At tonight's charity event at the Du Burns Arena pitting city firefighters against police officers in mixed martial arts cage matches, the bout between Officer Regis Flynn and firefighter Joseph Yingling was considered to be a main draw. Flynn is 65 years old - he proclaimed himself the only Vietnam Veteran in the event and was dedicating the match to fellow vets - and was giving up 20 years to his opponent.

But Flynn won't be in attendance after being told yesterday that he's been pulled from the match. Flynn, who's been training for three months, is alleging age discrimination.

"I feel like someone hit me with a sledgehammer," said Flynn, who said his involvement in the event has been featured in veterans publications and was attracting spectators from out of state. "I think its just blatantly discriminatory, and it's disgusting what they're doing."

Robert Ross, a city homicide detective who is organizing the event, said he sympathized with Flynn and tried to overturn the sanctioning body's decision.  "It's unfortunate what happened, but we can't shut down the entire event over this one thing," Ross said. "We stand behind him, and we're with him on this. We think its absolutely wrong."

According to Ross and Flynn, Flynn passed physicals and stress tests and was cleared to participate. But this month, the sanctioning body, Florida-based American Amateur Mixed Martial Arts, tweaked the rules so that anyone over age 50 could not fight someone with a five year age difference without approval. Flynn said he got tentative approval contingent that he wear a type of headgear designated by the AAMMA, but the Maryland Athletic Commission said it would not allow the fighters to participate wearing headgear. The AAMMA then ruled that Flynn was off the fight card. Flynn said he wasn't notified until yesterday.

Ryan Mackin, a Baltimore-based MMA fighter who trained Flynn, said he was so upset about the decision that he nearly pulled the other nine fighters that he trained out of the event. 

"For three months, he's been working his ass off, and working harder than anybody else," Mackin said. "His work ethic, the kind of shape that he's in, there's no doubt in my mind that he can take on the physical burden that might come with competing. They're just worried about how they look, and everybody is pointing the finger."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

The FBI is moving to change the federal definition of rape for the first time in 80 years, which authorities and women's advocacy groups hope will lead to improved tracking of the crime and an attitude shift among investigators.

Critics have maintained that the current definition is archaic, too narrow and leaves crimes uncounted in police statistics, resulting in fewer resources for victims and law enforcement. Women's advocates accelerated their push for an updated definition last year with a hearing on Capitol Hill, spurred in part by reporting by The Baltimore Sun showing how city police had misclassified rapes and sexual assaults for years.

A subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Information Service of the FBI plans to take up the task at an Oct. 18 meeting in Baltimore. Its recommendations will go to an advisory board and then to FBI Director Robert Mueller for approval.

Greg Scarbro, the FBI's unit chief for the Uniform Crime Report, said the agency has been discussing revisions since last year.

"From the highest levels of the FBI, there's an understanding that this needs to change. We just need to make sure it happens in the right way," he said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

We no longer have yokings in Baltimore, and this newspaper has never liked perpetrators, and the New York term "perp" even less. I recall an editor once told me never to use the word "heist." Maybe too high-brow for a town like Baltimore.

Terms change over time, and by the whims of reporters and editors. When New Yorker Ed Norris took over the top police job, the joke around town was that he'd add pin-stripes to police uniforms. Not quite, but the word "perp" seeped into the language of Baltimore police.

The word "cop" had for a long time been banned from print, though that has eased in recent years. In Baltimore, you are "A PO-lice" -- the word cop, unlike in New York, is considered a derogatory term here in Charm City (another term that should probably be retired. We still have Espantoons, and some police still carry them.

My colleague over in the Paragraph Factory (a term he coined and I love), wrote today that maybe Molotov cocktail should be retired from print. I wrote it several times (to avoid repeatedly writing firebombing) in today's story on a series of attacks in the city.

Here is what John McIntyre had to say in his blog, You Don't Say: 

It may be all right to use the term without any historical resonance. We don’t need to know who Captain Boycott and Dr. Alzheimer were to understand the words derived from their names. But Molotov cocktail seems different somehow in its sardonic allusion to the deservedly defunct Soviet imperium. Musty.

Police terms
                          Baltimore     New York
    Ambulance       ambo          bus
    Suspect           30-1*          perp
    Minor suspect   n/a             skell
    Arrest              lockup          collar
    Fugitive           on the wing   in the wind
    Bum/loiterer     mope           mope
    Mugging          yoking          n/a
    Officer             PO-lice         cop
    Nightstick        espantoon     PR-24 or baton**
    Station           n/a               The House
    Police car        radio car        radio car
    Big case         red ball          n/a
    Easy case      dunkers          grounders

    * 30-1 is the code used for the place on a police report for the name of a suspect.
    ** PR-24 is the company name for the nightstick used in New York.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

A victim of one of the nine fire bombings in the city over the past three weeks described a scary ordeal. While little damage occurred, and no one was hurt, Mavis Mallett said was emerged lucky.

Early Wednesday, she said someone threw a whiskey bottle filled with gasoline and set on fire at her kitchen window. It shattered the glass but bounced off a screen and landed in a potted plant on an outdoor walkway, where it burned itself out. You can see the scorch marks on the aluminum siding in the picture.

Mallet said that had the perpetrator thrown the blazing bottle three inches to the right, it would've hit a part of the window not protected by a screen. ""It would've been all over," the 70-year-old retired youth worker told me. "We would've lost the house to fire."

It was even scarier for her house guest, Latoya Rowlette, 29, who said she awoke to the sound of breaking glass. She bolted her door shut, grabbed a pair of scissors and called police, telling the operator that someone was breaking in.

A day later, she had this to day: “It’s definitely different than the usual violence in Baltimore. Usually it’s bullets and shootings that are targeted. A Molotov cocktail is so old school.”

Meanwhile, police are asking for help in finding whoever is responsible. The attacks appear to be random, are occurring miles apart and at a pace of nearly one a night. For more details from police:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

City police are investigating another home invasion incident in which the suspects entered a home claiming to be police.

Anthony Guglielmi, the department's chief spokesman, said the latest occurred at about 3:20 a.m. in the 2800 block of Hilldale Ave in the West Forest Park Park Circle neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore.  Three men - two white and one black - forced their way into the home and yelled "Police," he said. One of them had a silver badge on his belt, and they handcuffed two people and began searching through the home, police said.

One victim broke free and approached one of the suspects, and was shot in the face, police said. He was transported to an area hospital, where he was last listed in stable condition. Guglielmi said the suspects fled in a silver vehicle.

There have been a number of similar incidents in recent months. In June, three men kicked in the door to a home in the Ednor Gardens Lakeside community, bound a man and his wife, and shot the man. It happened again in Federal Hill the next month, as well as Northwest Baltimore. Police have arrested at least one man in those attacks.

The Hillsdale Road shooting wasn't the only home invasion overnight that ended with a shooting. At about 5 a.m., in the 4100 block of Townsend Ave. in Brooklyn, three masked men forced their way into a home and pistol whipped and bound the three occupants. A 25-year-old woman was sexually assaulted, and a 45-year-old man was shot in the stomach. Police believe the suspects were looking for drugs and other items.

The shooting victim was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, as were the two other victims. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, South Baltimore
        

Baltimore police say that eight Molotov cocktails have been thrown at residences in the past month. Authorities plan to discuss the incidents in more detail at a 1 p.m. news conference.

For now, police will only say that there's been no major property damage and no one has been injured. The areas targeted are "throughout the city" and appear to be randomly chosen. Police said they are concerned because of the number of attacks.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Baltimore has received a $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to expand the Safe Streets "violence interrupters" program to two new city neighborhoods.

The Safe Streets program, modeled off of Chicago's CeaseFire initiative, involves placing ex-offenders and gang members in neighborhoods with a goal of mediating conflicts and preventing gun violence. In order to be effective and maintain trust, workers largely operate in the shadows.

[Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam]

Safe Streets is currently operating in two neighborhoods, McElderry Park and Cherry Hill. The program shrunk last year, with posts in Ellwood Park and Madison-East End shuttered. McElderry Park has gone 270 days without a homicide; two people have been shot in Ellwood Park in the past week.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake cut off $1 million in funding to Safe Streets in East Baltimore and in South Baltimore's Cherry Hill community after federal prosecutors indicted a youth counselor from a similar program on the west side in a wide-ranging drug and gang case. By that time, the city had already cut off payments to the West Baltimore program for deficiencies in standards.

The mayor restored the money to the two programs last May, but a task force recommended that the city sever its ties and let nonprofits take over the groups.

Brian Schleter, a Health Department spokesman, said officials have not decided which neighborhoods Safe Streets will expand to, and will solicit bids and consider proposals.

We'll have more on this story later today. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

A man suspected of stealing from a drug store in Brooklyn Park Wednesday afternoon threatened an off-duty Anne Arundel County police officer with a needle, according to authorities.

"When confronted, the suspect pulled out a hypodermic syringe, repeatedly stabbed himself with it and threatened to infect the officer with a communicable disease," a statement from police says.

The officer protected himself and the man was caught on Ritchie Highway a short time later. For more details, read the news release from police:

On September 28, 2011 at approximately 1537 hours, officers responded the Rite-Aid store in the 5800 block of Ritchie Highway, Brooklyn Park, MD for a reported theft. The suspect, described as a thin black male, dropped store property and ran as officers were responding.

An off-duty officer saw the suspect in the median of Ritchie Highway near Hammonds Lane. When confronted, the suspect pulled out a hypodermic syringe, repeatedly stabbed himself with it and threatened to infect the officer with a communicable disease.

The officer was able to protect himself from the suspect in this heavily trafficked area, but the suspect continued his flight north along Ritchie Highway. Responding patrol officers canvassed the business area where the suspect fled but were initially unable to locate him.

At approximately 1613hours, officers responded to the Save-A-Lot in the 5000 block of Ritchie Highway, Brooklyn Park for another reported theft. The suspect description in this incident matched the description from the earlier incident at Rite Aid. The suspect filled a trash bag with merchandise and held a knife in view of store personnel as he departed with the property.

The suspect was last seen running north on Ritchie Highway, and responding officers found him as he tried to hide in the 4500 block of Ritchie Highway. The suspect was taken into custody without incident and was positively identified as the person involved in the Rite Aid incident and assault on the off-duty officer. No one was injured during either altercation. The suspect was identified as:

Telly Sharon Marshall, 113 Gilmore Street, Baltimore, MD 21225, B/M, 6’5, 150 pounds, DOB 2/25/74

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

He got $13 in the robbery. Now he could go to prison for life for shooting a bystander.

The Sun's Luke Broadwater reports today: The second of two men charged in the shooting and killing of a 72-year-οld security guard who worked fοr the Afro-American newspaper was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday evening.

After deliberating for two days, a Baltimore City Circuit Court jury found Michael Hunter, 20, guilty of murder, armed robbery and handgun violations in connection with the murder of Charles Bowman during the April 8, 2010, robbery οf a Chinese food carryout in Waverly.

This killing, and one that followed two days later on Greenmount Avenue, shook the corridor last year. The area near Greenmount in 33rd is sort of transitional, with businesses and restaurants trying to overcome crime and grime. Police flooded the area with officers in the aftermath, and parked a police car at a corner gas station.

The photo above, by The Sun's Karl Merton Ferron, shows the crime scene after the second killing in April last year.

Here's more about the security guard and victim, Charles Bowman.

Read about the second killing in Waverly.  

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, North Baltimore
        

Police said an unidentified man was shot in the head in the doorway of a carryout store in the 1400 block of E. Fayette St. The shooting occurred during rush hour, closing off a main artery out of the city as police investigated.

A food delivery driver sitting in his parked truck at the crime scene flashed three fingers when asked how many shots had been fired. Police didn’t have a motive or suspects, but three men sat lined up on a curb to be questioned. The unidentified victim’s blood coated the sidewalk as onlookers gathered on opposite street corners.

“We are encouraging any member of the public to contact the homicide section with information,” said Anthony Guglielmi, the police department’s chief spokesman.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southeast Baltimore
        

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced this morning that 44 people were arrested in Maryland as part of a nationwide seven-day enforcement operation that swept up 2,900 criminal aliens and fugitives.

"Individuals like these are a menace to society," Calvin McCormick, Field Office Director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations in Baltimore, said in a statement. "They often prey upon innocent people in our communities. We intend to send them a message, 'You are not welcome anymore.'"

In Maryland, the agency said the 44 people taken into custody by ICE's ERO office in Baltimore had prior criminal convictions, including 26 aliens who had multiple criminal convictions. Twenty-two of those arrested in Maryland had felony convictions, and two were convicted sex offenders.

Seven people were arrested in Baltimore, 17 in Montgomery County and nine in Prince George's County. Another five were arrested in Baltimore County, two each in Cecil and Frederick counties, and one each in Anne Arundel and Howard counties.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

A man died early Wednesday morning after he was shot in Baltimore's Mount Holly neighborhood, according to city police spokesman Detective Kevin Brown.

According to Brown, police officers responded at 12:55 a.m. to a report of a shooting in the 2200 block of Garrison Boulevard. Police found a 45-year-old man lying on the sidewalk, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.

Emergency workers transported the man to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:55 a.m., Brown said.

Brown said officers have not released information about the man's name or address, pending notification of next of kin.

-Staff report

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: West Baltimore
        

The Sun's Justin Fenton reports today:

The Baltimore Police Department is taking part in a program to develop and test new technology that could significantly cut DNA analysis time.

The National Institute of Justice is putting $1 million toward the project. Police will partner with researchers from Yale University and a North Carolina-based company to develop technology that would enable crime lab workers to identify and test smaller samples in a much shorter time.

The technology is at least a year away from being usable and won't be implemented for cases during the pilot phase, but officials hope it will be cleared for use if successful.

Above is the Baltimore Police Department's crime lab director, Francis Chiafari, in a picture taken by The Sun's Amy Davis.

Details about the company.

Read the full story here.

Read the statement from Baltimore Police:

The Baltimore Police Department is pleased to announce a joint collaboration with scientists from Advanced Liquid Logic and Yale University on an experimental study that could revolutionize forensic biology testing methods and cut the processing time of crime scene evidence from days to hours.

The study, which is funded by a $996,237 grant from the National Institute of Justice, will take place over a two year time period and will produce an experimental bio-chip cartridge that would combine serology confirmatory testing and DNA SNP testing in an effort to produce enhanced screening results in approximately one hour.

