Troy

A 10-year city police officer working with a State Police task force is charged with tampering with evidence and official misconduct after he allegedly warned a friend about a drug raid in the North Central neighborhood.

Patrolman Brian Gross was assigned to assist the Community Narcotics Enforcement Team "and thus had knowledge of and access to investigative intelligence, suspect information and details concerning the timing and location of search warrants," according to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office.

The result of a five-month joint investigation between the attorney general's office and State Police, the case against Gross developed after investigators were concerned when they executed search warrants in February "at five locations where extensive evidence of drug activity had already been observed, (but) there was no discernible evidence of the drug enterprise," the attorney general's office said. Many of those addresses were in the North Central neighborhood.

Gross, a North Greenbush resident, was arraigned on Tuesday in Brunswick Town Court and ordered to appear Wednesday in City Court.

Gross' attorney, Stephen Coffey, entered a not guilty plea before City Court Judge Christopher Maier to charges of felony tampering with physical evidence and misdemeanor official misconduct and obstructing governmental administration. The judge adjourned the case for 30 days and released Gross without setting bail.

Gross is suspended from his job. Police Chief John Tedesco said Gross will be put back on the payroll in 30 days but will remain suspended as the investigation unfolds.

"Officer Gross is a highly competent and well-liked officer," Tedesco said. The chief did not answer questions about the charges.

Some Troy police officers were angry that they weren't given a heads-up about the pending arrest. The attorney general's news release announcing the arrest did not cite any participation in the investigation by the city police department.

A large number of Gross' colleagues were in City Court, and many said the department was blindsided by the accusations and the officer's sudden arrest.

Officer Robert Fitzgerald, president of the Troy Police Benevolent Association, had no immediate comment. Fitzgerald is retiring and Wednesday was his last day. The arrest stems from a State Police investigation of a Rensselaer County drug ring that began last year.

According to court documents, Gross allegedly told a person that the narcotics team was investigating a second individual whose home was going to be raided.

Investigators said they had evidence of calls from Gross to the person he warned and that they also met face to face.

After no drugs were found at the home, the resident was interviewed by State Police and said he knew that his house was a target, saying, "Yeah, I heard," according to court documents.

The charges indicate the officer told his friend in phone conversations, by text messages and in person, to warn the suspect about the impending raid and to "watch his back."

Gross also allegedly told his friend to tell the probe's target "if he was doing anything he needed to cut the (expletive) and get any drugs out of his house," according to documents.

"Revealing confidential information threatens the safety of law enforcement agents and jeopardizes criminal investigations," a statement from Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office said. "It's particularly troubling to see an officer accused of abusing his position while violating the very laws that he's sworn to protect."

Brendan J. Lyons contributed. bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier