Former BPD Sergeant Indicted For Allegedly Planting Evidence

A former Baltimore police sergeant linked to the Gun Trace Task Force has been indicted on federal charges including civil rights violations and witness tampering.

Keith Allen Gladstone, 51, of New Park, Pennsylvania, had his initial appearance and arraignment in federal court on Tuesday. The indictment was returned on Feb. 27 and sealed until the Tuesday hearing.

“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,” U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur said in a statement. “This is not about policing, it is about a criminal conspiracy.”

SEE VIDEO: Yet another @TheJusticeDept indictment of a @BaltimorePolice officer linked to the corrupt #BPD #GunTraceTaskForce This time a 51 yr old former Sgt who is accused of planting a BB gun at a crime scene #DOJ Listen to @wbalradio for my live reports with @BryanNehman pic.twitter.com/i6dEUxIaJd — Scott Wykoff (@ScottWykoffWBAL) March 6, 2019

An attorney said Gladstone entered a plea of not guilty, and that his client is "not like" the defendants who have already pleaded guilty or who have been convicted in the GTTF cases.

Acting Commissioner Michael Harrison said that based on the indictment and other information available to him, three officers will be suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation. A fourth officer was already suspended, and will also be investigated.

Read the indictment against former Sgt. Keith Gladstone

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

My statement on the former BPD officer indicted today pic.twitter.com/VPq7ti82tt — Mayor Catherine Pugh (@MayorPugh50) March 6, 2019

Gladstone joined the force in 1992 and was promoted to sergeant in 2011. He retired the following year, but was reinstated in 2013. He led a special enforcement section unit assigned to the Western District until he retired a second time in 2017.

Prosecutors point to one incident on March 26, 2014, when Gladstone was having dinner with another officer when he got a call on his cell phone from a "W.J." That officer is not directly named in the indictment, but is likely a reference to Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, who later pleaded guilty in the wide-ranging Gun Trace Task Force scandal. W.J. called in a panic, saying he had just deliberately run over an arrestee in northeast Baltimore.

Gladstone allegedly retrieved a BB gun from the trunk of his police car and drove with the officer with whom he was dining--also later linked to the GTTF case--to the site of the arrest. He then allegedly put the gun near a pickup truck where the arrested man lay injured on the ground. Gladstone then told the panicked officer, in the presence of another officer linked to the GTTF scandal, "It's over by the truck," or words to that effect, and told W.J. to have someone search the truck.

The indictment claims W.J. told another officer to move the gun closer to the victim. The weapon was then recovered by BPD's crime lab and based on a false statement of probable cause written by W.J. in another officer's name, the arrestee was subsequently charged in relation to the BB gun planted at the scene, as well as a number of drug offenses. He was held until at least April 2, 2014 and the charges were dismissed on Jan. 16, 2015.

The indictment also alleges that after W.J. and six other officers were arrested on federal racketeering charges, Gladstone told the officer he had been dining with that night that, if questioned about the night's events, he should tell investigators that they were there for "scene security."

Last June, Gladstone was named in a $40 million lawsuit that alleged he supplied the drugs that were planted in a different arrest. That suit also named Jenkins, Officer Ryan Guinn and the estate of Detective Sean Suiter. In January of last year, a jury awarded $75,000 to a man who alleged Gladstone and another officer used excessive force while arresting him.

If convicted, Gladstone could face up to 35 years in federal prison. U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner ordered him released under supervision of U.S. Pretrial services.

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WBAL-TV 11 lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller contributed to this report.