If successful, this technology could revolutionize the way criminal laboratories process evidence and greatly improve the efficiency in testing and evaluating probative evidence. The collaboration between the Baltimore Police Crime Lab and Advanced Liquid Logic will not affect current cases in the criminal justice system and will be an experimental, authenticating exercise that will utilize non-evidentiary samples or a small quantity of those from adjudicated and closed cases. Once the results are confirmed and processes are scientifically validated and approved, the technology method could be cleared for use on actual cases.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, III called the study “a milestone” in the
convergence of science and law enforcement.

“If successful, this would not only change the current policing landscape but would allow law enforcement agencies to build stronger cases for prosecution by increasing the amount of probative scientific evidence in criminal investigations. It is a sincere honor and a testament to the exemplary work of our forensic investigators and scientists for the Baltimore Police Department to be selected for this study,” said Bealefeld.

Francis Chiafari, Director of the Baltimore Police Crime Laboratory, is excited about the partnership, and states “We are enthused that the NIJ has provided the funds needed to pursue our ideas, potentially revolutionizing evidence screening and testing. The project has great potential and we look forward to achieving the described goals, resulting in a substantial contribution to the tools available for criminal investigations.”

About Advanced Liquid Logic Advanced Liquid Logic, headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is commercializing its proprietary “Digital Microfluidics” technology in a spectrum of life sciences and clinical diagnostics applications. Digital microfluidics enables precise and flexible manipulation of microdroplets using electrical fields and therefore avoids the need for pumps, valves or microchannels required by competing technologies. For more information please visit http://www.liquid-logic.com/

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

A week ago, just six people had died in fires in Baltimore all year, meaning the city could've potentially ended 2011 with significantly lower deaths than than the 20 killed in blazes in 2010.

But then three people -- a mother and her two young sons -- were killed in a fire that swept through 10 rowhouses on a single block in Southwest Baltimore. Early this morning, two more people died in a house fire in Northwest Baltimore.

Investigators do not have a cause of the fire that killed three on Pulaski Street, and details are still coming in from the scene in Northwest. A reporter is out there and check back to The Baltimore Sun for more details.

The photo above is by The Sun's Jeffrey F. Bill.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A spasm of gun violence in Northwest Baltimore is being driven by long-simmering drug violence, while a man found shot in the head in a vehicle may have been an illegal taxi driver shot during a robbery, the district commander told residents Tuesday night.

Maj. Johnny Delgado, speaking at the monthly Northwest District Police Community Relations Council meeting, said some recent shootings in the district were believed to be "drug turf wars" and retaliatory violence. Four people have died from shootings in the past week.

He assured residents that officers were going after those who they believe are involved in the disputes. Wearing a bulletproof vest under his white commanders' uniform, Delgado said he had been out all day as officers served warrants and raided homes, and said he had personally made an arrest recently.

"We're taking the gloves off - we're out in full force," he said.

Early Sunday morning, police said two men - Tyrone McQueen, 28, and Gregory Toles, 30 - were shot before 4 a.m. in the 3600 block of Dolfield Ave. Delgado said the pair had left a 7-11 store and purchased food, crossed over rail road tracks and were sitting on the steps of a church when a man walked up and began talking to them, then opened fire.

He indicated the shooting stemmed from a drug dispute in a different area, but spilled over onto Dolfield when the shooter "saw an opportunity."

A man was also found shot in the driver's seat of a minivan parked in a driveway in the 4000 block of Primrose Ave. Delgado said police were trying to determine the man's identity, but said it was believed he was a "hack," or an illegal taxi driver, who was robbed and shot. [UPDATE: Police this morning identified the driver as 38-year-old Keith Parker, of Gwynn Oak. Parker does not have a criminal record for driving illegal taxis, but he was indicted in late August on drug dealing charges, court records show.]

"We've had a phenomenal year this year," Delgado said. "These past few weeks, things went crazy."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

An off-duty Baltimore police officer was arrested last week after leading Baltimore County police officers on a chase and failing a breath test, records show.

County police were monitoring traffic on Sept. 23 at 2 a.m. when a black Lexus sped by an officer's marked cruiser, nearly striking her at a speed of 72 miles per hour in a posted 35 mile per hour zone, charging documents show. The officer attempted to pull over the Lexus, which accelerated and crossed five lanes on Liberty Road near I-695, cutting in front of several vehicles which had to brake to avoid a crash, records show. The vehicle continued to flee for nearly a mile before stopping suddenly.

Police said the driver, identified as Timothy Terrell Smith, failed to exit the vehicle, and officers attempted to forcibly remove him and place him in handcuffs, according to charging documents. The officers then noticed a semi-automatic handgun in a holster on Smith's right waist, and attempted to remove the gun, records show. Officers wrote in charging documents that Smith moved his hands toward the weapon, but officers grabbed his arms and took possession of the gun.

Smith identified himself as a city police officer and was "uncooperative and argumentative throughout the process," records show. Smith told the officers that he saw their emergency lights but did not hear a siren. County police said Smith smelled of alcohol and failed field sobriety tests, then consented to a breath test and registered a .14, according to records.

Anthony Guglielmi, a city police spokesman, said Smith is a five-year department veteran assigned to the Northern District and was immediately suspended after the arrest. He'll face an internal investigation after the court case has played out. "Any activity that undermines the integrity of the agency simply will not be tolerated," Guglielmi said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Gregory Toles, 30, and Tyrone McQueen, 28, have been identified as the two men fatally shot early Sunday in Northwest Baltimore.

Police said Toles and McQueen were walking in the 3900 block of Dolfield Ave. when they were shot by an unknown gunman. They were found 15 feet apart, both bleeding from gunshot wounds to their heads. They were pronounced dead at the scene at about 4 a.m.

Police haven't released any information about motive or suspects. 

I found a Facebook page created after Toles' death. Someone wrote:

"They took him but he's not gone yall we goin dance our pain away for G money. Rest in peace Lil Ty and Gangsta boo they prbably somewhere having so much fun right now.."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

From The Sun's Andrea Siegel:

A former track coach at Archbishop Spalding High School is facing child pornography charges after Anne Arundel County police said he exchanged sexually explicit photos by cellphone with a 16-year-old student involved with the team.

Brian Timothy Funk, 40, of Pasadena, who was to become a track and field coach at Catholic University of America this month, turned himself in to police Sunday on one count each of allowing a minor to engage in child pornography and displaying an obscene image to a minor.

Charging documents claim that over about five months, Funk and the girl met, kissed and exchanged sexual images, including videos, by cellphone. The girl's father spoke with Archdiocese of Baltimore officials after he saw his daughter and Funk leave a movie theater in Linthicum on July 16 and kiss, the documents allege.

Read the full story here.

Read the statement from Anne Arundel County Police:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

Some new details from police on the fatal shooting in Dundalk Sunday night.

Officers had been called to a man threatening suicide and shot a man they said charged at them with a knife from behind a closed glass storm door. The officer who opened fire was outside on the porch.

This has raised some questions about whether the officers were in danger. Late this afternoon, Baltimore County police said this:

The man's girlfriend had told a 911 operator that the man was armed with knives and was “fixing to get someone hurt,” according to a department spokeswoman quoting from a transcript of the call.

Police dispatchers told the officers responding to the rowhouse that the man’s girlfriend had indicated in her 911 call that the man was threatening suicide and that the “first person who comes near him will get stabbed.”

“He was a very dangerous individual,” said police spokeswoman Elise Armacost.

Armacost said the first officer to respond went up to the porch, saw the man inside holding a large knife with his back to her. She turned the door handle and then the man turned and charged at her. A backup officer fired several times through the door, hitting the man.

Reaction from the family:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County, Police shootings
        

It's every parent's worst nightmare.

Police said that a mother saw a man walking away with her 5-year-old son from a sports field in Aberdeen. He was headed toward a corn field, and the son returned when his mother called out to him.

"The young boy told his mother that the male had asked him to help him find a toy he had lost," according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. "The male was not known to any of the other parents at the sporting event." The incident occurred Sat., Sept. 17.

Sheriff's deputies said they arrested a man this Saturday and charged him with kidnapping, and the man is being held without bail.

For more details, here is statement from the Harford County Sheriff's office:

Brian Hamilton Childress, age 49, was arrested on Saturday, September 24, 2011 on kidnapping charges in connection with a “Stranger Danger” incident that occurred a week earlier at the Carsins Run Sports Field located in Aberdeen, MD. 

It was reported to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office and the Child Advocacy Center that a mother witnessed her 5 year old son walking with an unidentified male towards a cornfield near the sports fields. The mother called out for her son, who returned to her and the male quickly disappeared into the cornfield.

The young boy told his mother that the male had asked him to help him find a toy he had lost. The male was not known to any of the other parents at the sporting event.

Utilizing a variety of investigative techniques and resources, Harford County Sheriff’s Office detectives were able to determine that the suspect described as  a white male, age 45-50, approximately 5’07”-5’09”, 185-200 lbs with short dark hair, a weathered face and a salt and pepper, scruffy beard was Brian Hamilton Childress, age 49, of no fixed address.   

An arrest warrant was issued and Childress was picked up without incident early Saturday morning in the Whiteford area of Harford County, MD. He has been charged under the annotated code of Maryland with CR 3-503 a with Kidnapping- Child under 16, which speaks to the suspect attempting to entice a child either forcibly or fraudulently away from the control and/or custody of a parent or guardian.  

He is currently being held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center while awaiting trial.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Harford County
        

Howard County police employed the use of two teenagers under the legal drinking age to test whether stores would sell them alcohol. Five establishments failed, and will face hearings before the liquor board.

Nine passed, and got letters of thanks from the police chief. Police say it works this way:

As part of the test, two volunteers, ages 19 and 17, working with police entered the establishments and attempted to purchase alcohol. At the five liquor stores in violation, the clerks never asked the volunteers for their driver’s licenses. The clerks completed the transactions despite the volunteers being underage.

The following retailers have been notified that they will be brought before the Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board for violation hearings:

• 7-Eleven on Frederick Road in Ellicott City (also charged with failing to have an alcohol awareness
certified manager on premises and failing to display an alcohol awareness certificate)
• Absolutely Wine & Spirits in Columbia
• All Saints Liquors in Laurel
• Owen Brown Wine & Spirits in Columbia (also charged with failing to display an alcohol awareness
certificate)
• Zapata’s in Columbia (facing two charges of selling to a minor, as well as failure to display an alcohol awareness certificate)

Nine other businesses fared well in the test, with employees following all appropriate laws. Clerks at those establishments reviewed the volunteers’ driver’s licenses and refused to complete the sale. Police Chief William McMahon is sending letters of appreciation to the following businesses:

• Dobbin Square Liquors in Columbia
• Friendship Liquors in West Friendship
• Montpelier Liquors in Fulton
• Oakland Mills Liquors in Columbia
• Snowden River Liquors in Columbia
• U.S. 1 Liquors in Jessup
• Wings Sports Café in Jessup
• Woody’s Liquor & Bar in Jessup
• Your Wine & Spirit Shoppe in Woodstock

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Howard County
        

UPDATE/CORRECTION: Officials say the mayor misspoke while giving her remarks. Gun seizures are actually slightly down from this point last year.

City police have seized nearly as many guns so far this year than they did last year, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said at a news conference Monday where she reiterated a desire to strengthen criminal penalties for people caught with illegal guns.

Officials laid out about a dozen handguns (right) that they said were similar to those seized over the weekend by police officers conducting car stops, drug surveillance and search warrants. Among those charged was 20-year-old Haymond Burton Jr., who in 2009 was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and got five years in prison for conspiracy to commit second-degree assault.

Burton was found Friday afternoon in a house in the 700 block of Richwood Ave. with a 12-gauge shotgun and 43 baggies of cocaine, said Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.

"We know there's a culture that exists in our city - drugs and guns," said Rawlings-Blake. "We're doing everything we can to break up that culture."

"We know who's committing these crimes - the same people committing the shootings last year and the year before," she continued. "It's repeat violent offenders, and we're determined to make sure we're making it very difficult for them to continue to pursue those dangerous activities in Baltimore." 

Officials said city police have made 850 gun arrests so far this year, and have taken 1,500 guns off the street.  Rawlings-Blake said she will return to Annapolis for next year's legislative session pushing tougher penalties for illegal gun possession.

"It's not a cause for celebration, it's a call to action. We know more needs to be done," Rawlings-Blake said. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: City Hall, Confronting crime
        

Court records show authorities last week disrupted a human trafficking operation in which underage girls were providing sex for money in a downtown Baltimore hotel room.

Detectives with the Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force, looking for young girls that might be working in the Baltimore area, were led to a website where women were soliciting sex, police wrote in charging documents.

At 5 p.m. on Thursday, an undercover officer contacted someone from the site and set up a meeting with two girls and was told to go to the Marriott Hotel in the 100 block of S. Eutaw Street, according to records.

Three hours later, the officer went to the room and exchanged money with a 20-year-old woman and discussed sexual acts with her and a 17-year-old girl, according to records. Officers then closed in on the room and placed them under arrest.

The teenage girl indicated her clothing was in another room, where police located marijuana and found two more women - 35-year-old Sharee Thomas and 23-year-old Shakia Taylor, records show.

The two women from the first room told police that Thomas, who goes by the name "Diamond," had recruited them into prostitution in Rochester, N.Y. and paid for their bus tickets and the hotel room, police said. The women said that they were to pay back Thomas for their expenses and split proceeds from their customers, records show.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Downtown
        

A man armed with a knife who was shot during a confrontation with Baltimore County police Sunday night has died, and a department spokeswoman confirmed a witness account that an officer fired at the man through a glass storm door.

"They killed an innocent man who needed help,” said Sandra Jacobs, whose daughter dated the man.

Det. Cathy Batton, a county police spokeswoman, said Monday that the 40-year-old man “was behind a glass door” and  “was charging at the officer” with a knife in his hand. She said the officer and the man were in “close proximity.”

A statement released by police this morning said officer responded about 9:20 p.m. to the home in the 7000 block of Berkshire Road for a man threatening suicide. Officers saw Nathaniel D. McCormick “standing near the door inside the home” and ordered him to drop the knife.

Police said in the statement that he refused. “He then charged toward the front door and the officers standing on the front porch on the other side of the door. Fearing for their safety, one officer fired several rounds from his duty weapon.”

Another spokesman, Lt. Robert McCullough, said the man “was coming through the door at the officer” and at one point had been armed two knives, one with a nine-inch blade. Batton said this morning she did not know which knife he was holding when he was shot.

