A Baltimore City District Court judge and real estate developer is facing fines and court action from the state and Anne Arundel County after failing to clean up hundreds of tons of landfill rubble dumped on his property along the Patapsco River.
The state attorney general's office yesterday filed a complaint seeking a $10,000 penalty against Judge Askew W. Gatewood Jr., who officials say deposited truckloads of drywall, cinderblocks, broken bathroom fixtures and other landfill rubble along the waterfront of his Riviera Beach house.
Gatewood, owner of a West Baltimore development company, has refused to tell investigators where the debris came from, according to court filings, and a spokesman for the attorney general's office said criminal penalties remain a possibility.
The state's action came less than two weeks after Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold wrote Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, reminding him that the county had discovered the mess more than a year earlier, questioning the commitment of a new state environmental crimes division and suggesting that the judge was receiving "special treatment."
Leopold called the case "one of the most egregious violations of its nature."
State officials bristled at the accusations that they were dragging their heels, saying they had been working diligently on the case for months and had extended the window to file a complaint Gatewood under the statute of limitations. That window was due to expire today.
"The attorney general has made it a priority to crack down on these types of cases, which is why we have to thoroughly, judicially and carefully look at these cases to make sure our due diligence is done," said Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office.
County officials also filed a civil complaint yesterday, seeking the maximum $8,500 fine against Gatewood for not obtaining grading permits. The county cannot pursue criminal charges.
"This office has received assurances from the [attorney general's] environmental crimes unit since this past July that it would proceed with criminal charges in this case," said county attorney Jonathan A. Hodgson. "I hope and trust that the door has not closed on the filing of criminal charges in this case."
Gatewood, a Baltimore native, has been a city District Court judge since 1984, and is president and sole owner of Monumental City Realty Corp., a company that has performed publicly financed rehabilitation projects. He has not responded to requests for comment.
