Once Baltimore’s police commissioner for all of four months in 2018, Darryl De Sousa has been sentenced 10 months in prison for tax fraud and neglecting to file his taxes for multiple years while serving as a Baltimore cop.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake handed down the sentence this morning, reportedly after De Sousa had asked for no jail time at all, and after a friend of his and a sibling appealed for mercy from Blake. She’d noted before delivering the sentence that this is a “sad day” for the city.
In addition to his prison time, Blake ordered De Sousa to pay the state and federal governments what he owes in unpaid taxes, which is exactly $67,587.72, and perform 100 hours of community service. His attorneys reportedly said he’s paying it back by cashing in on retirement money from serving with the department.
“As a law enforcement officer, Darryl De Sousa knew that he had a duty to file tax returns,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur said in a statement. “His failure to file was a crime—not an oversight. Corrupt public employees rip off the taxpayers and undermine everyone’s faith in government.”
Prosecutors managed to secure a conviction with evidence that De Sousa had falsely claimed nine allowances on a W-4 form in 1999, and listed fake deductions for unreimbursed employee expenses, mortgage interest and charitable donations on tax forms between 2008 through 2012 (including more than $9,500 in falsified charitable giving in 2012 alone). He also didn’t file his taxes at all for 2013, 2014 and 2015, and didn’t do his 2011 and 2012 taxes until 2014.
De Sousa pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal tax returns in December.
Upon being indicted last May, De Sousa said it was a “mistake” and that “my only explanation is that I failed to sufficiently prioritize my personal affairs.” But in a sentencing memorandum filed earlier this month, prosecutors linked De Sousa’s “serial tax fraud” to broader corruption in the Baltimore Police Department, including the disgraced Gun Trace Task Force.
De Sousa’s defense attorney Gerard Martin told The Sun that now-former BPD colleagues had advised De Sousa “he could save money on his taxes and get bigger refunds if he handled his taxes in a certain way,” and referred him to certain tax specialists.
Mayor Catherine Pugh appointed De Sousa to replace Kevin Davis as police commissioner in January 2018, noting at the announcement of Davis’ firing that De Sousa “has come up through the ranks” and “is widely respected by his fellow officers.” De Sousa joined the department in 1988 and ascended BPD’s hierarchy over three decades—a tenure that included his involvement in two separate fatal police-involved shootings in 1995.
Together, Pugh and De Sousa trumpeted statistical reductions during his first few months on the job, when De Sousa helped lead the mayor’s Violence Reduction Initiative targeting violence-afflicted neighborhoods with a barrage of city services. Among their highlights was an April 2018 appearance at an Eric B. and Rakim performance at Baltimore Soundstage, where the pair were met with boos from the crowd after De Sousa said he wanted to “apologize for all the things that the police have done, dating back 200 years.”
In May, just as shootings and homicides had begun to creep back up, federal prosecutors announced his indictment. Pugh at first suspended De Sousa, and he resigned shortly thereafter.
“I own the selection of Darryl De Sousa as commissioner for Baltimore City,” Pugh said. “I watched his work, I’m pleased with where we are in terms of reducing violence. But at the same time, I don’t control people’s personal lives.”
Pugh has since succeeded in appointing a replacement—albeit, after Joel Fitzgerald of Fort Worth, Texas, fell through—in Michael Harrison. He took over the department in early February, promising to achieve similar successes from his time in New Orleans in beefing up oversight of officers and reforming the Baltimore Police Department.
Grouped in with Anthony Batts, Davis, De Sousa and Gary Tuggle, he’s the city’s fifth police commissioner in four years.
Catherine Pugh will be next to get indicted. Mark. My. Words.