Police said the shooting is under internal investigation and that the officer who fired his weapon has been placed on routine administrative leave. Batton declined to release the name of the officer.

Read here for more details.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Baltimore County, Police shootings
        

Barry H. Landau, charged with stealing valuable historical documents from the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore and museums in five states, is asking permission from a federal judge to sell some of his assets from his Manhattan apartment, The Sun's Peter Hermann reports.

The items include silver flatware, antique boxes, glass animal figurines and an Andy Warhol print titled "Liz" with an estimated value between $40,000 and $60,000, according to the motion filed by Landau's attorneys in Baltimore.

The court documents say Landau is out of money "necessary to pay his everyday expenses" and that the items he wants to sell are among those left behind by FBI agents who searched his New York apartment twice.

In August, a federal judge allowed Landau to go home pending trial on the charges but ordered him to virtual house arrest in his $2,700-a-month rent-controlled apartment on West 57th Street in Midtown. He had to surrender his passport, is barred from the Internet and cannot contact museums.

The newly filed court documents say that the Warhol print would be turned over to Christie's auction house, and that all proceeds from the sales would be placed in an escrow account controlled by Landau's attorneys.

Read the rest of Peter's story here. Below the jump, a list of items Landau is trying to sell:

-Francesco Scavullo artwork, listed as a "gift from artist."

-Victor Vaserely artwork - purchased

-Salvador Dali print - purchased

-LeRoy Neiman ("3 to 4 pieces") - gift from artist

-Andy Warhol print ("Cow") - Gift from artist

-Andy Warhol print ("Liz") - Gift from artist

-Sterling silver flatware - Gift from mother

-Framed antique prints (i.e. Harper's, Weekly, Leslie's) - majority purchased, others received as gifts

-Collection of letters, photographs and books addressed and inscribed to Barry Landau (political, theatrical, Hollywood) - gifts

-Miscellaneous U.S. political china

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimore City Council President Bernard "Jack" Young said today he will call for an investigative hearing into the effectiveness of a city program that involves fining and potentially placing liens on properties associated with excessive false burglar alarms.

In a press release, Young said that in 2002 city police responded to more than 125,000 burglary alarm calls, 98 percent of which were false. City residents and businesses get two "free" visits from police for false alarms within a one-year period. Starting with the third false alarm, owners are charged an escalating fee that starts at $50 and can climb as high as $2,000. 

"The volume of false alarm calls that our police officers respond to on an annual basis is staggering," Young said in the news release. "We need to make sure that this program, which is intended to free up valuable police resources, is working properly."

But according to the legislation, Young's concern appears to be focused on liens placed on the properties of those who fail to pay. The legislation notes that 10,839 properties have been auctioned off this year for failure to pay taxes and liens - it's unclear how many of those involve liens for unpaid false burglar alarm fines.

"While it is imperative that the city collect money owed, it is also important to ensure that Baltimore City property owners are treated fairly and compassionately in these trying times," the legislation reads.

Young wants the police commissioner, fire chief, housing commissioner and director of finance to appear at the hearing. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: City Hall
        

Tweet of the day from the Baltimore fire union:

@BCFDL734: GOT MILK? SB I97closed @ ex15 for an overturned tracto rtrailer hauling 6400 1 gal jugs of milk. Looking for closest cookie truck to respond.

Followed by this one:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

Two men were killed early Sunday in a shooting on Dolfield Avenue in Northwest Baltimore according to city police.

Police said both men were walking in the street in Pimlico when they were shot -- one in the head, the other in the face -- shortly before 4 in the morning. Names of the victims have not yet been released; this morning police said they were both "John Does."

On Saturday, a woman was shot in the back in East Baltimore, in the 700 block of Broadway. The victim, in her 20s, was walking along the street when she was shot for an unknown reason, according to police. She was treated at an area hospital.

Police also identified two recent homicide victims:

-Robert James, 30, was the man shot while sitting in his vehicle at the intersection of E. 34th St. and Ellerslie Ave., near Waverly Elementary and the former Memorial Stadium site. Police haven't given a motive and the case remains open. James was from the 3400 block of Ravenwood Ave. and spent two months in jail late last year after being arrested on robbery and kidnapping charges. Prosecutors dropped the charges in December.

-Thomas Powell, 20, was identified as the man shot in the 400 block of N. East Ave. on Sept. 19. Police haven't released details about the case, which remains open. The shooting occurred in the Ellwood Park neighborhood, one of a few city neighborhoods where the Safe Streets anti-violence group does work. Powell's last known address was in the 5700 block of White Ave., in the Frankford neighborhood.

-Peter Hermann and Justin Fenton

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

A Baltimore County police officer shot and wounded a man who was threatening to take his own life, and then attacked an officer with a knife, according to a department spokesman.

Few other details were immediately available of the Sunday night incident in Dundalk. The wounded man was being treated at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Names of the officers and the man who was shot were not released Sunday night.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

An off-duty Anne Arundel County police officer thwarted a carjacking near Arundel Mills Boulevard early Saturday, according to police.

The suspects, including a teenager, were driving a stolen car and got involved in an accident. They ran fromthe scene and carjacked a woman, accoriding to police. But authorities said the suspects didn't know the off-duty police officer was behind them.

Below is a statement from police with more details:

On September 24, 2011, at approximately 1220 hrs. officers responded to the area of Arundel Mills Blvd. near the entrance ramp to Rt. 100 West bound in Hanover, Md. 21076 for a hit and run accident. 

Upon arrival officers learned the adult suspect, Mr. Lassiter, was the driver of the suspect vehicle, a 2007 Chevrolet involved in the hit and run.  The below listed juvenile was the passenger in the suspect vehicle.  The vehicle Mr. Lassiter was driving struck a 2010 Toyota in the rear being driven by a thirty nine year old male. The male victim suffered minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital.  At this time both suspects fled a short distance on foot. 

Both suspects jumped into a vehicle driven by a female who was not known to the suspects.   Mr. Lassiter jumped into the front passenger seat and the juvenile suspect jumped in to the rear seat. The suspects demanded the female victim to drive them to the closest 7-11 store.  The victim was highly upset and in fear of being harmed by the suspects.  She immediately put her vehicle in park.  Unknown to both the suspects and the victim in this incident there was an off duty Anne Arundel County Police Officer in a marked patrol unit behind the female victim’s vehicle.  The off duty officer immediately jumped into action and was able to detain both suspects until on duty officers arrived on scene.  The female victim suffered no injuries in this incident. 

Investigation revealed the 2007 Chevrolet being driven by the suspects was stolen in Montgomery County from a female acquaintance of the suspects earlier.  Furthermore, taken from the same female, by suspect Mr. Lassiter, was an ATM card that was used to withdraw an undetermined amount of U. S. currency from her bank.  Mr. Lassiter was also in possession of a stolen check which was taken from a female in Prince George’s County who is the roommate of the owner of the 2007 Chevrolet.   Also, located in the stolen vehicle was a small amount of marijuana.  Mr. Lassier was determined to be under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance at the time of the above accident. 

Suspect #1:  Lassiter, Gregory Allen, Male, 19 yrs. Old, 901 E. Patapsco Ave. Baltimore, Md.      21225, charged with driving under the influence of CDS, theft, Numerous traffic offenses, attempt carjacking, stolen auto, Possession of marijuana
                     
Suspect #2:  15 year old male from Baltimore City, charged with stolen auto and attempt      Carjacking

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

Prince George's County police say they have arrested a Fort Washington man accused of impersonating Eagles backup quarterback Vince Young.

Stephan Antwain Pittman, 33, of the 2800 block of Lindesfarn Terrace, was taken into custody by county police at a shopping center in Temple Hills and was charged with first-degree fraud. The charges have been filed in Washington DC.

According to the Washington Post, Pittman is charged with defrauding a woman who gave him $2,500 which he said would go to a charity foundation that "does such things as provide hula hoops for neighborhood children," a county police spokeswoman said. 

Pittman first met the woman in June on Facebook and said he was connected to Young; eventually they began meeting and Pittman, who bears a resemblance to Young, said he was the in fact the Eagles quarterback. 

Young had Tweeted earlier this week warning fans that "there is a man in the DC area that has been impersonating me" and identified him as Pittman.

Maryland's sex offender registry shows that Pittman is a registered sex offender for a crime in a different state. He was last listed as a "Tier III" offender, which is the most serious level, and was listed as "compliant."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

A man killed in a Maryland state prison in Cresaptown had been serving two life terms for imprisoning and trying to rape a Mount Vernon woman in 2000, according to court records.

Saleem N. Abdullah, 53, was found dead in his cell Thursday night in the Western Maryland Correctional Institution. State police said he died of asphyxiation, and that a fellow inmate was being held but had not yet been charged. No motive was given.

A correctional officer delivering mail in Housing Unit 4, a segregation unit at the prison, found the man unresponsive, state police said. He was pronounced dead at Cumberland Hospital.

The Sun wrote a brief story on Abdullah's conviction in 2003, saying he had attacked a 19-year-old woman at a Mount Vernon laundromat. He lived nearby, in the 2000 block of North Calvert St., had been on parole at the time for attempted murder.

More details on the homicide from Maryland State Police: 

Maryland State Police homicide investigators are continuing their investigation into the murder of a state prison inmate last night in Allegany County.

The victim is identified as Saleem N. Abdullah, 53. He was an inmate at the Western Correctional Institution in Cresaptown.  A preliminary ruling today from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner indicates the victim’s manner of death was homicide and the cause of death was asphyxiation.  Additional forensic tests are being conducted.

A suspect in the murder is being held, but is not being identified at this time because he has not been charged. The suspect is an inmate at the same prison.

Maryland State Police Homicide Unit investigators responded to the Western Correctional Institution last night after notification from Division of Correction officials that an inmate had been found dead in the prison.  State Police homicide investigators are being assisted by investigators from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Internal Investigative Unit.

The preliminary investigation indicates that just before 8:30 p.m. yesterday, a correctional officer was delivering mail to cells in Housing Unit 4, which is a segregation unit at the prison. The officer approached the victim’s cell and called for him to respond to the door to collect mail. The victim did not respond, but instead, his cellmate came to the door.

The officer called for assistance and officers entered the cell to check the welfare of the victim.  The victim was found lying on his bunk and was unresponsive. Officers and a nurse began immediate CPR and initiated a rescue response.  The victim was transported by a Cresaptown ambulance to the Cumberland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Maryland State Police crime scene technicians processed the victim’s cell. Investigators interviewed inmates and staff throughout last night and today.

Upon completion of the investigation, the case will be presented to the Allegany County State’s Attorney’s Office for review and the determination of criminal charges.  No charges have been filed at this time. The investigation is continuing.

Questions regarding inmate sentences or related information should be directed to the Maryland Division of Correction. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Crime elsewhere, North Baltimore, Prisons
        

Former Ravens player Orlando Brown has been found dead in his downtown Baltimore home, officials and the team said. He was 40.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh announced Brown's death at the beginning of his news conference with reporters on Friday afternoon. City police and fire officials confirmed that they were at the player's home at the Harborview complex in South Baltimore. 

Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said medics were called after the player was found unresponsive in his home in the 1200 block of Harbor Island Walk. Medics called police to the scene at about 11 a.m. as a matter of protocol, and police say there were no signs of foul play or any initial indications as to the cause of death. The state medical examiner will perform an autopsy.

Official said "preliminary reports did not suggest a crime scene," though four hours later the street near the home was inaccessible and blocked off by crime scene tape. [Pictured above]

Brown played for the Ravens from 1996 to 1998, as well as a second stint from 2003 to 2005. He may be most well known for an incident when he played for the Cleveland Browns, when he was hit in the eye with a penalty flag, causing significant injuries and leading to an injury settlement with the NFL.

After retirement, Brown went into the restaurant business and opened a Fatburger franchise in Columbia, Md. In 2009, he was charged with breaking into his ex-wife's home in Baltimore County, charges which were later dropped. Court records show he was involved this year in an ongoing custody dispute with a Silver Spring woman. 

“There was no better friend, no one more loyal than Zeus was to his teammates and those in the Ravens. If he felt that you respected him, that you were willing to teach him or showed him care, you had a loyal friend for eternity. Loyalty is one of the first words I think when Zeus pops in my mind," said Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome.
 
“As a player, he came in very raw, but he had a lot of physical ability, that size, and he was naturally strong – and got stronger with his hard work. He had one of the greatest work ethics I’ve ever seen in a player. He was tireless in his passion to become a player. He loved being part of the team.”

“I just saw him a few days ago. He’s one of the greatest men I know – really a gentle giant away from the game. He was the original Raven. He set the tone for how we were going to play tough and physical, backing down from no opponent. When you heard his voice on the field, you knew things were going to be all right," said linebacker Ray Lewis. "He would say: ‘Keep playing. Keep fighting. Do it for us. Do it for your teammates. “Lew,” “Lew,” keep it up!’ I can almost hear that voice right now. And, oh, how he loved his sons. They lost a great father. So sad, just so sad.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Downtown
        

Details remains slim in Thursday's shooting just outside the doors to the Union Memorial Hospital's emergency room. Here's what we're reporting so far: 

A man who shot himself in the head outside the emergency room in North Baltimore's Union Memorial Hospital on Thursday left a note indicating he chose that locale because he wanted to donate his organs to medicine, according to law enforcement source.

Baltimore police reported that the 29-year-old man was severely injured and later transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was in critical condition Thursday night. Officials declined to discuss other details about the note or the motivation, other than to say that homicide detectives are investigating the incident.

We of course would like to know more. Suicide is always a tricky subject to write about, but if this man really thought the only way to donate his organs was to shoot himself, it's a fascinating, through tragic, story. We'd also like to know why he chose Union Memorial, and if he intended to wound himself to stay alive long enough so doctors could harvest.

Police have said little about this case. We hope to learn more today.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: North Baltimore
        

Baltimore police are responding to a shooting inside Union Memorial Hospital, on University Parkway in North Baltimore.

The victim is reported to be in critical condition. Police said they are investigating the possibility the man shot himself. More details as they become available. 

UPDATE: According to the hospital, the shooting happened just outside the emergency entrance around 11:30 a.m., and appears to be an attempted suicide.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Breaking news, North Baltimore
        

No crime -- at least not yet -- but I just got back from the devastating fire that damaged a string of rowhouses on South Pulaski Street. Three people died in the blaze -- a pregnant woman and her two young sons.

We don't have too many details as to the cause or the names of the victims, and firefighters still had the street blocked off this morning, preventing homeowners from assessing the damage. Grieving family members gathered around the corner from the fire but didn't want to talk.

