Embattled Baltimore Police Officer Jemini Jones was convicted Thursday of transporting a handgun and eluding police.

Addressing the detective who had previously beaten two rape charges, Baltimore City Circuit Judge John Carroll Byrnes said he realized the misdemeanor convictions would hurt Jones’ career.

“I can say honestly that I have no regret about that,” Byrnes said. “The events of that night present you as somebody who ought not to be a police officer.”

Byrnes sentenced Jones to three years probation and a $1,000 fine — a punishment the judge called “fair, but judicially uncomfortable.”

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On Oct. 1, 2006, Jones ran a red light at East 33rd Street and Frisby Street, prosecutors said. Police attempted to stop the vehicle Jones was driving, but he did not stop, driving down a one-way street and running three stop signs, police said.

Jones eventually stopped in an alley off the 800 block of East 34th Street, where police recovered a handgun from the vehicle, according to police.  Jones’ right to carry a handgun had been suspended because of the rape charges against him.

Jones argued that the gun belonged to his brother and that the arresting officer made up a story about a high-speed chase because of a personal dislike for Jones.

“He did not run the stop sign,” said Jones’ attorney, Janice Bledsoe. “He did not run the red light.”

Jones was suspended without pay in 2006 after he was charged with two cases of rape in connection with arrests he made working in the Southwestern “flex squad” unit, a specialized enforcement team.

In January, a jury found Jones not guilty in one case, and the prosecutor’s office dropped the other case last month.

The Baltimore City Board of Estimates last week awarded Jones nearly $60,000 in back pay.

Amid allegations of wrongdoing, Jones’ flex squad unit was dissolved more than a year ago, and prosecutors dropped nearly 400 cases involving the unit.

Jones said Thursday that other officers on the force have been convicted of misdemeanors and that he hoped to continue with the department.

Baltimore police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.om