Officer denied home detention
Judge rules against Daniel Hersl as new accusations are made by prosecutors
A federal judge rejected a proposed home detention and monitoring program for one of the seven Baltimore police officers charged in a racketeering indictment, saying he could not trust the officer to abide by any conditions.
“My problem plain and simple ... is that I don’t trust the defendant,” U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar said of Detective Daniel Hersl. “I don’t find him trustworthy.”
Bredar’s order came at a hearing at which federal prosecutors raised new accusations against Hersl, 47, and some of the other indicted officers.
Hersl was ordered detained last week by a federal magistrate judge after being charged with racketeering conspiracy. Federal prosecutors allege that he and other members of the Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force had been robbing and extorting citizens, filing false affidavits and police reports, and bilking taxpayers for fraudulent overtime.
The officers have pleaded not guilty.
Hersl’s attorney, Peter Goldman, asked Bredar to consider a release plan that would have Hersl stay with his sister in Kingsville under electronic monitoring. He would be allowed to leave only for court-related reasons or with the approval of a pretrial services office. More than 15 of his relatives attended the court hearing.
Goldman said Hersl was not a flight risk and understood the consequences of a violation.
“He’s going to stay and fight the charges,” Goldman said.
Prosecutors said Hersl was involved in more allegations charged in the indictment than any of the other officers, and as part of his alleged crimes had shown an ability to thwart law enforcement detection and intimidate his victims.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise said Hersl worked with other officers to find a reason to arrest a criminal defendant from whom they had stolen money.
“You gotta get that guy,” Hersl was recorded saying, prosecutors wrote in a court filing Tuesday.
Wise also said that last August, Hersl and other officers engaged in an unsanctioned high-speed pursuit of a vehicle that ended in a crash.
“When the vehicle crashed, Defendant Hersl and his co-defendants did not come to the aid of the vehicle occupant,” prosecutors wrote. Instead, they said the officers drove to a nearby location and watched until someone else called emergency responders to the scene of the accident.
To cover up their involvement in the pursuit, prosecutors said, Hersl told the other officers to make false claims on their time and attendance sheets so it would not look like they were working.
Bredar said he couldn’t recall ever releasing a federal robbery suspect pending trial, and asked why he should release someone charged with taking part in “organized criminal activity to rob people.”
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