Story highlights Eight Baltimore Police officers were arrested earlier this year on racketeering charges

About 2,000 cases are affected by that alleged misconduct, the public defender's office says

(CNN) The arrests of eight Baltimore police officers on racketeering charges earlier this year may affect more than 2,000 criminal cases, a major increase from previous estimates, according to the public defender's office.

The affected charges stem from the arrest of officers with the Gun Trace Task Force, a specialized force that dealt with investigating firearms offenses.

In March, seven officers from the task force were arrested on federal racketeering charges and were accused of claiming fraudulent overtime, filing false affidavits and stopping residents -- some of whom were not accused of any crimes -- to seize their money. An eighth officer was arrested in August on similar charges.

In one instance, officers stopped a maintenance supervisor at a nursing home and stole $1,500 from him that he was planning to use on rent, according to the indictment.

"These are really robberies by people who are wearing police uniforms," then-Maryland US Attorney Rod Rosenstein said at the time.