BALTIMORE — A former Maryland State trooper has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for bribery and drug related crimes.
This stems from an incident in December 2022, when Justin Riggs, 35, was assigned to a group within the Maryland State Police investigating drug and gun trafficking in Western Maryland.
During this time, the group used at least one confidential informant.
Riggs created a fake Facebook account to talk to one of the drug dealers about that informant. He messaged them saying he had “tons more info pertaining to your biggest informant.”
These conversations happened between 2022 and 2023.
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On December 21, Riggs told the dealer, “There's a big case man. I’m not reaching out because I care what you’re in to or not in to.you don’t have to play innocent to me. IDC (I don't care) about that. I’m just trying to get paid. But there’s a big case that’s going on. I'm here to work with you. I gave you some free info to prove my worth. Once you find the tracker and see I’m legit then let's talk about the other info I have.”
“That’s why I need money for the info. I know what’ll happen to the rat. You may not have the money but your club does. And this case is going to hurt a lot of members. But anyway. Just holler when you want to move forward man,” Riggs continued in the message.
These conversations continued for days until January, then, Riggs began a negotiating price with the dealer for information on the informant.
“If you make the 1,500 drop then I’ll just give ya the rest of the info and you can make the 300 drop.”
Then later, “Every buy he’s done has been recorded. The audio conversations have been recorded. But he plans on testifying on ya,” Riggs continued.
On January 5, a person picked up the $1,500 on behalf of Riggs at an agreed upon location in Western Maryland. Riggs later confirmed with the drug dealer that he received the money.
