A former Baltimore Police sergeant who illegally inflated his pay by more than $5,200 through two separate schemes will not serve any jail time, a judge ruled Monday.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Anthony Vittoria ordered Mark Rutkowski to serve one year on supervised probation for theft and misconduct in office, calling his actions a breach of the public trust.
Rutkowski declined to address the court at sentencing.
The investigation started in 2024 when the Baltimore Police Department was conducting a payroll audit and discovered discrepancies in his pay. Law enforcement put him under surveillance.
Rutkowski, 52, of Canton, used to work as an administrative sergeant in the Homicide Unit. He would clock into work early and then clock out after he left the parking garage, prosecutors alleged.
He would also voluntarily come in to work on his days off, prosecutors asserted, and rack up overtime and penalty pay: an additional eight hours of compensation.
Police officers earn penalty pay when a supervisor cancels their leave and calls them into work. Rutkowski used a staff member’s computer to cancel his time-off, prosecutors reported.
Rutkowski’s attorney, Chaz Ball, said his client accepted responsibility, paid full restitution and resigned from the department, where he worked for 25 years
Assistant State’s Attorney Steven Trostle, chief of the Public Trust and Police Integrity Unit in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case.
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