investigativevoice.com

By Stephen Janis

In series of shocking revelations that implicates some of the highest-ranking members of the Baltimore Police Department, fired police trial board chief JoAnn Woodson-Branche said the internal disciplinary system designed to ensure integrity in the department was corrupt.

“I don’t believe the department is capable of policing themselves,” Branche said at a mid-morning news conference Thursday at the office of her attorney, Warren Brown.

“The system is broken.”

The fiery lawyer and former legal counsel to the police department pulled no punches as she sought to clear herself of any wrongdoing in the handling of internal disciplinary cases. Among the most troubling was her denial that nearly 50 disciplinary cases against police officers were recently dropped due to allegations she tampered with trial board dates.

“It’s a red herring…We don’t know why those cases were dropped,” said Woodson-Branche, who distributed a memo that appeared to clear her in one case of tampering charges the department had brought against her.

Woodson-Branche also alleged a back-door deal was made between Daryl Massey, head of the black officers association, and Chief of Administration Debbie Owens to drop charges against white officers accused of discriminating against black homicide detective Kelvin Sewel -- including the commissioner's brother -- in exchange for dismissing a case of overtime fraud against Massey.

“It was a quid pro quo deal,” Woodson-Branche said.

The allegations of a top-level conspiracy to manipulate the internal disciplinary system of the police department were met with grave concern by a former city solicitor who said the accusations could have serious implications.

“The statements of Ms. Branche, if they turn out to be true, are both astonishing and shocking,” said former city solicitor Neal Janey.

“If the accusations can be sustained that the deputy commissioner has engaged in illegal acts that violate federal civil rights laws, then the justice department should intervene with a criminal investigation.”

The thrust of Woodson-Branche’s accusations, that she was told to drop cases that should have proceeded and ordered to pursue cases that should have been dropped, was bolstered by her attorney, who cited Woodson-Branche's experience.

“She is an experienced prosecutor, so she knows which cases should be brought forward and which cases should be stymied,” Brown argued. “She called it as she saw it.”

“JoAnn Branche is not responsible for any wrongdoing.”

One example Brown cited was the case against Sgt. Greg Robison, who was charged administratively with sexual misconduct with a prostitute. Woodson-Branche said that she recommended charging the officer criminally with rape, but that Owens ordered her to set the case aside.

Despite the seriousness of Woodson-Branche's allegations, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the trial board system was sound and the charges of corruption spurious.

“We have a prudent disciplinary system provided all the proper steps in the process are followed,” Guglielmi said in a phone interview.

“We have six members of the charging committee, so it would be impossible for the disciplinary system to be manipulated by one person,” he said.

Responding to Woodson-Branche’s allegations that she did not commit any improprieties related to the roughly 50 cases against officers that were dropped, Guglielmi said the department was not responsible for reports that tied the dismissals to her alleged tampering.

“We have not commented on personnel issues and we will not.”

Vanguard President Daryl Massey, one of two police union representatives along with FOP President Bob Cherry who publicly accused Woodson-Branche of tampering with disciplinary cases, vehemently denied allegations that he brokered a deal with the command staff to drop overtime fraud charges against him in exchange for his silence.

“She has no clue, because that’s just not true. I was a victim in my case and Sergeant Kelvin Sewell was a victim in his case,” Massey said.

Beyond the near short-term implications, the prospect that the internal disciplinary system was corrupt could have far-reaching implications, Janey said.

“To receive federal grants the department must be in compliance with federal EEOC guidelines. If the disciplinary processes were intentionally manipulated, then it would rise to the level of a criminal investigation by the agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, who provide money to the department through grants.”

Indeed, an internal memo obtained by Investigative Voice that was sent by former administrative chief Ed Ambrose to then-EEOC director Jane Thompson in 2002 shows the department listed cases as closed that the alleged victims said were in fact open. The list was submitted in 2002 as part of required compliance for the department to obtain a federal “equitable sharing agreement” grant.

One case listed as closed in the documents filed with the Justice Department was an EEOC complaint from Sgt. Louis Hopson, one of 15 black officers who were awarded a $2.5 million settlement last month in a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city.

“Absolutely not, my case was not settled,” Hopson said of his 1999 EEOC complaint cited in the document.

“This is an example of how the agency was manipulating cases to get funding that they were not qualified to receive,” he said.

“This is why we need a thorough overhaul of the department.”

The memo, which includes the status of EEOC cases filed in the department for 1998, 1999 and 2000, also shows an open case against Owens, the administrative chief at the center of the current firestorm.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it