Settlement reached in wrongful arrest

The city of Baltimore has paid a $200,000 settlement to a violinist and music teacher who was wrongfully arrested in a child sex abuse case.

The settlement was approved by the city’s spending board in March, but public documents did not reveal what the $200,000 was for.

The Daily Record of Baltimore reports that it came down to an error by a police detective. The suspect in the case was named Yisroel Shapiro, but the detective searched for his address by entering the name “Y. Shapiro” in a database.

That search turned up Yakov Shapiro, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who lives in Germantown. Police arrested him in November 2007, and it took them nearly a week to realize their mistake and arrest Yisroel Shapiro, who later pleaded guilty.

Yakov Shapiro’s attorney says his client is still haunted by the ordeal.