Baltimore police dropping sex abuse case against sergeant

In a letter signed Wednesday, department Trial Board Counsel JoAnn Branche wrote that the board will dismiss several charges filed against Sgt. Robert Smith sometime before his Aug. 27 hearing.

Prosecutors, police investigators and witnesses — including the alleged victim — all have maintained that Smith was not present during the alleged 2005 rape at a police station.

However, Branche wrote that Smith still faces administrative charges of failing to properly submit confiscated drugs to evidence control.

Smith’s attorney, Clarke Ahlers, who has said all of the charges were retribution for the sergeant refusing to drop a civil suit against the department, called the amended charges “malicious.”

“It’s disgraceful to continue to seek his termination, when even the charges only alleged a minor administrative violation,” Ahlers said. “When and where is the apology?”

Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford declined to comment on the case.

Smith is suing the city for $1.5 million in a defamation suit allowed to proceed to trial by Maryland’s highest court. The lawsuit accuses the department of defaming Smith, supervisor of the disbanded Southwest Flex Squad, after a search warrant was leaked to the media accusing Smith of violating drug laws in 2005.

No drugs were found on Smith or any of his property, though some drugs were found in the office, according to the state’s highest court. Smith denies any involvement in the misplaced evidence.

On Feb. 20, Karen Hornig, the Police Department’s chief legal counsel, wrote a letter to Ahlers saying the department wanted to see Smith, who is on administrative duty, “return to the streets” in exchange for the sergeant dropping his suit.

After Smith refused, the department charged him administratively Feb. 27 with helping former Officer Jemini Jones sexually assault a woman. Jones was already acquitted of the rape charge in Baltimore City Circuit Court after his attorney successfully argued there was no physical evidence to support the woman’s claim.

Testimony from the trial and an official duty roster show Smith was on vacation during the alleged incident.

In a response letter sent to police Thursday, Ahlers wrote it was “completely inappropriate” for the department to continue to try to fire Smith.

“I am appalled that after two years of investigation, the department would accuse a police sergeant with no evidence, dismiss those falsely brought charges, and attempt to amend [trivial] charges to fit a new theory of the case,” Ahlers wrote.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com