Lawyer Says Pledge Is Scapegoat For Police Department

EX-ROANOKE OFFICER GETS 8-YEAR TERM FOR RACKETEERING

Frederick Pledge Says He Was Only Trying To Help People By Taking Drugs,
Money From Them.

Former Roanoke police officer Frederick Pledge crossed the line one day at
the Save-X gas station on Cove Road.

Pledge saw Donald Lee Simmons commit a motor vehicle violation and pulled
up near him. Simmons took Pledge's hand and pressed $200 into it.

"You knew what that was for, didn't you?" asked Chris Kowalczuk, who
represented 30-year-old Pledge at his sentencing in federal court Friday
with Roanoke attorney Richard Lee Lawrence.

"Yes, sir," Pledge replied.

"And that's where you crossed the line," Kowalczuk said.

"Yes, that's where I crossed the line," Pledge replied.

Later in the proceedings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant asked
Pledge of the incident:

"He gave it to you to buy a piece of your badge, isn't that true?"

"Yes, sir," Pledge replied.

After U.S. District Judge James Turk sentenced him to eight years and one
month in prison, the weeping of Pledge's new wife could be heard as
handcuffs were tightened on Pledge's wrists .

Turk ruled that Pledge, who pleaded guilty in March to one count of
racketeering, repeatedly robbed young drug dealers of drugs and money
during his seven years patrolling the streets of Northwest Roanoke.

Exactly what crime Pledge's admitted racketeering constituted - robbery or
bribery - was the subject of his sentencing.

Depending solely on the testimony of convicted felons, U.S. Attorney Ruth
Plagenhoef and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant argued repeatedly
during the hearing that Pledge used his position to intimidate people.

"That badge and that gun added a lot to that 5' 9" frame, didn't it?"
Bondurant pressed Pledge on cross-examination.

Although Kowalczuk and Lawrence conceded that Pledge had committed crimes,
during the hearing they argued that Pledge's actions constituted bribery,
not robbery, which would have resulted in a lesser sentence.

They also argued that Pledge became a scapegoat for corruption at the
Roanoke Police Department, which was the subject of a federal investigation.

While on the witness stand, Pledge admitted he was culpable.

"Would you agree with me that when a police officer breaches the public
trust, it is a very serious thing?" Kowalczuk asked Pledge.

"Yes, sir," Pledge replied.

"And would you agree with me that you breached the public trust?" Kowalczuk
asked.

"Sure did," Pledge replied.

But Pledge, a former Marine who served in Operation Desert Storm,
maintained when he testified that he considered himself a "community police
officer" and that the reason he took drugs and money from people on his
beat was to try to give them a second chance.

"My manner was to let them know that life could be better than drugs," said
Pledge, who choked up on several occasions during his testimony.

The prosecution's witnesses painted a darker picture of Pledge's
intentions, although Bondurant conceded that federal authorities never
found any evidence that Pledge had sold the drugs he confiscated.

Davis Lee Ross, who is serving time on drug and firearms charges, testified
that Pledge once ran into him at Valley View Mall and made him buy Pledge a
pair of Michael Jordan sneakers.

"He was always telling me, 'Who is going to believe you, anyway?'" Ross
testified. Pledge's attorneys repeatedly challenged the credibility of the
government witnesses.

Pledge was linked repeatedly with other officers who worked for the police
department at the time and, according to a grand jury investigation, may
have also engaged in corrupt activity.

After the sentencing, Kowalczuk said that although other officers were
named during the grand jury investigation, Pledge was made a scapegoat, as
no charges ever resulted against other officers against whom allegations of
racketeering and robbing drug dealers were also made.

"It's troubling that the other police officers were as thick as thieves,"
Kowalczuk said. No charges are pending against any other officers as a
result of the investigation.

But Bondurant countered that federal prosecutors pursue only the cases that
have sufficient evidence.

When asked whether federal authorities were still looking into the police
department, Plagenhoef replied, "It's not our practice to close an
investigation if there's still potential evidence."

Roanoke Police Chief Joe Gaskins was not available for comment.

After Turk pronounced the sentence, Milton Lee Andrews, a spiritual adviser
at the Reed Street Baptist Church in Vinton, stood and denounced the
sentencing as a "travesty of justice."

Just before his sentencing, in his statement to the judge, Pledge indicated
he knew he would pay for his crime.

"The cost of obedience is nothing," said Pledge, who just got married two
months ago and has a 5-year-old daughter. "But I see that the cost of
disobedience will cost me everything."

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