I spoke with several neighbors who described the flames jumping from porch to porch as they raced up and down he street to get everyone one. One person ran through a burning porch to rescue an elderly man; another raced back inside his own home to get his newborn.

The picture above was taken by The Sun's Jeffrey F. Bill.

Fire officials say the fire started in a rowhouse at 629 South Pulaski Street and quickly spread. The fire union is already complaining that the closest truck company, located in Pigtown, was shuttered for budget cuts as part of the mayor's rotating firehouse closures. But a union officials told me privately that in this case, it wouldn't have made much of a difference because of the severity of the fire.

Check back to The Baltimore Sun online and in Friday's print editions. Here is the latest update with some quotes from neighbors and the dramatic rescues. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Howard County police said they found the couple who on Monday robbed a Jessup pharmacy at gunpoint and stole prescription medication.

They towed the getaway car to the police station. Then they said they suspect said there was fake bomb inside the vehicle.

Not taking any changes, the cops call the bomb squad. Police said the device was found, and it indeed was a hoax. Authorities said the suspects had thought about using it in the robbery. More details below from a Howard County Police statement:

Howard County police have charged two suspects for robbing a pharmacy, and officers have recovered thousands of stolen prescription painkillers.

Roy Lee Moore, 38, of 7633 South Arbory Lane in Laurel, and Stoni B. Horton, 35, of 9427 Nicklaus Lane in Laurel, are charged with armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
On Monday at approximately 11:57 a.m., police responded to Family Care Pharmacy in the 8600 block of U.S. 1 in Jessup for a reported robbery. A male suspect had entered the pharmacy, displayed a gun and demanded Oxycodone from an employee. The employee complied, and the suspect fled into a wooded area.

No customers were in the pharmacy at the time of the robbery, and no one was injured.
Police conducted an extensive search of the area, including using the helicopter and police K9s, as well as assistance from Maryland State Police.

Officers located Horton waiting in a vehicle on a road that faced a wooded area behind the pharmacy. Detectives believe she was acting as a getaway driver and was waiting for the robbery suspect to meet her.

Officers seized Horton’s vehicle and brought it to police headquarters for investigation. Horton informed police later Monday night that the vehicle contained a hoax explosive device that was planned to possibly be used during the robbery. As a precaution, police headquarters was evacuated, and the Office of the State Fire Marshal bomb squad inspected the device, confirming it was a hoax device.

Horton was arrested Tuesday and was released from Howard County Detention Center after posting $50,000 bond.

Through investigation, officers identified Moore as the armed robber. He was arrested on Wednesday after a traffic stop where officers recovered the stolen prescription medication. He is being held at Howard County Detention Center on $250,000 bond.

The investigation into the hoax explosive device is continuing.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Howard County
        

A former Prince George's County police officer, who lives in Odenton, has pleaded guilty in federal court in connection with an extortion scheme involving untaxed cigarettes. The Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office says he faces up to life in prison because one of the charges involves illegal firearms.

This is the latest in a series of corruption cases in Prince George's County that has embroiled the former county executive and his wife, who had been on the county council. The Washington Post has linked the corruption cases through an association of one central figure.

Prosecutors said the officer, while in uniform, armed and driving a marked cruiser, helped transport the cigarettes to a storage facility. Authorities said the scheme cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Federal prosecutors in Baltimore outline the details of the case in a statement:

Former Prince George’s County Police officer Chong Chen Kim, age 43, of Odenton, Maryland pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others, including a public official, to commit extortion in connection with a scheme involving the transport and distribution of untaxed cigarettes; and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Acting Special Agent in Jeannine A. Hammett of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office.
 
“The focus on cigarette smuggling is one of several initiatives that the IRS is partnering with local other federal agencies to combat,” said IRS Special Agent in Charge Jeannine A. Hammett.  “The state revenue loss in taxes is substantial especially in these tough economic times.”
 
According to his plea agreement, Kim had been a Prince George’s Police officer for 16 years and was employed as an officer during the conspiracy.  Between July 2009 and January 2010, Kim conspired with Chun “Eddy” Chen, who owned a carry-out store in Maryland, Amir Miljkovic, who owned a business called Prestige Auto Glass in College Park, Maryland, former Prince George’s County police officer Richard Delabrer, and others, to transport and distribute untaxed cigarettes and alcohol in Maryland, Virginia and elsewhere, in exchange for money.  The conspirators  paid Prince George’s County Police officers, including Delabrer and Kim, to use their official authority to ensure the safe transport and distribution of the untaxed cigarettes in Maryland and Virginia.  
 
By July 2009, Delabrer and Miljkovic began purchasing contraband cigarettes from an undercover agent in Virginia, then selling them to Kim and Chen. Under applicable state law Virginia imposes a $0.30 sales tax on each pack of cigarettes and Maryland imposes a  $2 sales tax per pack.  Kim and Chen, in turn sold the contraband cigarettes to persons in New York where local taxes on cigarettes exceed $8 per pack.
 
To obtain the contraband,  Miljkovic and Delabrer traveled to Virginia to pick up a rented truck, which had been loaded with the cigarettes by the undercover agent, and drove the loads to a storage unit in Maryland obtained by Kim.  During at least one of these transactions, Kim assisted in the off-loading of the materials at his storage facility, dressed in his official PGCPD uniform, armed with his service weapon, and driving a marked PGCPD vehicle.  During the conspiracy, Delabrer enlisted the assistance of Jose Moreno, a self-employed body shop mechanic in Northern Virginia, who drove the truck from Virginia to Maryland and assisted in unloading and storing the contraband.
 
The conspirators conducted at least 33 illicit transactions with the undercover agent involving the sale of contraband cigarettes. Kim was involved in all but one of the transactions.  The first cigarette transaction on July 23, 2009 involved a shipment of 14 master cases, each containing at least 12,000 cigarettes.   The largest shipment, on November 6, 2009, involved 160 master cases.  Altogether, Kim and his co-conspirators paid the undercover agent $1,770,230 for 1,420 master cases of contraband cigarettes, for a total of more than 17 million contraband cigarettes.  The tax loss attributable to Kim relating to the illegal cigarette trafficking is $2,661,240.

Kim faces a maximum penalty for the extortion conspiracy of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and a mandatory five years in prison and up to life in prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.  Kim has also agreed to the entry of an order of forfeiture in the amount of $2,661,240.   U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte scheduled sentencing for Kim on December 9, 2011 at 9:30 a.m.
 
Conspirators Richard Delabrer, age 46, of Laurel, Maryland;  Amir Miljkovic, age 39, and “Eddy” Chen, age 34, both of Bowie, Maryland; and Jose Moreno, age 50, of Alexandria, Virginia, pleaded guilty to their participation in the extortion conspiracy. Each faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Delabrer also faces a mandatory minimum of five years, and up to life, for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.  No sentencing date has been set for Delabrer, Miljkovic or Chen.
 
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and IRS for their work in these investigations.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys James A. Crowell IV, A. David Copperthite and Sujit Raman, who are prosecuting the cases.
 
Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. McFeely and Ms. Hammett expressed their appreciation to Prince George's County Police Chief Mark Magaw for the assistance that he and his department provided.  
 
 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

A 29-year-old man involved in a double shooting Sept. 7 in Ashburton died Tuesday afternoon of gunshot wounds at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Police had responded to the shooting and found the victim, identified as Isaiah Roane of the 5200 block of Leith Road, in the driver’s seat of a Buick sedan in a gas station parking lot in the 4200 block of Wabash Ave.

The second victim of the shooting was found inside a residence in the 3300 block of Belle Ave., and police determined the shooting had occurred in the 3500 block of Dolfield Ave. The second victim recovered from his injuries.

Police did not provide a motive and the case remains open, according to a department spokesman.

Court records show Roane was acquitted earlier last month - about two weeks before the shooting - of drug charges in Circuit Court.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court today, federal prosecutors say a convicted felon robbed two women at gunpoint, then pushed a child off a bicycle in an attempt to get away. It happened in May, in East Baltimore, and this week prosecutors charged John Steven Thomas with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

I've posted the document below. Skip to the fifth paragraph for the narrative:

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: East Baltimore
        

The city Board of Estimates was poised this morning to approve $9.5 million to purchase a new fleet of helicopters for the Baltimore Police Department.

Just 18 months ago, the helicopters, known as Foxtrot, were in danger of being grounded in Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposed budget. But the aviation unit was restored, and now the police department is getting a brand new fleet.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the helicopters are "reaching their maximum years of service" and claimed that one of them has the highest number of flight hours of any of its kind in the world. The department could repair the helicopters, but Guglielmi said it's more cost-effective to purchase new ones. 

The helicopters give police a birds-eye view of developing incidents, such as fleeing suspects, car pursuits and traffic situations. Last year Foxtrot was involved with 7,714 calls for service, assisted in 400 arrests, and performed 33,000 "support" missions.

Of the $9.49 million it will cost to replace the Foxtrot units, $2 million will come from the general fund and $1 million will come from asset forfeiture - that is, money seized in drug raids and the like. The city will get a trade-in value of $1.66 million, and will finance the balance, Guglielmi said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: City Hall
        

Crime is the best reason to leave Baltimore, the topic we're most sick of reading about and the most overlooked story in the city. Huh?

The alternative weekly City Paper, with its annual Best Of awards, dings the city twice over for crime and grime. Lexington Market, the paper concludes, is the city's best place to be offered drugs. And crime, the authors say, is the best reason to leave Baltimore.

The Sun's Justin Fenton wrote about last years crime stats and how the city fared -- crime dropped, but per capita, we're still among the top murder destinations. Full disclosure -- the City Paper named Fenton's must read  Twitter feed Best in Baltimore: "Care about crime in Baltimore? You’re missing out by not following this guy."

But readers, while deciding in their own poll that Fenton is the city's best journalist, put crime in the top three topics they're sick of reading about. And to confuse matters more, the readers chose crime as one of best overlooked stories in the city.

Go figure.

The City Paper's own words:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Maryland State Police have long complained about laser pointers interfering with aircraft. Last year, they demonstrated how even a dime-store pointer can blind a pilot, and police made several arrests (read story on the demonstration).

This morning, they announced charges against a 14-year-old Middle River boy, saying he repeatedly shined a green laser into the cockpit of a state police helicopter as it helped Baltimore County police search for a person threatening to commit suicide. Police describe the lasers this way:

Shining lasers at aircraft can have very serious and potentially catastrophic effects. A direct laser strike in an aircraft cockpit can cause temporary blindness and disorientation for the flight crew. If the flash occurs during a critical phase of flight, the crew members can be temporarily incapacitated and unable to perform their in-flight functions effectively. The Maryland State Police Aviation Command has experienced a half dozen laser incidents in 2011 with two leading to prosecution.

A Baltimore County juvenile was arrested last night after he endangered an in-flight Maryland State Police helicopter crew by repeatedly spotlighting the aircraft with a green laser.  

The juvenile suspect will only be identified as a 14-year-old male from Middle River. He is charged with reckless endangerment, attempted second degree assault on police, obstruction and hindering police, and prohibited use of a laser pointer.  After processing, he was released to the custody of his parents.

Shortly after 11:00 p.m. yesterday, Trooper One, a Maryland State Police 365N Dauphin III helicopter based at Martin State Airport, was assisting Baltimore County Police with an aerial search for a suicidal person. Pilot Shawn McGinley and Trooper/Flight Paramedic Joshua Heins were flying in the vicinity of Eastern Blvd. and Kingston Road when a flash illuminated the cockpit of the aircraft.

Knowing the potential dangers to the flight crew, Pilot McGinley was initiating precautionary maneuvers when a second bright green laser light illuminated the cockpit once again. The laser beam location was noted directly off the nose of the aircraft exactly one-half mile from the aircraft’s search position.

The flight crew was able to pinpoint the residence where the laser beam originated and illuminated the house with a light of their own, the three million candlepower Nite-Sun search light.  Pilot McGinley positioned the aircraft  in a hover in front of the residence. TFC Heins notified the Baltimore County Police dispatcher & SYSCOM of the incident and directed patrol units to the residence.

Within six minutes of the laser incident, Baltimore County police officers arrived at the residence, identified a juvenile suspect, and recovered a green laser pointer. Trooper One then returned to their previous mission in an attempt to locate the suicidal person.      

Shining lasers at aircraft can have very serious and potentially catastrophic effects. A direct laser strike in an aircraft cockpit can cause temporary blindness and disorientation for the flight crew.   If the flash occurs during a critical phase of flight, the crew members can be temporarily incapacitated and unable to perform their in-flight functions effectively.

The Maryland State Police Aviation Command has experienced a half dozen laser incidents in 2011 with two leading to prosecution.  

“The safety of our flight crews is paramount and we continue to remain vigilant to aggressively inform the public of the serious nature of this unnecessary act before any injuries occur,” said Lieutenant Walter A. Kerr, Helicopter Operations Commander. “We intend to do everything possible to curtail this activity and allow our flight crews to perform their duties of behalf of the citizens of Maryland.”  
    
Aviation Command personnel have contacted the FAA concerning this incident. A cooperative effort with the Baltimore County Police and their quick response led to a positive outcome in this situation.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Two Prince George's County police officers have been indicted in the beating of a University of Maryland College Park student during a celebration over the school's defeat of Duke at a basketball game last year.

The officers were charged with first and second-degree assault, and misconduct, according to prosecutors. The officers, dressed in tactical gear, were caught on video hitting the unarmed student with batons. From an AP story:

Police arrested more than two dozen students who took to the streets to celebrate Maryland's 79-72 win over Duke on March 3, 2010. A video, taken from a dorm room window, later surfaced showing officers in riot gear beating student John McKenna with batons. Charges were later dropped against many of those arrested that night, including McKenna.

The video shows McKenna half-dancing, half-jogging down the sidewalk in celebration. He stops when he is cornered by two officers on horseback. Then, three officers in riot gear approach McKenna, and he is slammed into a wall and struck repeatedly with batons. McKenna suffered a concussion, cuts and other injuries, his attorney has said.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

A city jury has convicted a man in a September 2009 daylight killing in Northwest Baltimore, and in another case, a judge sentenced a man to 90 years in prison in a double shooting in East Baltimore in 2008 that left one victim dead.

In the first case, prosecutors said Charles Thomas was found guilty of first-degree murder for approaching Alvin Terry Alston, 45, from behind and shooting him in the head. The attack occurred about noon on a Sunday at the busy intersection of Cold Spring Lane and Reisterstown Road. Thomas, 47, faces life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 8.

