The fallout from the Gun Trace Task Force’s now-infamous run continued today with the guilty plea of a man who helped a city cop, his cousin, rob a Brooklyn couple three years ago.
David Kendall Rahim, 41, pleaded guilty today to a charge of robbery and an additional count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, according to an indictment supplied by federal prosecutor.
According to the indictment, Rahim is a cousin of Jemell Rayam, one of at least eight city police officers found to have gone rogue from their unit to sell drugs and guns, rob suspects and civilians alike and falsify hours. Rayam, a 12-year department veteran, pleaded guilty in October to a felony racketeering charge. He’s awaiting sentencing.
The crime described in Rahim’s indictment sounds like something out of “Training Day.” Rayam and his fellow Gun Trace Task Force Member searched a husband and wife’s pigeon store in Brooklyn in June of 2014. While they didn’t find any illegal contraband or guns, they learned that the woman had $20,000 in cash her pocket book. She and her husband were planning to use the money to pay off tax-related debts on two homes, prosecutors say.
But that didn’t happen. Rayam instead used a law enforcement database to find the couple’s address, and orchestrated a robbery plan with his cousin and a friend from Pennsylvania named Thomas Finnegan.
That same night, the trio rode together to the couple’s house and scoped it out until night set in. The two non-cops then donned tactical vests – Finnegan used Rayam’s department issued one, prosecutors say – and impersonated police officers.
They first removed a security camera outside. Once inside the house, Finnegan pointed a gun at the husband and told him to “sit still and be patient,” according to the indictment. Rahim then intimidated the couple while Finnegan found the wife’s pocket book. The pair then made off with the cash.
As all of this was happening, Det. Rayam was outside in his car, waiting to intercept any other officers in case police got word of a robbery. No complications arose, and Rayam and his two accomplices managed to slip away and split the $20,000 in cash.
Rayam was the third of eight officers charged in the March racketeering indictment that shook Baltimore City this year. He also admitted to to stealing tens of thousands in cash and large amounts of heroin and other drugs with his buddies, selling those drugs and guns for profit and falsifying overtime sheets.
City salary database records show he made more than $102,000 last year, including nearly $31,000 in overtime pay.
Prosecutors have said nearly 300 cases were affected by the indictments, though public defenders contend the total is actually likely in the thousands.
