(BALTIMORE – REVISED – June 9, 2026) – As Baltimore voters prepare to head to the polls on June 23rd, another voice is stepping forward with serious allegations about the leadership of Baltimore City Sheriff Sam Cogen — and this one comes from the inside.
Ryan Watson, a concerned citizen with direct knowledge of the sheriff’s office, says what he has witnessed goes far beyond politics. According to Watson, the agency under Cogen has been defined not by professionalism or stability, but by a culture of retaliation, intimidation, and dysfunction that has affected multiple employees across multiple years.
“I have the documents, audio, and witnesses to back all of it up,” Watson told BMORENews. “People need to know who he really is.”
Watson is not alone. His account follows a reported vote of no confidence by Cogen’s own deputies, a growing list of criticism from former employees, and a serious primary challenge from longtime law enforcement professional Sabrina Tapp-Harper. But Watson’s willingness to go on record — with his name attached — adds a significant new dimension to a story that refuses to go away.
The Fulton Avenue Shooting
At the center of Watson’s concerns is a fatal shooting that occurred during a warrant operation on North Fulton Avenue in 2008.
According to Watson and records he provided to BMORENews, the incident later became the subject of an Internal Affairs reinvestigation after former Deputy Juanita Gaines challenged the official account of what took place. Internal Affairs investigators reportedly identified inconsistencies in witness statements and concluded that required supervisory procedures — specifically involving the handling and securing of firearms at the scene — were not properly followed.
The matter remains a source of deep controversy among current and former members of the sheriff’s office.
“These are not rumors,” Watson said. “This is based on what people saw and what was later challenged internally.”
BMORENews is continuing to review records related to the Fulton Avenue shooting and will report further findings separately.
The Whistleblower Who Won
Watson points to the experience of former Deputy Juanita Gaines as one of the clearest examples of what happens to employees who question official accounts inside Cogen’s office.
According to Watson and other sources familiar with the matter, Gaines challenged aspects of the department’s handling of the Fulton Avenue incident — and paid a professional price for it. She was ultimately forced out of the agency.
Gaines pursued legal action. And she prevailed.
For critics of the current administration, her case is more than an employment dispute. It is, they argue, a window into a culture where speaking truth carries consequences — and where the people at the top protect themselves at the expense of the people beneath them.
“He Comes After People”
Watson says his own story follows the same pattern.
After becoming a vocal critic of Sheriff Cogen, Watson alleges that the Sheriff personally took steps to intimidate and discredit him. Among his claims: Cogen called 911 while Watson was peacefully distributing campaign literature. Cogen later appeared in court — in full uniform — in support of an individual involved in a dispute with Watson, using the visual weight of his office as a pressure tactic.
Watson also alleges that political relationships, including a connection to Council President Zeke Cohen, were leveraged against him in retaliation for his public criticism.
“I’ve been targeted directly,” Watson said. “This isn’t isolated. It’s how he operates.”
Watson has since filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, naming Cogen and numerous other defendants. The complaint alleges a multi-year campaign of retaliation tied to Watson’s political speech, activism, and disputes with public officials. Watson also brought his evidence — documents, audio recordings, and witnesses — directly to State’s Attorney Ivan Bates.
According to Watson, Bates took no action.
The allegations in Watson’s lawsuit remain contested and have not been adjudicated.
A Pattern, Not an Isolated Incident
No single allegation tells the full story. What matters here is the pattern.
Deputies voted no confidence in their own sheriff — an extraordinary and rare action by the very people who work alongside him every day. Cogen’s allies have tried to minimize that vote, pointing to meeting attendance and procedural details. But the fact itself stands: your own people don’t trust you.
Former employees have filed complaints. A whistleblower was fired and later won in court. A concerned citizen with firsthand knowledge is now filing in federal court. And a state’s attorney, presented with documented evidence of alleged misconduct, reportedly looked the other way.
Supporters of Sheriff Cogen argue that he has modernized the office and provided stable leadership during his tenure. His campaign continues to make that case as Election Day approaches.
But critics — and there are more of them now than ever — tell a very different story. They describe an office where accountability flows in one direction only: downward. Where loyalty is rewarded, and dissent is punished. Where the official story gets written by the people who need protecting, not the people who were actually there.
What This Election Is Really About
Sabrina Tapp-Harper has built her campaign for Baltimore City Sheriff around four words: accountability, professionalism, dignity, and respect. Those are not abstract values. For the people who have dealt with Sam Cogen’s office, they represent everything that has been missing.
I have known Sabrina since her days at Dunbar High School. She has always been a woman of integrity. She is qualified. She is credible. And the attacks she has faced — the online dismissals, the suggestions that she is somehow not serious — are consistent with the same playbook used against every other person who has dared to challenge this sheriff.
Ryan Watson said it best: “This is about more than one incident. It’s about integrity.”
As June 23rd approaches, Baltimore voters will have to make a decision. The question before them is not just who should run the sheriff’s office. It is whether the growing number of insiders, whistleblowers, and concerned citizens raising alarms about Sam Cogen represents a collection of isolated grievances — or evidence of something that has been broken for a very long time.
BMORENews welcomes a response from Sheriff Sam Cogen and his campaign and will continue reporting on these allegations and the records surrounding them.
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*Doni Glover is the founder and publisher of BMORENews.com, now in its 24th year of covering Black Baltimore, and the founder of the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards, now in its 15th year. He is also the host of the Emmy-nominated Doni Glover podcast and The Doni Glover Show on WMAR-TV 2.*