In the second case, Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon sentenced James Fortune to nearly a century behind bars for shooting Sidney Millner and Natavien Henry at the D&N Liquor Store on North Stricker St. in January 2008. Millner died from his injuries; prosecutors said Henry was paralyzed from the neck down. Fortune, 36, was convicted of second degree murder. 

The Sun's Justin Fenton wrote more about Fortune and of his previous murder conviction:

City police have charged a 34-year-old man in a January 2008 double shooting at a West Baltimore liquor store that left one man dead and another paralyzed.

James Fortune was pulled over during a traffic stop in December and police found a semiautomatic handgun. The gun has been linked to the Jan. 24, 2008, shootings of Sidney Millner, 25, and Natavein Henry, 31, according to charging documents. Millner was shot in the neck and died at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, while Henry was paralyzed from the neck down.

Detective Kirk Hastings wrote in charging documents that witnesses identified Fortune as the person responsible for the shooting, but the Dec. 7, 2009, traffic stop that uncovered the handgun provided the evidence to charge him. Fortune has been held without bond since then on charges related to that incident, court records show.

A motive for the shooting was unknown, Hastings wrote.

Fortune, of the 1100 block of N. Mount St., was convicted of murder in 1995. He was sentenced to 20 years behind bars; half the sentence was suspended, to be followed by probation.

He was charged three times with violating his probation and twice convicted, but was never sentenced to more than time served. In 2008, he was indicted on drug distribution counts and pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said they sought prison time, but a judge sentenced him to 10 years with all but time served suspended.

In a separate case, police have charged 26-year-old Dominic Rabey in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Raymond Gibson on Jan. 19 in the 1400 block of N. Caroline St. Gibson was shot in the back of the head from across the street, police said at the time.

Charging documents indicated only that police located witnesses who tied Rabey to the shooting. Rabey is on probation from a drug conviction in July 2009 in which he was sentenced to 10 years, nine years and three months of which were suspended.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

Marion Jean had just started bringing her young children back to the playground at the old Memorial Stadium site in Waverly. An intentionally set fire at the playground in 2008, as well as more recent reports of a stabbing, had caused her to take her children to other YMCA sites in the area.

So on Tuesday, she was shaken when she learned that a man had been shot in the head just steps from the playground.

“It bothers me, a lot,” Jean, 38, of Northeast Baltimore, said as her five year old and eighteen-month-old children played nearby.

City police said a 30-year-old man was found shot in the head at about 4:30 p.m. inside his black Lexus at the intersection of Ellerslie Avenue and 34^th Street. The intersection is between Waverly Elementary and the YMCA center and playground. Dozens of children and families passed through the area as police inspected the crime scene.

At the scene, the vehicle was at a stop sign, the passenger side door open and what appeared to be the victim’s clothes on the ground where medics rendered aid.

The shooting shocked residents of neighborhood, who said violence is uncommon there.

“There’s kids everywhere,” said Ebony Fletcher, 26, as she pushed a boy on a tire swing. “Whoever did it just didn’t care.”

“I’ve been here 21 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said another woman, who refused to give her name.

Detective Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman, said preliminary information indicated that a gunman had approached the vehicle on foot, fired into the vehicle, and fled on foot. The victim was taken to an area hospital, where at last report he was being treated for his injuries.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: North Baltimore
        

The attorney for a man charged with driving a car that hit and killed two Baltimore teenagers in June says his client denies being behind the wheel. James Rhodes, the lawyer, said Reuben Dunn's companion has told police a lie.

Dunn (seen in police mugshot) surrendered to police earlier today, indicted on charges that include two counts of auto manslaughter, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving under the influence. Police say he drove through a red light on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, at Pratt Street, and hit Emerald Smith, 17, and her friend, Courtney Angeles, 16, who were in a crosswalk.

Police found the car about 30 minutes later near BWI, but said a woman was driving and told the officer she had been in an accident in the city. Dunn told the officer he had been sleeping. Prosecutors said they believe Dunn switched places with the woman after the accident and before he had been stopped.

But Rhodes said the  case relies only on the woman's changed story. "The police are going to have a big problem" at trial, the attorney told me. The woman, Dunn's former girlfriend and mother of their two children, was charged with being an accessory after the fact. Her attorney would not comment on details of the case. Prosecutors would not comment on Rhodes' allegations.

Read the full story here.

To read the police report:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore County police are seeking help identifying a robbery suspect who they said help up a clerk at a motel and tried to rob a store in a mall.

Police said that on Aug. 26, a man walked into the Comfort Inn in the 5800 block of Baltimore National Pike, implied he had a weapon and demanded money from a cash register. The robbery occurred about 6:20 p.m.

"The suspect ordered the victim onto the ground, and left the location with money from the register," police said in a statement. He was last seen running through the parking lot toward Baltimore National Pike.

On September 1 about 9:10 p.m., police said the same man walked into Macy's at the Security Square Mall in Woodlawn. "He provided an item for the cashier to ring up, and then demanded money from the drawer," the police statement says. The clerk was able to run away, and police said the man "did not get any money."

The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 40 to 50 years old, 5’10” tall, approximately 160 pounds, with a dark complexion and short hair. Anyone with information is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP (1-866-756-2587).

To text a message to Metro Crime Stoppers, send to "CRIMES" (274637), then enter the message starting with "MCS," or e-mail a tip to www.metrocrimestoppers.org. Those contacting Metro Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and might be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

UPDATE FROM STATE'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: The suspects were identified as Reuben Dunn, 28, and Kendra Myles, 26. Prosecutors said in a statement Dunn was indicted on two counts of automobile manslaughter, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death and driving under the influence of alcohol. Myles was charged with accessory after the fact.

Two people from Severn have been indicted in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard  that killed two teen-aged friends, according to a Baltimore police spokesman.

No other details were immediately available, including the charges filed against the suspects. Police said they have been arrested were having a bail review hearing today.

Courtney Angeles, 16, and Emerald Smith, 17, were hit June 14 while crossing the busy road near Pigtown. They died nine minutes apart at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Police said the accident occurred about 11:40 p.m. and that the teens were struck while crossing four southbound lanes of the divided highway. Police also said they were in a crosswalk at West Pratt Street.

Police said that shortly after the crash, an officer with the Maryland Transportation Authority police stopped a car for an unrelated traffic infraction near BWI Airport. The officer noticed damage on the car and detained the occupants, police said.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

This just in from The Sun's Justin Fenton:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Southwest Baltimore
        

When a police officer put Mark Chase in handcuffs for selling his paintings at the Inner Harbor on Sunday, he sparked a fresh debate over free speech at the waterfront attraction.

Chase, a self-professed agitator, had already won a temporary victory in Ocean City when a federal judge ruled that requiring permits for street venders was an unconstitutional violation of free speech. Now, Chase has taken his form of protest to Baltimore, which has similar laws.

Tying peddling laws to the First Amendment could complicate ongoing settlement talks between the ACLU and city attorneys over a lawsuit filed eight years ago when police officers arrested members of the peace group Women in Black for protesting at the harbor. The discussions are meant to develop broad guidelines for conduct at the city's premier tourist attraction, which the ACLU says also serves as Baltimore's town square.

Now, Chase's argument that the city not only cannot restrict speech, but also cannot regulate peddlers, adds a new dimension to the talks. Say what you will about chase -- he practically demanded a police officer arrest him -- but he knows how to make a point.

But does the judge's ruling, if it becomes permanent, mean that the Ocean City boardwalk and the Inner Harbor becomes an unrestricted free-for-all for anyone selling anything?

Picture of Chase was taken by Patrick Smith.

Read a complete article about the issues involved here. The police report is below:

On Sep. 18, 2011 At 1230hrs. While I was in bicycle patrol in the Inner Harbor unit, I observed a white male later identified as Mark Chase in the Inner Harbor by the amphitheater, performing for money by doing spray paint on peace of board so people can buy it and tip him by placing the money in three painted buckets with the word ''Tips'' painted on the bucket on a private property without a proper permit on a private property that manage by Mathew Chullin who advised that he want to remove performers without permit from the property.

I approached Mr. chase and asked him if he have a permit to performed in the Inner Harbor, Mr. Chase reply that he don't need any permit to perform in a public place and that he was protected by the first amendment.

I explained to Mr. Mark that he does need a permit for  street perform in Baltimore City and that he need to move out of the private property manage by Mr. Mathew Chullin who is the  Assistant manager of  General  Gold Property. At that point Mr. chase advised this officer that he will refuse to move even if this officer issued him a citation.

That he preferred to be arrested. Then Mr. chase asked if he could perform in the Mckeldin square who is also under the same management, I advised Mr. Chase that he was not allowed to perform there either. At this time Mr. chase was Placed under arrest  and using a loud tone advice this officer that he is not moving and also stated that all artist are being discriminated by the police and that he preferred to be arrested. at that time Mr. Chase was transported to CBIF for processing. This event occurred in Baltimore City State of Maryland.
 
...did unlawfully peddle artwork without a peddler's license.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Downtown
        

Among the statistics released today by the FBI as part of its Uniform Crime Report program are staffing levels for city police agencies.

This is an issue that got attention in the recent mayoral campaign and has been a growing issue as municipalities struggle with budget problems. Earlier this year, a television report also stated that Baltimore had hundreds of officers more per capita than comparable cities. The mayor has pledged to hire more officers (mostly filling vacant positions), though the city police union says Baltimore can do with less officers if it provides better compensation to those it has, and better deploys them.

What the data show: Baltimore is indeed well-staffed compared to other cities, though not grossly out of step with some other peers.

[There's an obvious caveat, in that other cities use personnel differently or may benefit from other agencies, including sheriff's departments or even private security forces. This comparison is based simply on the number of sworn officers reported by city police agencies to the FBI]

Apologies for the formatting issues. 

Washington DC       655
Newark                    466
Baltimore               462
Chicago                  442
Philadelphia           432
New York                417
New Orleans           407
St. Louis                 383
Cleveland               365
New Haven             362
Memphis                 346
Cincinnati               327
Boston                   325
Detroit                   321

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Police have identified a man found dead Friday in an alley in Brooklyn as a 42-year-old Glen Burnie man.

Armando Santiago was found unresponsive at about 6:15 p.m. Friday in an alley in the rear of the 700 block of E. Patapsco Ave. There were no signs of foul play or trauma to his body, but police say an autopsy shows that he had been strangled. 

Santiago was from the 5600 block of Park Rd in Glen Burnie, and police say they didn't have any additional information about the case as detectives investigate. Anyone with information was asked to call 410-396-2100.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, South Baltimore
        

A think tank study of crime cameras in Baltimore and two other cities has concluded that the devices are a cost-effective way to deter, document and reduce crime, though the overall effect on crime appears to be unclear.

Between 2007 and 2010, the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center studied the surveillance networks in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington DC and found that the systems in the first two cities produced "more than enough benefits to justify their costs," the group said this morning in a news release. But in Washington, the cameras didn't show a statistically significant impact on crime.

Cameras in the Greenmount neighborhood helped lead to a nearly 10 percent decline in crime, the Urban Institute said today, and in the Tri-District area where the Southern, Western and Southwestern districts meet, crime fell 35 percent. The North Avenue area saw no crime reduction after cameras were installed.

Overall, however, Baltimore's surveillance cameras yielded $1.50 in benefits for every $1 spent on the system, they said.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a proponent of cameras, will appear on a panel discussion today to discuss the results. The program begins at noon and can be watched online here:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/urban-institute-events

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Mark Chase had just won a temporary victory when a federal judge ruled that he could paint along Ocean City's boardwalk, at least while his suit against the city moves forward. On Sunday, he took his work to the Inner Harbor area, and promptly got arrested.

A video captured part of the exchange between Chase and officers (Read The Sun's Andrea K. Walker's full story here:

The video shows Chase explaining that he had won a court injunction in U.S. District Court and had a right to paint where he was. Officers argued the laws were different in Baltimore.

"It is my constitutional right to be here without prior approval," Chase said to the officer at one point.

"Your constitutional rights have nothing to do with the law," the officer said.

"If you don't have a permit, you're trespassing," the officer said at another point.

In the federal case, the judge ruled that Ocean City could not enforce a permit process on street artists. Read The Sun's Tricia Bishop's story on the ruling.

Over the summer, Baltimore police officers moved city school teacher Bruce Friedrich out of the Inner Harbor for passing out fliers. Both of these incidents cry out for settlement of a years-long pending lawsuit filed by the ACLU protesting what the group calls restrictive rules governing free speech at the harbor.

The Harbor is actually a patchwork of quasi-public and private space with different rules governing assembly at different spots. What's allowed at one end of the harbor is not allowed at the other end. Talks between the two sides in the lawsuit are supposed to fix this.

Chase was in front of Harborplace, at Light and Pratt streets. We'll see today how that particular spot is interpreted. The ACLU believes the Harbor is entirely a public space. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Downtown
        

The suspect arrested in the killing of a 91-year-old woman during a burglary in Northeast Baltimore had been out on $25,000 bail at the time of the slaying, according to court records.

The records show that a judge upped the bail from $10,000 to $25,000, but that Anthony Robinson, 45, posted it anyway, on July 7. Irene Logan was stabbed, strangled and beaten in her home on Moravia Road less than a month later.

In the July burglary, a police report shows that officers responded to a house on Frankford Avenue for an alarm. They saw a man inside, who ran and hid in an attic. Police said the attic ceiling collapsed and the suspect fell into a bedroom, where he was Tased and arrested.

His trial on that case is scheduled for Oct. 25.  A police report says a gold bracelet, a gold pin and a gold watch were taken. Robinson now faces first-degree murder charges and is being held without bail.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northeast Baltimore
        

A discarded cigarette butt found outside the front door of a slaying victim’s house in Northeast Baltimore led detectives to a suspect in the stabbing of a 91-year-old woman during a burglary, according to police and court documents.

"The way we closed this case was right out of a scene from CSI,” city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Friday, referring to the popular television show that focuses on solving crimes through high-tech forensic techniques.

"We’re very pleased,” said Irene Ushry, the daughter of the victim, Irene Logan, who lived on Moravia Road. “It hasn’t been easy. It gives us some peace of mind now that they’ve arrested somone. God has uncovered it. That’s been my prayer ever since this happened, that God would bring this to the light.”

