Bel Air Man Pleads Guilty To Federal Charge In Police Scandal

BALTIMORE, MD — A Bel Air man who is a former Baltimore Police Department detective admitted he made false statements to federal agents.

Ivo Louvado, 47, of Bel Air, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to making false statements in an interview with the FBI about the Baltimore Police Department. Investigators were looking into misconduct after the federal racketeering case involving the Gun Trace Task Force unfolded in 2017.

Louvado had been an officer with the Baltimore Police Department since 1999 and was promoted to detective in 2008. He no longer works for the Baltimore Police Department, officials say.

During a large cocaine bust in February 2009, police said they uncovered 41 kilograms of cocaine under construction materials in a pickup truck in west Baltimore.

Louvado and two other officers split the proceeds of 3 kilograms of the drug that had been left in the Baltimore Police Department van during transport from the 1400 block of Ellamont Street.

Louvado received $10,000 from the sale, prosecutors allege.

Investigators began looking into corruption in the Baltimore Police Department after seven members of the Gun Trace Task Force were indicted in March 2017. During an interview in spring 2018 with the FBI in which he was questioned about the cocaine seizure from February 2009, Louvado lied about the fact that he and two other officers split the money from the cocaine, according to his plea agreement.

For lying to a federal agent, Louvado faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake has not yet scheduled sentencing.

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