Dhruv Trivedi
Based on a true story, HBO’s ‘We Own This City’ follows the rise and fall of Baltimore Police’s Gun Trace Task Force and its members. Through multiple simultaneous narratives, the show pieces together years’ worth of crimes committed by police officers in a city battling the breakdown of law and order. Episode 3 takes a closer look at Sergeant Thomas Allers and his subsequent interrogation after his underhanded activities are discovered. Considering much of ‘We Own This City’ draws from real life, let’s take a look at where Thomas Allers is now.
Who is Thomas Allers?
Thomas Allers is a former Baltimore police sergeant who led the force’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) and participated in a number of robberies using the authority of his position. During his subsequent trial, prosecutors pointed out that Allers’ conduct also emboldened his subordinates to carry out a variety of illegal activities. In his plea agreement, the former sergeant admitted stealing money from victims, swearing false affidavits, and making false incident reports.
Allers joined the Baltimore Police Department on July 22, 1996, and had quite a long career in law enforcement before becoming the head of the Gun Trace Task Force in 2013. In 2016, he was reassigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force. This was around the time that the GTTF was being investigated for its members’ illegal conduct. Thus, Allers was not part of the initial group of seven GTTF police officers who were charged in early 2017.
However, two former members of the task force who were charged and became government cooperators — former detectives Jemell Rayam and Momodu Gondo — then claimed to have stolen money along with Allers. The former sergeant ultimately pleaded guilty to taking part in nine robberies between 2014 and 2016. He ultimately became the first of eight officers to be convicted in the case. Allers briefly spoke during his time in court. Apologizing for his conduct, he said, “I will live with this until the day I die.”
Allers also had a large number of supporters present at the hearing, and the court received dozens of letters from people claiming Allers to be a good relative, friend, and colleague. In total, the former head of the GTTF admitted to stealing over $117,000. U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake said on the matter, “It strikes at the foundation of our entire criminal justice system when judges and juries cannot rely on the word of sworn law enforcement officers, because they are covering up their own crimes.”
Where is Thomas Allers Now?
Thomas Allers is currently serving his 15-year sentence, which a federal judge handed him in 2018. According to prison records, he is currently at FCI Coleman Low, a low security federal correctional institution in Sumterville, Florida. In 2021, Allers requested then outgoing president Donald Trump to commute his sentence. However, his date of release is currently in 2030.
Following his release, the former Baltimore police sergeant will be on supervised release for three years. It appears that Thomas Allers has a wife named Angel Allers, and the two of them have a son from Thomas Allers’ previous relationship. At the time of Thomas Allers’ sentencing, Angel Allers stated that her husband maintained his innocence but took a guilty plea because he believed that he wouldn’t get a fair trial.
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