Police said DNA taken from the cigarette matched the DNA of Anthony Robinson, a 45-year-old who also lived in Northeast Baltimore, on East 30th Street near Clifton Park and Lake Montebello. The suspect’s genetic fingerprints were on file from a burglary arrest last month.

"That was our lucky break,” said Baltimore Police Col. Jesse Oden, who heads the Criminal Investigation Division.

Many more details coming later on-line and in Saturday's print editions.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

UPDATE: Police say the suspect in the killing is Anthony Robinson, 45, of the 1900 block of W. 30th St., Baltimore. He is charged with first-degree murder. Investigators said the crime's motive was burglary.

Baltimore police are holding a news conference this afternoon to announce an arrest in the slaying of 91-year-old Irene Logan, who was killed in her home on Moravia Road on Aug 3.

Logan was found by her son on the floor of a small kitchen. She had been born in Virginia but moved to Baltimore as a small child, and had been married more than 50 years. Her husband died in 1999. One of the victim's son's was a close friend of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

"I have known her son since I was a child, so this is devastating, it's senseless." the mayor told The Sun's Steve Kilar in August. "My hope is that [through] the work that was done, the forensic work, we'll be able to figure out who did this very soon and bring that person to justice."

For more on the victim, read Steve's story here.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

Amid Bowie State's Homecoming festivities Thursday night, including a comedy show headlined by Lil Duval, it didn't take long for word to spread that a female student had been fatally stabbed on campus. 

State police say 19-year-old Dominique Frazier was stabbed by her roommate at around 8 p.m., after an argument in their dormitory apartment. The roommate, who has not been identified by police, turned herself in around midnight, and a motive for the argument has not been disclosed.

But long before police put out anything official, details of the case were swirling on Twitter. Frazier's name, and her Twitter handle of @MsBonnieBlakk, surfaced moments after police confirmed that they were investigating a fatal stabbing. The first message that I see came from @MontanaMaybach, who said at 9:17 p.m.: "I hope they not talking about @MsBonnieBlakk" and then followed up nine minutes later with this Tweet: "RIP @MsBonnieBlakk I remember when me you and VA blew it down. You will truly be missed."

From that point on, there was no containing the rumor that it was Frazier who had been killed. By 10 p.m., a user named @VDutch had Tweeted her full name, and said that she was killed by her roommate, hours before police would confirm such information.

When the 11 p..m. news rolled around, it seemed as though social media users had jumped the gun. Channel 9 in Washington said it had interviewed Frazier's roommate, and suddenly people were urging others to stop spreading the rumor. 

But it turned out to be true (Frazier apparently had more than one roommate, and the Washington Post appears to have been first, at 12:17 a.m., to report that a roommate was being sought by detectives). Not long after that, the social media narrative had been completed: Frazier's name was out, as was the Twitter handle - but not the name - of the suspect, and an assertion that Frazier was killed on her own birthday in an argument over an iPod. Hundreds if not thousands of people on Twitter have been lamenting since last night the senselessness of someone being killed over an iPod, though as of this writing there's still no official word on the motive.

[UPDATE: 4:38 P.M. The Associated Press reports that according to charging documents, the two students were indeed arguing over an iPod. Police wrote that Alexis Simpson turned off Frazier's iPod while the roommates were preparing to go out, sparking the confrontation.]

Police hold back on confirming these details for all sorts of reasons - the victim's ID withheld because they want to delicately inform family members, the motive because they need to develop evidence, and the suspect because they can't release it until the person is formally charged. And the media want to be careful not to report information that may be simply out of control gossip, no matter how pervasive or seemingly accurate the information may be. It's clear, though, that there's no virtually no containing people's thirst for information and their ability to spread what they're hearing at lightning-fast speed.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

From the start, it was a test of free speech versus public safety.

Duane Gerald Davis Sr. said he was making a political statement when in February he left a toilet outside a courthouse in Towson. It was adorned with newspaper clippings, an electronic transmitter and a cell phone.

The bomb squad came, and police shut down streets. A bomb-sniffing dog and a robot helped investigate, and Davis was arrested and charged with making a false statement concerning a destructive device. He put his own photos and address on the toilet, and wanted police to investigate the death of his son in Illinois.

Legitimate protest or free speech? Did police over-react or did Davis go too far?

On Thursday, a Baltimore County judge ruled in favor of Davis, saying the state failed to prove its case. I'm seeking out an opinion from the judge, if there is one. Here is a story from today's paper by The Sun's Steve Kilar.

The photo is by Brendan Cavanaugh.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

UPDATE FROM MARYLAND STATE POLICE: "The accused is identified as Alexis D. Simpson, 19, who is a student at Bowie State University and resides on campus. She is from District Heights, Md.  She is charged with first degree murder, second degree murder, and first degree assault.  She is being held in the Prince George’s County Detention Center without bond."   

An argument between roommates at Bowie State University has left one young woman dead and another in custody, according to Maryland State Police. They said the victim, Dominique T. Frazier, 18, was cut and found bleeding in the hallway of a campus dorm.

The victim was from Washington. Police said her roommate, a 19-year-old from District Heights, is in custody awaiting formal charges. Here is a brief account from state police:

Just after 8:00 p.m. yesterday, Prince George’s County Police received a 911 call for a cutting in the Christa McAuliffe Residential Community building on the campus of Bowie State University, in the 14000-block of Jericho Park Rd., Bowie, Md. University police officers were also notified and were the first to arrive on the scene outside of the apartment style residence on the second floor of the residential community.

Bowie State University Police Department officers found the victim in the hallway. She was bleeding from the upper torso and was unconscious. Officers rendered emergency care until EMS units from the Prince George’s County Fire Department arrived. EMS units transported the victim to Prince George’s Hospital Center where she was pronounced dead at about 8:44 p.m.  

Police have confirmed that this incident was isolated to one residential apartment on campus and the situation is contained. The campus of Bowie State University is safe and there is no continuing threat.  

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

Baltimore police have released these surveillance camera stills in hopes of tracking down a person of interest in the June 2010 killing of 30-year-old Durell Cartwright in the 400 block of N. East Ave. Anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southeast Baltimore
        

Howard County Police say they have charged a 23-year-old man with the 2007 killing of his twin brother.

Wael Ali was arrested Thursday in Cobb County, Ga., where he was being held on charges that he killed brother Wasel Ali in August 2007, police said.

[At right, a picture of the Ali brothers in a photo taken from Facebook]

"This arrest demonstrates that our detectives never give up on a case," said Police Chief William McMahon in a statement. "Our cold case unit has continued this investigation to ensure justice would be served in this tragic murder."

Wasel Ali went missing on Aug. 22, after being last seen with his brother at the Mall in Columbia. Police said Wael Ali had called a friend a half hour later, frantic and crying, saying his brother had gone missing.

Wael Ali sought people to search for his brother's body. On Aug. 27, Wasel Ali's body was found on a secluded dirt path in the woods behind the 12000 block of Green Meadow Drive in Columbia, an area that Wael Ali had told friends that he had already searched.

An autopsy showed that Wasel Ali died as a result of a neck injury.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Howard County
        

[Photo courtesy ATF]

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have charged 55 people as part of a yearlong investigation into a drug organization operating out of South Baltimore with ties to Reservoir Hill and Anne Arundel County.

Authorities began tracking down the suspects early Wednesday morning as part their "Operation Brooklyn to the Bay" case, ATF spokeswoman Clare Weber said. Thirty-nine suspects were arrested and 16 were considered fugitives as of this afternoon, she said.

"We conducted a very large-scale operation yesterday," Weber said. "We were looking for several individuals from this drug organization." 

In addition to the Brooklyn area of South Baltimore, Weber said the investigation took agents into Reservoir Hill, and search warrants were also executed in Anne Arundel County. The indictments are terse, but charge the suspects with dealing large amounts of cocaine.

A law enforcement source not authorized to speak about the case said the drug organization had loose affiliations with the Bloods gang. 

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Kevin Thomas, Brandon Miller, Jerry Walker, Omar Anderson and Larry Harlee were arrested and made initial appearances in court. Another man, Robert King, was charged by criminal complaint after agents serving a search warrant on his home found ammunition. Prosecutors provided federal indictments for a total of 15 individuals, and say other defendants will face charges in state court.

Court records show some of the suspects  had been previously indicted in separate but related cases. In May, task force officers and special agents were monitoring Lamont Douglas when he drove into the parking lot of an Advance Auto Parts store in the 2100 block of W. Patapsco Ave. and conducted an apparent hand-to-hand drug transaction between Douglas and a man named Christopher Marshall.

Later, the agents wrote that they observed another transaction in that same parking lot involving Douglass and a man named Cecil Sherrod. Agents pulled over Marshall, who they say resisted arrest and was found in possession of 1/8 ounce of suspected heroin and had $1,900 in cash on him. Sherrod was pulled over in the 3400 block of Potee St., and police found two bags containing 16 ounces of suspected crack cocaine with a street value of $700.

Marshall, Douglas and Sherrod were indicted in Baltimore Circuit Court on drug charges related to that incident, and have now also been charged in federal court. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: South Baltimore
        

A man who was shot in 2006 - and who died in 2009 - was classified as a homicide victim this week by city police, officials said.

The medical examiner determined that Gerrod Davis' death in February 2009 was caused by complications from gunshot wounds suffered Aug. 31, 2006 in Northeast Baltimore's Four-by-Four neighborhood.

Police said Davis, who was 22 when he was shot, was coming out a corner store in the 3300 block of Elmora Ave. at about 2:10 p.m. when a dark Lincoln Towncar pulled up and an unknown suspect got out and began firing at him. Davis was struck in the neck, head and hand, police said. 

Each year, there are a number of deaths added to the city total when someone wounded in a shooting from years ago later dies. Because cities can't go back and revise their homicide statistics from prior years, the death gets added for the year when the determination was made. It's not unlike how solved cases from prior years count toward the present year's clearance rate. 

I was able to find an obituary for Davis posted on the March Funeral Home website. In it, his family says Davis "leaves behind a legacy of will power, perseverance, determination, and faith in God Almighty .He made friends any and everywhere he went and with that winning smile he would light up the room as well as your heart."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

News from The Sun's Mary Gail Hare:

The University of Maryland College Park campus police are investigating an assault on a female student while she was sleeping in her residence at Leonardtown Apartments.

The woman awoke at about 3:30 a.m. Sept. 9 to find an unknown man in her bed and fondling her breasts and torso, police said. She screamed and he fled the apartment. The victim glimpsed the assailant through her window and described him as curly headed and wearing a striped shirt, police said.

More details can be found here at the University of Maryland police site.

Watch the police surveillance video.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

When two Baltimore police officers crashed their motorcycles while preparing to escort NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to Sunday's Ravens game, it drew attention to the practice of police escorts.

Who gets them and why?

Surely, presidents, when they visit cities, get large escorts, run by the U.S. Secret Service. The real question is who else should be afforded that luxury. Police agencies, with few or no written guidelines, cite public safety as their guide. But there are other factors as well.

A celebrity, for example, might warrant an escort if that person attracts large crowds -- both for the safety of the celeb and everyone else. Large funeral processions, even private ones, can get escorts to help long processions move through the crowded city.

But does the NFL commissioner need one? Remember the stories out of Washington in April when Charlie Sheen got an escort from Dulles by DC cops, and clocked them doing 80 into the nation's capital. That cost a DC police commander his job (See the Washington Post's Crime Scene blog for more details).

Goodell flew into Martin State Airport on a private jet and was rushed to M&T Bank Stadium. His security chief cited the general 911 terror warnings giving out by the FBI, and city police said 9/11 considerations made this a special day and special event. Goodell needed to get to Sept. 11 ceremonies at three different stadiums on Sunday -- in Baltimore, Washington and New York.

So was the decision to give him a police escort based on security or traffic? The cops weren't injured seriously, and the police did turn down a request on Friday to escort the Ravens cheerleaders on their Purple Friday bus tour through the city.

For more, read the complete story here. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Top brass
        

UPDATE: Howard County police say that Anthony Parker, who was wanted for first-degree murder in a fatal stabbing in Columbia, has surrendered.

Howard County Police have identified a man who was fatally stabbed in a Columbia parking lot Tuesday afternoon, and a man has been charged with his murder, The Sun's Liz F. Kay reports.

Anthony Patrick Parker, 53, is charged with first-degree murder. Witnesses told investigators that Parker and Phillip Edward Wise, 46, were fighting among a group of people in a parking lot in the 5500 block of Harper's Farm Road at 4:30 p.m Tuesday, police said.

Witnesses said that Parker, who has no fixed address, then drove off in a van with several other people, according to investigators. The vehicle, with blood on the front fender, was found parked on Columbia Road, police said.

The homicide was the second reported in Columbia within less than 24 hours. A Baltimore bail bondswoman, Nichole Bernadette McNair, 42, was shot in the 8700 block of Hayshed Lane in the village of Long Reach at about 10 p.m. Monday, according to police. She was pronounced dead at Howard County General Hospital

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Howard County
        

Steps from one of those weathered benches proclaiming Baltimore the "Greatest City in America," a pool of blood marked the spot where a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot last night in Southwest Baltimore.

Detectives at the scene Wednesday morning referred questions to department spokesmen, who said they didn't have any information beyond the fact that Bruce Benn had been shot in the head at 1 a.m. and died two hours later. Residents in the trash-strewn neighborhood lamented the crime, but said they didn't know what had happened. It happened at a bus stop in front of a vacant building, though much of the real estate in this area is abandoned.

School officials say Benn was a student at the Augusta Fells Savage Institute for Visual Arts, a public school located in Harlem Park. Police say Benn's last known address was in North Baltimore.

Twelve juveniles have been killed this year in Baltimore.  The spokesman didn't indicate whether police had a motive or any suspects in Benn's killing.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Howard County police have arrested a client of a bail bondswoman and charged him with killing her when she met him to collect money. Police said they found paperwork in the victim's car detailing the suspect's case file and pieces of the woman's cell phone in the woods.

The arrest brings a quick closure to Howard County's fourth killing this year -- equaling the total for all of last year. A man was fatally stabbed on Wednesday, giving the county an unusual two killings in a single day.

In the case of the bail bondwoman, police said Nichole Bernadette McNair was shot on Hayshed Lane in the village of Long Reach when she met up with the suspect, identified as Dominique Davon McDonald.

McDonald has several criminal cases still active, but court records show that he is scheduled for trial on Sept. 30 on handgun charges in Howard County. The bail bond firm listed in the records is the same one that employes the victim.

