BALTIMORE (AP/Slate) - Seven Baltimore police officers who worked together on a firearms crime task force have been charged with stealing money, property and narcotics from people over two years.
U.S. attorney Rod Rosenstein issued a news release Wednesday that said the officers were on the police department's Gun Trace Task Force in 2015 and 2016. However, five of the seven are accused of committing some of the crimes earlier in 2015, before they joined the task force.
Four of the officers worked together on another police unit before joining the task force.
They're accused of stealing money in amounts ranging from $200 to $200,000.
The officers have been indicted, arrested and suspended without pay.
The announcement comes just a week before Rosenstein's Senate confirmation hearing for him to become second in command to Attorney General Jeff Sessions as deputy attorney general.
Sessions has been critical of such federal investigations calling them “almost disrespectful”.
The Baltimore Police Department is under a federal consent decree after a scathing report by the Obama administration’s civil rights division.
