Baltimore cop charged in alleged drug, gun trafficking with motorcycle club
A Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officer is facing numerous federal charges for drug and firearm trafficking with a local motorcycle club.
In a news release, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that authorities arrested Steven Umberto Angelini Wednesday on charges related to a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and oxycodone in the city.
Angelini, 41, served in the department’s Administrative Duties Division before being suspended without pay following his arrest.
According to the affidavit, Angelini, who has been with the police department since 2006, began distributing the drugs to members of the Infamous Ryders Motorcycle Club and its Maryland chapter’s president in January. The affidavit claimed Angelini reached out to the chapter president via text message and offered to sell him the drugs.
After telling the chapter president, addressed as “Co-Conspirator 1” in the statement, that one of the gang’s drug dealers was recently murdered, Angelini and the president agreed that the latter would provide the officer with $100 and cocaine in exchange for oxycodone.
During the conservation, Angelini twice offered Co-Conspirator 1 information on the supplier’s homicide investigation in exchange for narcotics before agreeing to the terms, according to court documents.
In the following days, Angelini gave the club president detailed information about the homicide investigation. The two did not communicate again until April, when the officer offered to sell him a ghost gun and hollow point ammunition in exchange for cash and drugs.
They agreed to meet at a local gun shop later that month for the tradeoff before the officer added firearms accessories to the negotiation.
In a phone conversation between the two, they reached another agreement, where Angelini would give the anonymous man oxycodone for cash and cocaine.
Angelini faces the possibility of life imprisonment if convicted of all charges. His next court appearance is set for Thursday.
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