The deputy major of the Baltimore Police Department's Eastern District has been suspended pending an internal investigation into allegations that he failed to disclose a series of text messages he exchanged with a man sought on a domestic violence warrant, days before authorities say he killed his wife.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that Dan A. Lioi was suspended indefinitely Saturday because of "integrity issues." He would not provide details.
Sources with knowledge of the situation say Lioi exchanged text messages with 33-year-old Cleaven Lawrence Williams Jr. and might not have vigorously attempted to serve the warrant for his arrest. Williams is accused of killing his wife, Veronica Williams, 28, on Nov. 17 outside the Eastern District Court on North Avenue and is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not criminally responsible, the equivalent of an insanity plea.
Lioi could not be reached for comment. Viewed by many as a by-the-book up-and-comer in the department, he headed a gun task force established by Mayor Sheila Dixon before becoming deputy commander in the Eastern District, one of the city's most violent.
As president of the Greater Greenmount Community Association, Cleaven Williams was known by police leaders and patrol officers as "C.J." and helped to organize a community anti-violence walk last fall. But he also had a history of domestic violence involving his wife, the mother of his three children, dating to when they lived in Frederick.
A few weeks before Veronica Williams' death, she filed assault charges against her husband, accusing him of locking her out of the house and taking her car. The two had gotten into a fight when she told him she was leaving, and he had cut off all her hair.
Police did not follow normal procedures in attempting to serve the warrant on Cleaven Williams. Instead of sending it to a special domestic violence unit, Eastern District officers, who knew him, tried to serve it themselves.
Cleaven Williams learned about the warrant. According to an e-mail sent to Lioi by Maj. Melvin Russell and provided to The Baltimore Sun, Williams contacted police and indicated he wanted to surrender. After he failed to show, patrol officers began going to his house, passing the warrant from shift to shift.
