The Baltimore Police Department on Wednesday publicly apologized to a veteran sergeant falsely accused of a sex offense.
The department “apologizes to Sgt. Robert L. Smith for any statements made by members suggesting he had committed, or may have committed a drug offense or sex offense,” the agency said in statement. “Sgt. Smith is, and has been, a law-abiding, dedicated police officer who has served well the citizens of Baltimore City. The Police Department welcomes him back to full duty.”
The department also said it regretted including Smith’s former co-worker, Detective Vickie Mengel, in a 2005 Application for Search Warrant that accused her of violating drug laws.
The city Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved a $200,000 payment for Smith, $50,000 for Mengel, and $40,000 for their attorney, Clarke Ahlers.
Smith, a 13-year veteran, is now working for the city’s Warrant Apprehension Task Force, his choice of assignment.
The Examiner first reported the false administrative charges against Smith in March. Ahlers alleged the accusations were retaliation for refusing to drop a $1.5 million defamation lawsuit against the city.
On Wednesday, Ahlers said he couldn’t comment on the case, but confirmed he will now drop Smith and Mengel’s defamation suit, because of the settlement.
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 and Mengel were violating drug laws, though no drugs were found in their possession during the search.
Smith and Mengel sued, claiming they 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 was 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.”
On Wednesday, the department said it acknowledged Mengel has been transferred out of the Southwest
Flex Squad at the time of the search.
Smith and Mengel also agreed to apologize to officers who drafted the search warrant for accusing them of misconduct.
“They realize the defendants acted in good faith in conducting their investigation,” the statement from the police department states.
