BALTIMORE (AP) — A former Baltimore police sergeant is charged with planting a pellet gun at the scene of an arrest and telling another officer 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.
Gladstone is accused of dropping a BB gun near a pickup truck where an injured man was on the ground after another officer deliberately struck him with his police vehicle in March 2014, U.S. Attorney Robert Hur’s office said in a news release. The officer who struck the man in the front yard of a home had called Gladstone “in a panic” and summoned him to the scene of the injured man’s arrest, Hur’s office said.
The injured man was charged with illegal possession of the planted BB gun, as well as drug offenses, 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 honorable 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.
