West Baltimore — Baltimore Police Officer Richard Pinheiro was convicted of fabrication of physical evidence and misconduct in office. He was sentenced to two years probation and 300 hours of community service. Chief of the Police Trust and Police Integrity Unit, Stacyann Llewellyn prosecuted the case.
On January 24, 2017, Baltimore Police Officer #1 conducted covert surveillance near the 2200 block of Eagle St. and S. Smallwood St. He observed a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) transaction in an alley located near 600 South Smallwood Street. Through additional surveillance, he saw a second transaction conducted by the same Seller. Once the transaction was completed, the Seller went to a convenience store about a block away from the alley.
Officer Pihneiro and Officer #2 pursued the male that bought the substance and stopped his car. During a search of the vehicle, Officer Pinheiro obtained CDS in the form of three gel capsules of heroin. Separately, Officers #3, #4, and #5 pursued the Seller and located him at the convenience store and arrested him. During the arrest, they found marijuana, money and a gel capsule containing CDS on the seller.
After the arrest of the Seller, Officers went to an alley where the transactions were observed to have occurred. Officer #3 conducted a search for additional CDS in the alley and an adjacent yard; but this initial search was not captured on body worn camera (BWC). Officer #4 then approached the alley with his BWC in use. Both Officers then took pictures of the soles of the Seller’s shoes and attempted to match them with footprints found in the alley.
Next, Officer Pinheiro, Officer #3 and Office #6, engaged their BWCs. They conducted a second search of the yard. During this search, Officer Pinheiro found a bag of suspected CDS gel capsules underneath some wooden debris. All of the officers then left the alleyway, turned off their BWCs and had an off-camera conversation.
Officer #5 turned on his body worn camera as he left the vicinity of the alleyway. The footage showed that Officer Pinheiro entered the alleyway to conduct another search. During this search, Officer Pinheiro found a bag containing CDS gel capsules. He then put the CDS in an empty soup can and placed the can under wooden debris. Next Pinheiro waited to exit the alleyway before turning on his camera and then fabricated the recovery of CDS, with the intent of passing off the recording as the video of the original search and recovery.
At the station, the officers met with Officer #1 who prepared the police report. This report contained no admission from Officer Pinheiro that the video recorded was not the original finding of the CDS as required by Baltimore Police Department Policy. Officer Pinheiro did not acknowledge on the recording or in a supplemental report that the video recorded was not the original finding of the CDS, also required by Baltimore Police Department Policy.
Pinheiro submitted the video recording to be used as evidence in a future official proceeding, and with the intention of passing off the fabricated video as the original finding of the suspected CDS. As a result, the seller was charged with CDS Distribution, CDS Possession with the Intent to Distribute and CDS Possession.
“The effectiveness of the justice system is directly related to its reputation and our citizen’s trust and belief that evidence collected by police and presented in court by the state is of high virtue and lack of corruption, said State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby “Unfortunately the evidence, in this case, proved otherwise and we are extremely pleased that the court saw fit to hold this Officer accountable for his questionable actions and lack of transparency.”
