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Crime & Justiceby Mark Reutter4:10 pmMay 10, 20180

Baltimore’s police commissioner charged with failure to file taxes

Four months after his appointment by Mayor Catherine Pugh, Darryl De Sousa has come under a criminal cloud

Above: Darryl De Sousa was Baltimore’s police commissioner for four months earlier this year. (Fern Shen)

Baltimore’s newly appointed police commissioner, Darryl De Sousa, has been charged by federal prosecutors with failure to file three years of federal taxes.

According to a criminal information filed this afternoon, De Sousa, 53, “willfully failed” to file federal returns for tax years 2013, 2014, and 2015 “despite having been a salaried employee of the Baltimore Police Department in those years.”

During this time frame, De Sousa earned more than $320,000 from the police department, according to on-line salary records.

Today’s action may be a prelude to more charges against De Sousa. In a motion filed to seal the tax charges, prosecutors said they are looking at “additional violations of federal criminal law.”

The filing was announced by Robert K. Hur, acting U.S. Attorney for Maryland, along with officials from the Internal Revenue Service and Baltimore office of the FBI.

De Sousa faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $25,000 fine for each of the three misdemeanor charges.

Hired by the BPD in 1988, De Sousa rose through the ranks and was named commander of the Northeastern Police District in 2011 and became deputy commissioner in 2015.

He was appointed police commissioner on January 19 by Mayor Catherine Pugh following the firing of Kevin Davis. His appointment was confirmed by a 14-1 vote at the City Council a month later. (Councilman Ryan Dorsey was the only “no” vote.)

Police spokesman T.J. Smith had no immediate comment and referred all questions to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The case is being handled by assistant U.S. attorneys Leo Wise, Derek Hines and Sean Delaney.

Hines and Wise led the prosecution of two members of the Gun Trace Task Force, who were found guilty of racketeering and robbery earlier this year.

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