Justin Riggs: Former Trooper Sentenced to 6 Years for Leaks

Justin Riggs, a former Maryland state trooper, was sentenced on June 5, 2025, to six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to bribery and drug conspiracy charges for selling sensitive law enforcement information, including the identity of a confidential informant, to a drug distributor his own unit was investigating.¹ Riggs, of Smithsburg, had joined the Maryland State Police in 2012 and held the rank of corporal, assigned to the Western Region Enforcement Narcotics Section (WRENS), when he began leaking the case from the inside.²

What He Leaked and Why

On December 19, 2022, while his WRENS squad was running controlled drug purchases against a Western Maryland trafficking organization, Riggs created a fake Facebook account and messaged one of the targets.¹ He claimed to work for a “fed agency” and offered to sell what he knew.

Over the next several weeks, Riggs disclosed that a RICO investigation was underway, that a GPS tracker had been placed on the distributor’s truck, that the distributor’s phone was wiretapped, and that search warrants were pending for the distributor’s home and other locations.² He also offered to sell the identity of the confidential informant inside the organization, telling the distributor the informant was wearing a wire and running weekly controlled buys.³

His own messages spelled out the motive. “There’s a big case man. I’m not reaching out because I care what you’re in to or not in to… I’m just trying to get paid,” Riggs wrote. In another exchange he said, “I know what’ll happen to the rat,” and told the distributor that once the informant was gone the case would fall apart.⁴⁵ The FBI affidavit noted that Riggs carried more than $67,000 in debt beyond his mortgage, car payments, and student loans, with five credit cards at or over their limits.²

How the FBI Caught Him

By late December 2022, the FBI had quietly joined the investigation to find the leak inside the MSP unit. Riggs was the only member of his squad who was not told. Investigators fed specific details, including the existence of the vehicle tracker, through the squad and watched for them to surface in the leaker’s messages. They did.²

On January 5, 2023, the FBI placed $1,800 behind dumpsters at a Red Roof Inn in Williamsport, Maryland. Surveillance teams watched a vehicle consistent with Riggs’s department-issued 2020 Nissan Pathfinder arrive at about 9:52 a.m. and pick up the cash. At 10:20 a.m., Riggs messaged the distributor asking what else was needed. At the direction of investigators, the distributor asked Riggs to run a warrant check on an associate, which he did, reporting back the next day that the person had no outstanding warrants.²

Riggs was arrested on January 7, 2023, detained after a hearing on January 13, and resigned from the Maryland State Police shortly after.⁶⁷

The Guilty Plea

On February 24, 2025, Riggs pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to three counts: conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine; use of a communication facility to facilitate a drug conspiracy; and a Travel Act count tied to Maryland bribery. Counts 3 through 9 were dropped under the plea agreement, which called for a sentencing recommendation of four to nine years.⁷³ Available records give no indication that Riggs cooperated with authorities.

The Sentence

U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Riggs on June 5, 2025 to six years in federal prison on the drug conspiracy count, four years on the communication facility count, and five years on the bribery count, with the shorter terms running concurrently. She added three years of supervised release and ordered forfeiture of $1,500.¹

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney had asked for nine years. Delaney called Riggs’s conduct “the sale of the life of another human being for fifteen hundred bucks” and said Riggs had sold the informant’s identity to a “violent and dangerous drug trafficking organization so it could murder him.” He also argued that Riggs had wanted an ongoing relationship with the traffickers and that the leak would chill future witnesses.⁵

Judge Gallagher said the sentence she imposed was “slightly longer” than what the defense had sought, acknowledged the seriousness of the crime, and told Riggs she hoped he would use the time productively and still had “a lot to offer the community.” Citing his law enforcement background and lack of criminal history, the court recommended placement in a minimum-security prison camp and participation in a substance abuse program.⁵⁸

What Happened to the Informant and the Case

The FBI’s intervention, which included swapping the cash and keeping Riggs under surveillance before any information could pass directly to the traffickers, appears to have kept the informant’s identity from reaching the drug organization. No reporting indicates the informant was harmed.⁵ The case, United States v. Riggs (1:23-cr-00022), was terminated on June 5, 2025, and the docket shows no notice of appeal. Available reporting does not indicate that any other Maryland State Police troopers were charged in connection with the scheme.⁷

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Former Maryland State Trooper Sentenced to Federal Prison for Bribery and Drug Crimes
2
Herald-Mail Media. MD State Police Officer Could Face Up to 30 Years for Leaking Critical Hagerstown Drug Case Info
3
Herald-Mail Media. Former MSP Trooper From Smithsburg Pleads Guilty in Federal Drug Case
4
WJLA. Former Maryland State Trooper Sentenced to Six Years for Bribery Drug Crimes
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The Banner. Maryland State Police Trooper Justin Riggs Bribery Sentencing
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CBS News Baltimore. Maryland State Police Sentenced Bribery Crime
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CourtListener. United States v. Riggs, 1:23-cr-00022
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Herald-Mail Media. Former Maryland State Police Trooper Justin Riggs Sentenced