Wayne Jenkins, who led corrupt GTTF for Baltimore police, wants early prison release for federal cooperation
Wayne Jenkins, the convicted ringleader of Baltimore's notorious Gun Trace Task Force, wants to get out of prison early.
The former BPD Sergeant is serving a 25-year sentence for leading the corrupt unit and committing crimes, including planting evidence, stealing drugs, and robbing citizens.
He wrote to the chief federal judge in Baltimore that he has been attacked in prison and said he placed his life on the line to cooperate in federal investigations but has gotten nothing in return.
The conviction
Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, once lauded by Baltimore Police for getting guns off the streets, was arrested in 2018 and eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison in one of Baltimore's largest police corruption scandals.
Jenkins targeted citizens, stole and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in drugs, and caused a 2010 crash that killed an elderly man.
"Jenkins schemed to steal money, property, and narcotics by detaining victims, entering residences, conducting traffic stops, and swearing out false search warrant affidavits," the U.S. Attorney's office said at the time. "In addition, Jenkins prepared and submitted false official incident and arrest reports, reports of property seized from arrestees, and charging documents. The false reports concealed the fact that Jenkins and his co-conspirators had stolen money, property, and narcotics from individuals."
He admitted to seven separate robberies and stealing dirt bikes being ridden illegally in the city, after which he would sell those dirt bikes.
Jenkins also admitted stealing cocaine, heroin, and marijuana—along with pharmaceuticals looted during the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.
Pleading for early release
Now, Jenkins wants out of the Lexington, Kentucky prison where he is serving his time.
He sent a letter to the chief judge of Baltimore's federal court where he said "almost immediately after his guilty plea, federal authorities sought information from him" on investigations involving government officials, private citizens and other officers.
He wrote that he "provided that assistance to a great extent and that assistance spanned several years, including even after Jenkins was shipped off to prison. Jenkins provided this assistance under the shadow of potential harm and violence from others, particularly from other prison inmates. And the United States was well aware of this, as evidenced by its many filings under seal."
Jenkins also told the court, "The implicit agreement was that [he] would garner some type of benefit from the U.S. for all the risk and work that he was undertaking for the benefit of the [assistant U.S. attorney] involved and the Department of Justice in particular. No benefit ever came."
In his request for a reduced sentence, Jenkins asked for and was granted the sealing of documents detailing his cooperation with law enforcement.
He wrote that he had "been the subject of many attacks in prison [and] surely requires the protection, even after all these years, of the sealing of documents spelling out the extent of his cooperation with federal authorities."
Cost to Baltimore City
The GTTF scandal has cost the city almost $23 million in settlements.
Jenkins' portion alone cost city taxpayers close to $4.4 million.
Conduct after sentencing
At his sentencing in 2018, Jenkins wept and told Judge Catherine Blake, "I've tarnished the badge."
Judge Blake died in March 2026.
An independent task force investigating the GTTF's crimes said Jenkins was not helpful to them and wanted a movie producer to sit in for his interview.
Lead investigator Michael Bromwich spoke to WJZ following the release of the report in 2022.
"A guy who passed himself off as Jenkins' representative, who is not a lawyer and was essentially one of his former cellmates, drew this out for over a year. And so I don't think that Jenkins was ever particularly sincere about doing the interview under our ground rules. He did provide us with some information," Bromwich said.
He told WJZ Jenkins was not the only former GTTF officer who was not cooperative.
"Here was one opportunity for them to help everyone including their colleagues in the police department, the public, and the Baltimore community. Why did they do what they did? And they decided to pass on it, so you have to wonder whether they were really sorry after all," Bromwich said.
What's next?
Jenkins remains in federal prison.
The judge set a June 3rd deadline for federal prosecutors to respond to his request for a reduced sentence.
Jenkins will then have until early July to respond to that brief.
In 2022, two other GTTF officers received an early release.
Also, former GTTF officer Daniel Hersl, who asked for and received an early supervised release in 2023 because of terminal cancer, died in October 2025.
