Officer Michael Towne is a dirty cop and a partner of Austin Bates and Mitch Murray in a drug smuggling operation. Towne was also an accomplice to the rape and assault of Sergeant Karen Smythe to silence her attempts to report them to IAB.
Towne was arrested and imprisoned for life on drug charges, but the rape and accessory charges were dropped from the cops to spare Smythe her danger and humiliation (SVU: "Paranoia")