For more details, here's copy of a statement from Howard County Police:

Howard County police have charged a 21-year-old Columbia man in the murder of a bail
bondswoman who police believe was collecting money from him. Dominique Davon McDonald,
whose last known address was 9761 Clocktower Lane, was charged today with the murder of
Nichole McNair.

Investigators believe McDonald arranged to meet McNair on Hayshed Lane to make a payment on
money owed for a recent bail paid in an unrelated case against McDonald. McNair was working as a
bail bondswoman.

Police received multiple calls to 911 Monday night from the Hayshed Lane area reporting at least
one gunshot around 10 p.m. Officers responded and found McNair in the parking lot of an apartment building suffering from a gunshot wound. She was transported to Howard County General Hospital in critical condition and later died.

McNair’s car was found at the scene still running. Witnesses reported seeing a man in a hooded
jacket running from the scene. Detectives searched McNair’s car for evidence and found paperwork indicating she was collecting a payment from McDonald.

Police conducted a search of the woods near the crime scene and found a cell phone that belonged to McNair and the back piece of a Samsung cell phone that was later determined to belong to
McDonald.

Through investigation, detectives learned that McDonald had been staying in an apartment building in the 8800 block of Tamar Drive. Investigators went to that location and observed McDonald leaving the building. He was stopped by police and was in possession of the other half of the Samsung phone. Investigators searched the building and found a jacket with a hood and a loaded handgun, both in a common area in the basement of the building.

McDonald was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree murder and first- and second degree assault. He is being held at the Howard County Detention Center on $2 million bond.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Howard County
        

Baltimore County Police Det. Evelyn Grant is a real life Bones.

The 29-year-old even describes her job as, "Read the bones."

This month, a recreation she sketched of a skull found Westminster in 2007 was matched to a woman who had went missing in Baltimore 14 years ago. It gave the police new leads in a murder and the family a body to bury.

Grant is one of 22 certified forensic artists in the country. She does the traditional sketches of suspects from witness interviews, but she also takes skeletal remains and gives them faces. She's helped police in Pennsylvania and Prince George's County.

Her most recent work identified Toni Dee Vogel. Here is a picture of the victim, before she disappeared from South Baltimore, and the sketch Grant came up with using nothing more than a skull and strand of hair. 

A person saw the sketch and identified the victim, confirmed by police by matching DNA to Vogel's mother. The case has been ruled a homicide.

Grant was a fun interview. She talked about how her husband buys her art supplies and doesn't seem to mind that she handles skeletons as part of her job. She carries her sketches with her -- faces of the dead in her purse.

The pictures here were taken by The Sun's Barbara Haddock Taylor.

Read the complete story here.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

In the span of one day, two slayings in Columbia equalled Howard County's homicide total for last year. A bailbonds woman was shot in the village of Long Reach and Tuesday afternoon a man was stabbed in an apartment on Harpers Farm Road.

The killings were the county's third and fourth of 2011. Four people were killed in all of last year in Howard County. Motives for the killings are unclear, and police report no suspects in either one. The bailbonds woman had been involved in a domestic abuse case, but police were also looking into whether her killing was connected to her job.

Read here for more details.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Howard County
        

Breaking news from The Sun's Andrea Siegel:

The teenager who pleaded guilty in the beating of a transgender woman at a Rosedale McDonald's was sentenced Tuesday to 5 years in prison.

(Read more stories about the attack here, and look at video from the restaurant).

Teonna Monae Brown, 19, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree assault and a hate crime after the beating of Chrissy Lee Polis, 22. The April attack drew national attention after a video of it went viral online.

Brown was sentenced to 10 years total but five years were suspended. She will also serve three years' supervised probation. The combined maximum sentence for the crimes is 35 years.

In court, Brown apologized for the attack. "My mother didn't raise me like this," Brown said. "I would really like to apologize to the victim."

Polis submitted a statement to court but did not attend the sentencing. "My private life has been exposed to the world. I lost my job. I cannot go anywhere without the fear of getting hurt again," Polis wrote. "I want to go into a hole and hide."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The woman who was shot in Columbia's Long Reach neighborhood Monday night has died, and Howard County police have identified the victim as an employee of a bail bond company.

There is no indication yet whether her job had anything to do with her death. Court records show she was charged with assault in May but that prosecutors dropped the case. Court records show that at least one company she worked for on North Point Boulevard and is tied to the Tillman family, one of the largest bail businesses in the city.

In July, the elder Milton Tillman was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for tax fraud; his son, Milton Tillman III was sentenced to one year in prison and allowed to run the family business. The elder Tillman owned a Odell's, a once notorious nightclub in the city.

Here is a statement from Howard County Police:

A woman shot in Columbia last night has died as a result of her injuries. Nichole Bernadette McNair, 42, of the 4300 block of Nichols Ave. in Baltimore, was pronounced dead overnight at Howard County General Hospital.

Police received multiple calls to 911 Monday night reporting at least one gunshot around 10 p.m. Officers responded and found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound in the 8700 block of Hayshed Lane. She was transported to Howard County General Hospital in critical condition and later died.

Investigators believe McNair worked as a bail bondswoman. A car believed to be driven by McNair was found at the scene still running. Detectives are working to determine why she may have been in the area.

Anyone with information should contact police at 410-313-STOP.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Howard County
        

The police officers who fired on fellow Officer William H. Torbit Jr. outside the Select Lounge back in January are refusing to testify before a panel examining the incident. The Sun's Justin Fenton reports that they are afraid their testimony will be used for administrative sanctions.

James K. "Chips" Stewart, the chair of the commission, told Justin:

"They were the officers that had a unique perspective, since they were there and saw the incident unfolding," said Stewart, a policy analyst and former police commander. "While we have all the evidence about what they did, we did not have some of the reasons for it. We wanted to be sure they had an opportunity to express those reasons, and they didn't."

Baltimore's state's attorney cleared the officers of criminal wronging in the fatal shooting, which also left another man dead and three bystanders wounded. But the officers still face internal reviews that will determine whether they broke administrative rules.

The commission was set up by the mayor to review policies and procedures to prevent another plainclothes officers for being mistaken by colleagues for a gunman. Read Justin's full story here, and see links to police reports, photos and a video of the shooting.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Police shootings
        

A woman was found shot in Columbia shortly after 10 p.m. Monday, Howard County police are reporting.

After receiving 911 calls that reported hearing at least one gunshot, responding officers found the woman in the 8700 block of Hayshed Lane in the village of Long Reach, police said in a statement. Police have not identified the woman, who was taken to Howard County General Hospital in critical condition.

According to the statement, police believe that a car found still running at the scene was driven by the woman; they do not know what she was doing there.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Howard County
        

On Sept. 14 of last year, a federal judge received a one-page letter that read, in part, “BOOM see how easy this was, next time you wont be so lucky ERM Family ANTHRAX!!"

According to the indictment, the letter also said: "I just hope Allah grants me the opportunity to be the one who chops off your head," and the words "die die die!!!" followed by the sentence "If I ever ever get out I promise you I'm coming after you."

The letter wasn't signed but the FBI quickly found Willie Ray Bryant's prints on it. The 41-year-old was in prison in Cumberland; the judge had presided over one of his previous trials in state court. According to on-line records, the judge had overseen a case in which Bryant pleaded guilty to a handgun charge in 2001 and sentenced him to five years in prison.

The FBI also said they found "the letter also bore imprints of letters and numbers appearing to partially match Bryant's mother’s name and phone number," according to federal prosecutors.

The Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement:

"After the FBI determined the sender’s identity from Bryant’s fingerprints, a message was sent to Maryland Corrections officials to monitor Bryant's use of the mail.  Shortly thereafter, corrections officials intercepted a letter Bryant had addressed to President Obama excoriating the President for turning his back on Islam and threatening to kill the President. Bryant signed the letter and included his state prisoner number."

He faces 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 9.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

A Baltimore County basketball coach was charged over the weekend with sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy, police said Monday, but the coach's employer defended the man, The Sun's Luke Broadwater reports.

Police have charged Tyrone Terry Jordan, 55, of the 3400-block of Oakfield Avenue in Gwynn Oak, with sexual abuse of a minor, a felony, and fourth-degree sex offense, a misdemeanor.

A 14-year-old boy told police that Jordan, his basketball coach, had touched him inappropriately on Aug. 31 while he was at the Hoops Summer Camp, located in the 3700 block of Twin Lakes Court in Windsor Mill, at the Twin Lakes Racquet Club, according to Baltimore County police.

Court records show that Jordan was charged in 1997 in Baltimore City with a third-degree sex offense, a felony, but was not convicted. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in that case and received probation before judgment. Details of that case were not immediately available.

The owner of the Twin Lakes Racquet Club, Vadim Fishkin, asked the public not to jump to conclusions. Fishkin said he has eight cameras recording the facility at all times and police have not yet reviewed the footage.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore police have issued this statement on a man being sought in a connection with a sex offense from two years ago:

"Baltimore Police detectives needs your help identifying a sex offense suspect.

Detectives have released a computer generated sketch of a suspect who sexually assaulted a woman in November of 2009.
 
On November 3, 2009, a 31 year-old woman was carjacked in the 4700 block of Parkside Garden Drive. The victim was driven to several locations and forced to perform sex acts on the suspect.

The suspect then drove the victim to an ATM where he demanded she withdraw money.  The suspect ordered the victim out of her car and advised he would be burning her car. The victim went to a friend’s house where she notified police. 

We are asking that anyone with information regarding this incident, or anyone who may recognize this suspect to call the Baltimore Police Department’s Sex offense Unit at 410-396-2076."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

Judges in Maryland are due for pay raises and vowed to make their case to the General Assembly, MarylandReporter.com reports.

Adjusted for cost of living, Maryland trial judges' pay ranks 43rd in the nation and members of the judiciary have not received raises since 2008. Members of the Judicial Compensation Commission said at a meeting last week that they will seek raises, the site's Megan Poinski reported last week. 

Judge Ben Clyburn, chief judge of the District Court of Maryland, said he is thinking about retiring at age 60 — when the law allows judicial retirement because the low pay is demoralizing. There are young associate lawyers working at some of the state’s bigger law firms who left judicial clerkships to get salaries larger than what the judges are making, Clyburn said.

“The stagnation of our salaries devalues what we do,” Clyburn said. “It sends the wrong message.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Baltimore police are saying that in recent weeks several people trying to sell dirt bikes and other items on Craigslist have been robbed and assaulted. From a statement:

Many of the victims are from out of state and were unfamiliar with the area. On September 6, 2011, an unknown suspect fired several shots at a man from New Jersey, in the 1500 block of Ellamont Street. The victim was not injured during this incident.

Police are offering these safety tips:

• Meet in a public spot preferably where there are surveillance cameras or a larger number of witnesses around
• Do not bring cash with you
• Do not allow the seller into your vehicle
• Tell a friend or family member where you are going and consider having them accompany you

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

At least four people were shot over the weekend in Baltimore, including a 16-year-old boy and a 45-year-old cab driver. 

At about 8:55 p.m. Saturday night, police were called to a convenience store parking lot at Fayette Street and Highland Ave., where a cab driver was outside of his vehicle suffering from a gunshot wound to the neck. He told police he had driven two passengers to the 200 block of N. Streeper St. and was letting them out when one of the men ordered him to hand over money and his cell phone. Police said the driver gave the suspects money and was then shot. He was listed in stable condition. 

The shooting of the 16-year-old occurred about an hour later in the Yale Heights neighborhood, in the rear of the 4300 block of Eldone Rd. The teen was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his body and transported to a local hospital in non-life-threatening condition. 

The next morning, two other people were shot: police say a 23-year-old walked into a downtown hospital at about 2:15 a.m. suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest and arm. At 5:45 a.m., a 49-year-old man was reported shot in the leg inside his home in the 2800 block of Hilldale Ave. Both were reported in non-life-threatening condition, and police have not announced any arrests.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The first black motorcycle officer for the Baltimore County Police force has died. The Sun's Erik Maza takes a look at her career (read full obituary here):

Astride the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the Baltimore County police officer cut a striking figure. The officer was a rookie, on the short side — and an African-American woman.

Twenty years ago, Gwendolyn Parrish became the first black woman on the Baltimore County police force on motorcycle patrol.

The image of her wearing "black leather motorcycle boots up to her knees" is still the way Baltimore County police chief James Johnson remembers Parrish, who died last Saturday at 56 from complications following surgery.

"It takes a strong woman to handle that big machine," Johnson said. "Gwendolyn was tough. … She was a shining example of America's best in law enforcement."

Here is a statement from Baltimore County Police:

Sergeant Gwendolyn L. Parrish
1955-2011

The Baltimore County Police Department is mourning one of its pioneers, Sergeant Gwendolyn L. Parrish, who died unexpectedly this week.

A 31-year veteran, Parrish forged a trail for minorities in the Police Department, especially minority women.

In 1999, she became the first African American woman to achieve the rank of Sergeant. At her death, she had served in the Police Department longer than any other African American woman.

“She was a valued member of our Department, and we are deeply saddened by her passing,” said Police Chief James Johnson. “She made significant contributions to public safety over three decades, and she will certainly be missed.”

Parrish died September 3 as a result of complications from a brief illness. She was 56.

Born and raised in tiny Turner Station in eastern Baltimore County, Parrish graduated from Dunbar High School in 1973. Those closest to her say that, when she weighed her career options, she knew that she wanted to help people and make a difference.  She planned to become a doctor until she met a Baltimore County Police recruiter doing outreach in her community.

At first, she dismissed the notion of being a police officer because of the racial tension between the residents of the Turner Station, a historically black neighborhood, and the police. She enrolled at University of Maryland Baltimore County and began working toward a medical career.

But at some point she reconsidered law enforcement, and decided this was her calling.

She completed training at the Baltimore County Police Academy in 1980 and embarked on a long career marked by a determination to overcome the challenges posed in her early years by her race and gender, as well as a dedication to serving our citizens.

Over the years, Parrish worked at a number of precincts, including Precinct 13/Edgemere, Precinct 12/Dundalk and Precinct 2/Woodlawn, and -- after her promotion to Sergeant in 1999 -- to Precinct 1/Wilkens.

In the early 1980s, she worked in the Community Oriented Police Enforcement Unit, (COPE), dedicated to improving the Police Department’s relations with the community. During the four years she worked with COPE, she received numerous complimentary letters of thanks for her problem-solving work in Baltimore County neighborhoods. She was the first female African American officer to successfully complete departmental motorcycle training.

