Baltimore City Drug Enforcement Officer Mark Lunsford faces a 20 month prison sentence for sharing $10,000 with a police informant and stealing a diamond watch worth $18,000 from someone’s house during a drugs raid. The US DoJ has reported that the 40 year old officer has been required to leave the police force and has been sentenced to 20 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release.

This story reiterates the need to law enforcement agencies to improve their management of confidential informants, particularly with regard to informant payouts.