute a search warrant.  Jeffers and his partner entered the hotel room and conducted a brief protective sweep.  Jeffrers then told his partner to go to the lobby of the hotel to tell other CARFTF members that no one was located inside the room.

After his partner left the room, Jeffers searched the hotel room and located the hidden cash, which he placed into his pants pockets.  Jeffers kept the money for his own personal gain.  On May 7, 2015, Jeffers was arrested and searched incident to the arrest.  Law enforcement located $220 (eleven $20 bills) on Jeffers that he stole from the hotel room on March 10, 2015.

Jeffers faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of the two theft counts.  U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz has scheduled sentencing for February 11, 2015, at 10:00 a.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Baltimore FBI Public Corruption Task Force, which includes Agents and law enforcement officers from the IRS, the Baltimore Police Department, the Prince George’s County Police Department and the Baltimore FBI, for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein expressed his appreciation to the U.S. Marshals Service for its assistance and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Rachel M. Yasser, who is prosecuting the case.

Updated October 15, 2015

Topic
Public Corruption