Baltimore officials investigating legal contractor’s possible neo-Nazi ties

Baltimore City officials are investigating a report that a contractual employee of the city’s law department has supported neo-Nazi organizations.

Attorney Glen Keith Allen has a history of supporting the Neo-Nazi National Alliance, according to an investigation by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Allen, 65, is a contract employee who works on complex litigation on an as-needed basis, according to City Solicitor George Nilson.

“We are assessing the alleged facts as thoughtfully and fully as reasonably possible,” Nilson said in an email Thursday.

The investigation comes a week after the results of a year-long U.S. Department of Justice investigation were made public in a 160-plus-page document. The investigation, which concluded Baltimore Police have a history of violating citizens’ rights, came after unrest in the city following the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after suffering a neck injury while in police custody. Six officers charged in Gray’s death have been cleared of wrongdoing in court, but still face internal department investigation.

Nilson said Allen played “absolutely no role” in the law department’s assessment of the Gray case, the Justice Department investigation or “any alleged police brutality lawsuits — zero.”

Reached by phone Thursday morning, Allen said he wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Allen is not a city employee, Nilson said. He is an independent contractor working on a one-year contract. His contract began in February.

The amount of his contract and the scope of his work was not immediately available.

The SPLC investigation stated that Allen is representing the city’s police department on a wrongful arrest lawsuit.

Baltimore Sun staff reporters Yvonne Wenger, Ian Duncan and Luke Broadwater contributed to this article.

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