A grand jury indicted David Eichelberger Jr. on charges that he sold weapons out of a patrol car, one of which belonged to his own police department.

After leaving the Baltimore Police Department, Eichelberger got a new start in Prince George's County, but his tenure in Morningside was short. He was hired as an officer in January and was promoted to chief in August, but then forced out of the job last month.

"I was sad when I heard. He's got a family, too. Why would you do something like that when you got a family?" said Morningside resident Charles Kant.

"You had a police officer take a weapon from the Morningside Police Department and sell it to somebody on the street. That's not what they're supposed to do," said Prince George's County state's attorney Glenn Ivey.

A county grand jury indicted Eichelberger on Tuesday, charging him with theft and the illegal possession and sale of a regulated firearm. He's accused of selling a Glock .40-caliber handgun.

"He told me they were his weapons. He needed the money and he wanted to sell some of his weapons," said Morningside business owner Charles Thompson, who runs Force Clean Auto Service.

He said he bought the Glock and a shotgun from Eichelberger for $600.

"I had the guns checked. Nothing came back on them. That threw up a red flag," Thompson said.

The ex-chief's attorney had no comment, but according to court documents, Eichelberger admitted to selling the weapons, initially claiming a Baltimore city police officer gave him the Glock in 2005.

Investigators found that another Morningside police chief actually purchased the gun in 2001. Eichelberger then admitted he got the weapon from a Police Department evidence safe.

"He knows better. He's a law officer. He knows better," Kant said.

City police would only confirm to 11 News that Eichelberger worked for the department from July 2005 to May 2007, when he resigned.

Records obtained by the 11 News I-Team from the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions showed he left after receiving an administrative charge following an internal affairs investigation into an accident. During a vehicle pursuit, his patrol car struck the suspect, causing a minor injury, the report showed.