Ex-police officer charged with planting gun near injured man

BALTIMORE — A retired Baltimore police sergeant is charged with planting a pellet gun at the scene of an arrest and telling another officer who is currently behind bars for corruption to lie about the incident to federal investigators, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.

Keith Allen Gladstone, 51, of New Park, Pennsylvania, pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment. Gladstone’s Feb. 27 indictment on conspiracy and witness tampering charges was unsealed at Tuesday’s hearing.

In light of the indictment, the Baltimore Police Department announced Tuesday that three other officers would be suspended and investigated by the Internal Affairs department, The Baltimore Sun reported.

“The allegations outlined today in court are beyond disturbing, and speak to a culture that I am here to change,” said acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison. “We are working with our federal partners on this ongoing investigation.”

Gladstone is accused of dropping a BB gun near a pickup truck where an injured man was on the ground after Sgt. Wayne Jenkins deliberately struck him with his police vehicle in March 2014, U.S. Attorney Robert Hur’s office said in a news release. Jenkins had called Gladstone “in a panic” and summoned him to the scene of the injured man’s arrest, Hur’s office said.

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Jenkins, the former leader of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force Unit, is serving 25 years for an array of crimes including drug dealing and robbing citizens for years.

Following Jenkins’ indictment in the Gun Trace Task Force case, Gladstone told another officer that if questioned by federal investigators, they should lie and say they were only there for “scene security,” the indictment said, according to The Sun.

The injured man was charged with illegal possession of the planted BB gun, as well as drug offences, before the charges were dropped in January 2015, according to Hur’s office.

“Prosecuting criminals who work in police agencies is essential both to protect our communities and to support the many honourable officers whose reputations they unfairly tarnish,” Hur said in a statement. “This is not about policing, it is about a criminal conspiracy.”

Gladstone joined the Baltimore Police Department in 1992 and was promoted to sergeant before retiring for a first time in 2012. He was reinstated as a sergeant in 2013 before retiring again in May 2017.

David B. Irwin, an attorney for Gladstone, declined to comment on the charges against his client but described him as a decorated officer.

“He had a distinguished, long career in law enforcement,” Irwin said.

The Associated Press