A Baltimore City District Court judge has to pay $15,000 in fines and is on probation while he removes illegally dumped construction material around his Pasadena waterfront property.
Judge Askew Gatewood Jr. was found guilty of unlawfully filling state wetlands without a license by Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Eugene Lerner and was assessed the highest fines allowed by Maryland and Anne Arundel.
Gatewood is on unsupervised probation until he removes the debris from his Bay Road property, which he must do in one year. He also has to pay the state $10,000 and Anne Arundel $5,000.
Gatewood was accused of dumping tons of what appeared to be discarded home renovation material in October 2006 around his property, a peninsula jutting out into the Patapsco River.
Gatewood is a partner in a Baltimore City real estate company.
The state dropped 11 of 12 charges because “the primary goal was for the wetlands to be restored, and that?s the charge we had today,” said Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for Attorney General Doug Gansler.
Gatewood pleaded not guilty. Gatewood and his attorney, John Dougherty, declined to comment.
Dougherty has said Gatewood has maintained his innocence, saying the material was used to reclaim tidal land lost during storms.
Gatewood escaped any prison sentence, as it is rare for first-time offenders to be imprisoned, Guillory said.
Calls to the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities, the oversight body of judges, were not returned.
County inspectors referred the case to Gansler?s office. But a year of public inaction led County Executive John R. Leopold to call out Gansler?s office on moving too slowly because of Gatewood?s position as a judge.
Gansler?s office has consistently denied that Gatewood?s profession, or the fact that his daughter works for Gansler, caused any delay.
Gatewood?s case has Leopold considering county legislation that would stiffen penalties against environment code violators.
