Baltimore police officer falsely accused of rape is reinstated

Sgt. Robert Smith, a 13-year veteran who was charged administratively with a sex offense that city prosecutors say he could not have committed, is now working for the city’s Warrant Apprehension Task Force, officers said.

Smith’s reinstatement is part of a broader settlement that includes a $200,000 cash payment, a formal apology and the duty assignment of his choice, the sources said.

City Solicitor George Nilson said he could not talk about the agreement. Smith’s attorney, Clarke Ahlers, also said he could not comment.

In March, Ahlers made public the administrative charges against Smith, which Smith’s attorney said were retaliation for refusing to drop a $1.5 million defamation lawsuit against the city.

The conflict between Smith and the department centered on an application for a search and seizure warrant leaked to the media during an investigation of the Southwest District Flex Squad that alleged Smith was violating drug laws, though no drugs were found in his possession during the search.

Smith sued, claiming he suffered “public ridicule, scorn, dishonor and embarrassment” — and won the right to pursue his defamation case from Maryland’s highest court.

On Feb. 20, Karen Hornig, the former chief legal counsel for the police, wrote Ahlers and offered to allow Smith, who is on administrative duty, to “return to the streets” in exchange for dropping the lawsuit.

After Smith refused, the department charged him administratively Feb. 27 with helping former officer Jemini Jones sexually assault a woman in a station house Dec. 27, 2005. Jones had already been acquitted of the rape charge by a city jury.

Records from the trial and an official duty roster show Smith, a supervisor in the Southwest District Flex Squad, was on vacation during the alleged incident.

Baltimore prosecutors say Smith was “never implicated in any way.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com