Since 2002, she was assigned to the Department’s Records Management Unit. She was the Custodian of Records and Criminal Justice Information System Coordinator.

Her coworkers saw her as a professional and a mentor. They say her greatest strength was her ability to listen, to be fair and to provide mature insight and guidance.

Perhaps her greatest legacy is as a leader in the police minority community. Parrish was a founding member and former treasurer of the Blue Guardians and a state delegate of the National Black Police Association (NBPA). Parrish was a lifetime member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the National Black Police Association, where she enthusiastically participated in international conferences and other educational activities.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

One of my favorite appellate judges -- based solely on his prose -- has opined on a  burglary case out of Harford County.

The suspect, convicted of breaking into a friend's home in 2009 as they vacationed in New York, wanted the Court of Special Appeals to throw out the case based on several factors, such a whether the judge erred in allowing the jury to hear certain evidence, and whether the facts presented were legally sufficient for a guilty finding.

The defendant didn't dispute his conviction of theft, but said first-degree burglary conviction, which landed him 20 years in prison, was out of line. The judge, Charles E. Moylan Jr., ruled in the state's favor, upholding the conviction of Brett  Russell Molter.

The key was whether a logical inference could be made that because Molter was found in possession of the stolen goods, that he had been the one who stole them. He was a friend of the victims, had been inside their home in the past and knew they would be out of town.

Moylan, who has a penchant for flowery writing, opened his 31-page opinion this way:

"Suppose that Scotland Yard, in late 1888, could have established that an otherwise innocuous denizen of London's Whitechapel neighborhood had been in the unexplained possession of a locket worn no more than two or three days earlier by one of the  victims of Jack the Ripper. How far might the Crown have gone with the resulting inference? It is just such an inference, and the reach of its inferential potency,  that is the primary focus of this appeal."

For a full dose of Moylan, read his opinion in this case here. Here a section that sums up some of the case:

The appellant contends that he was erroneously denied the opportunity to have his
counsel stage a demonstration in closing argument that arguably might have diminished the significance of something testified to by the burglary victim, Eric Eisenrauch.

When Eisenrauch and Amy Batchellor were called upon to examine the treasure trove of property recovered from the trunk of the appellant's automobile, they identified eight articles as belonging to them, which they had earlier described to the police in meticulous detail. One of them was a Sharp video camera belonging to Eisenrauch.

As Eisenrauch's direct examination needlessly rambled on past the point of diminishing returns, however, Eisenrauch tossed in a gratuitous embellishment, unobjected to at the time, that ultimately touched a raw nerve in the defense psyche. Eisenrauch recounted that when he got his camera home, he screwed it onto its waiting tripod and then proudly showed the police how the two fit together. "Voila!"

It was, however, a meaningless "Voila!" It was a needless superfluity, except that it somehow stuck in the craw of the defense. The rightful ownership of the stolen goods generally, including the Sharp video camera, was never in issue. Quite aside from the camera, the purses and the necklace and the watch box and the tool bag clinched the case that the goods in the appellant's trunk had been stolen from Eisenrauch and Ms. Batchellor.

The conjugal compatibility of camera and tripod was as meaningless a fillip as would have been Eisenrauch's triumphal announcement that the camera fit perfectly into its accustomed niche on the bookshelf or that its color matched that of the upholstery in the den or that Lassie wagged her tail when the faithful camera came home. What the appellant is now fighting about was, at most, a minuscule or Lilliputian corroboration of something that needed no corroboration.

The appellant has, indeed, conceded the only thing that the tripod match could conceivably have been used to show. The appellant concedes that his unexplained possession of goods recently stolen from Eisenrauch and Ms. Batchellor was legally sufficient to give rise to the inference that he was the thief. He does not challenge his conviction for theft based on that uncontroverted evidence. His only challenge, with respect to the burglary conviction alone, is with how far the permitted inculpatory inference may reach.

The appellant's line in the sand is that the inference that he was the thief may not do double duty as an inference that he was also the burglar, even where other evidence is enough to support the conclusion that the thief and the burglar were one and the same. The appellant does not challenge the only thing that the tripod fit might arguably have helped to show, to wit, that Eisenrauch was the rightful owner of the stolen camera.

The appellant, in effect, concedes having lost the war but protests against the chutzpah of the victor in shouting the last hurrah. The witness's possibly excessive hubris, however, added nothing to the State's case.

To counter the last hurrah, defense counsel, the morning after this soupcon of testimony about the tripod fit was introduced, proffered to the court, "So I went home and grabbed my tripod and tried every camera I had and realized that, for the most part, tripods are universal and every camera has a hole in the bottom of it that it clicks into." Defense counsel then proposed doing a demonstration during closing argument of what she had done at home. Ultimately, over State objection, Judge Plitt did not allow it.

The appellant contends that he was thereby denied a fair trial Due process, however, does not confer a right to respond to an inconsequentiality with a counter-inconsequentiality. Completely without regard to whether camera-tripod compatibility was shown to be unique or universal or something in between, the appellant's fate was sealed, and that is the quintessence of harmless error.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Harford County
        

From the Baltimore firefighter's union:

Baltimore’s International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 734 will commemorate the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2011 with a moment of silence at the time each plane hit the World Trade Center towers. 

The IAFF will be hosting a tailgate before the Ravens versus Steelers home opener Sunday, September 11.  At 8:46 and 9:03 a.m., participants will pause to honor and remember their fallen brothers. It will be held at the union hall, 1202 Ridgely St.

The tailgate is free and open to the public.  IAFF volunteers will be on site to begin preparing food as early as 5:00 a.m. Proceeds from food and beverage sales will go toward the Widows & Orphans Fund.

The Widows & Orphans Fund has a longstanding history with the IAFF Local 734 and has been helping to ease the financial burden for surviving family members any time an active or retired Baltimore City Firefighter passes for decades. The fund distributes over $100,000 annually to families of fallen Baltimore Firefighters.

The tailgate will offer pit beef, ham, and turkey, chili, crab soup, a variety of drinks and more prepared by local Baltimore City Firefighters, and the location is just blocks from M&T Bank Stadium. 

As you probably know, there's been some concern of attacks as we mark the 10th anniversary. Here's a story on Baltimore since Sept. 11 and whether we're safer or not. Read a special statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: 

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY JANET NAPOLITANO URGING PUBLIC VIGILANCE

“As we head into the 9/11 anniversary weekend, we continue to urge the American public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities. Simply put, if you see something, say something.

We take all threat reporting, including the recent specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information, seriously. We continue to be in close contact with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to ensure that all steps necessary to mitigate any threats are taken.

Our security posture includes a number of measures both seen and unseen and we will continue to respond appropriately to protect the American people from an evolving threat picture both in the coming days and beyond. Homeland security is a shared responsibility, and everyone plays an important role in helping to keep our communities safe and secure.”

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

He called police to report a burglary, and ended up convicted of armed drug trafficking. Maybe he should've moved the drugs from his toilet before dialing 911.

The Howard County State's Attorney Office says a jury convicted a Laurel man on Thursday. He had called the cops to his apartment in January and told them he returned from a week away to find his place burglarized.

Police, while conducting their investigation, found a bag of marijuana residue in his the bathroom toilet. Police said the man gave consent for officers to search further, and they found a scale. That led them to a search warrant and the seizure of a loaded Ruger handgun, ammunition and bottles of ecstasy.

For more details, here is a statement from prosecutors:

A 34-year-old Laurel man, who called police to report that his apartment had been burglarized, was convicted of armed drug trafficking charges by a Howard County jury following a three-day trial that concluded late Thursday afternoon. Maka Koroma, of the 9100 block of Stebbing Way, was found guilty of two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intention to distribute, one count of possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime, two counts of drug possession, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to prosecutors and charging documents, Koroma summoned police to his apartment on January 7, 2011, advising them that he had been away for a week and upon returning, discovered that the front door had been broken and his apartment had been entered.  Koroma told police that he did not enter the apartment.  When police entered the unit they discovered that it had been ransacked. While conducting their investigation, police saw an empty grocery bag in the bathroom toilet. Upon entering the bathroom they smelled the odor of marijuana and discovered a large plastic tote containing marijuana residue and plastic bags, sitting in the bathtub. 

Police then asked, and Koroma gave consent, to search the unit further. During the search, officers discovered a scale containing marijuana residue in the bathroom vanity.  At that point Koroma was arrested and police secured a search warrant to conduct a more thorough search of the premises.

That search yielded a loaded Ruger semi-automatic handgun and a box of .45-caliber rounds of ammunition, bottles of pills (later identified as Ecstasy or methamphetamine) and plastic bags containing marijuana residue. A search of the vehicle that Koroma was driving revealed additional packaged amounts of Ecstasy and marijuana residue.

Assistant State’s Attorney Les Gross called DNA and drug experts as witnesses to show that Koroma had handled the weapon recovered in the apartment and linked the drugs recovered from the car that Koroma was driving with the drugs located in the apartment.

Contending that his client was a crime victim, Koroma’s defense attorney James Zafiropulos told the jury that the arrest of his client did not make sense inasmuch as his client called the police to his residence to report that he was the victim of a burglary.  Gross responded that DNA evidence indicated that Koroma handled the recovered handgun and argued that if Koroma did not enter the apartment there would not be evidence linking the drugs recovered in the vehicle with the drugs recovered inside the apartment. “That’s what doesn’t make sense,” Gross asserted.

Following the jury’s verdict, Howard County Circuit Court Judge Diane O. Leasure set an October 26 sentencing date. Koroma faces a potential maximum prison sentence of over 15 years .

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Howard County
        

Invited over to help celebrate his son's first birthday, 25-year-old Hari P. Close III had been a no-show.

But overnight Tuesday, Close crept into the home where his son lived and climbed into bed with the boy's mother, records show. On Wednesday morning, 1-year-old Dalyire Damion McFadden was missing, and he was later found by police wrapped in a deflated air mattress in the basement. He had been stabbed in the neck, police say.

Close, who was an aspiring male model, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in his son's death and was being held without bond. Police say he admitted hiding bloody evidence, which was later found with the murder weapon.

The arrest stunned Close's father, a well-known funeral home director in the city and president of the state morticians' board. He said he never saw any signs that his son was troubled.

"He's been raised in a Christian church, a two-parent home, with great opportunities for education," said Hari P. Close II. "Who really knows their children? All we can do is pray."

Close has no criminal record other than traffic tickets. He attended the Piney Woods School in Mississippi, a boarding school for African-Americans where tuition runs between $7,000 and $15,000 per year. He then went on to attend the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, though his father said he did not graduate.

"My ultimate goal is to make my mark within this modeling industry and become the worlds top super model," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

While everyone was trying to stay dry on Thursday, I spent the day trying to get wet.

I headed down to Severna Park, to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department's Jones station, Company 23, headquarters of the special operations command. Accompanied by Sun photographer Barbara Haddock Taylor (her pic at left), I was trying to get out with a water rescue team on a call.

In the photo, Lt. Jeff Halpern, left, and Firefighter/Paramedic Ronnie Carr await a call. Read The Sun's storm coverage. Read Frank Roylance's weather blog for the latest updates.

The previous 12 to 14 hours had been busy for firefighters here, responding to more an a dozen calls for people trapped in water, most of them after having driven into what at first glance looked like a puddle but was really a small lake.ne person had died in Pasadena, a person a bit south drove into a sink hole big enough to have swallowed her car, and firefighters got their truck stuck while helping a county police officer, also stranded in the water. In another case, police officers used ropes to rescue a stranded motorists (more details on that later).

More details below:

Firefighters from his station responded to more calls (26) during this storm than they did during Hurricane Irene (25). At one point, there were 14 calls holding for people ting flooded basements pumped out.

But the day broke with few calls. Actually, no calls. Barbara and I chatted with the firefighters through the morning and through lunch. They responded to one car cident, but moments before we had arrived.

We chatted about water safety and why you shouldn't drive into standing water. One reason I hadn't thought of -- manhole covers sometimes get lifted off by the water that fills the culverts, creating a man-made sinkhole that can suck in a person in an instant.

Pump Operator Josh Bramble, 40, with five years on, and Lt. Jeff Halpern, 32, a nine year veteran, and several others, helped us pass the time. The sun came out.

Finally, at 4:02 p.m., just after Barbara and I decided to give it another hour, a call came out for a swift-water rescue. But it was all the way in Maryland City, near he Anne Arundel County line, off Brockbridge Route and Route 198.

Lights and sirens blaring, the large fire truck made its way out to Ritchie Highway and headed toward Route 100. Both these firefighters are trained in swift-water rescue and they respond to calls throughout the county, and elsewhere.

But before the truck reached the BW Parkway, it became clear the calls would soon be cancelled. A firefighter already on the scene reported: "Someone is in the vehicle. The water is not very high." Then the firefighter said, "He is in the vehicle waiting r a tow truck. He refuses to get out."

At 4:14 p.m., the firefighter said, "I got him."

Our firefighters turned off the siren and headed back to the station. But just as quickly, another call came out. Two people trapped in fast moving water on Route 408. This is at the southern tip of Anne Arundel County, near the Prince George's County line. Firefighters from Charles County were closer to the call.

The firefighters in the truck I was in headed south for what would've been a 45 minute drive. But again, the call was cancelled. Other firefighters reported that the water asn't moving, wasn't deep and the people in the car got out by themselves.

The fire truck again turned around. But by this time, we were in Edgewater, south of Annapolis, and we began the lumbering trip back to Severna Park. We had wanted to showcase some of the firefighters in the area who risked their lives during the latest storm (several in Baltimore County had to abandon their Zodiac boats and swim to safety), but missed the action by a few hours.

Here is a statement from Anne Arundel County Police on the rescue by officers. It shows some of the dangers involved when flooding occurs:

At approximately 1:20 a.m., Lieutenant Steve Thomas and Corporal Erica Heinecke from the Western District responded to the area of Burns Crossing Road and Old Mill Road in Severn for an assist motorist call.  Dispatch advised that a vehicle was stuck in standing water on Burns Crossing Road and a 63-year-old male and a 68-year-old female were stranded with the vehicle.

Upon arrival, the officers discovered that the roadway was completely eroded and several feet of water was gushing from Old Mill Road across Burns Crossing Road. The stranded couple left their vehicle and were on the shoulder of Burns Crossing Road holding onto a guardrail for support against the rushing water.

Corporal Heinecke and Lt. Thomas tied their departmental water rescue ropes to themselves before entering the water and approaching the couple. As Lt. Thomas approached the male victim, the victim lost his footing and was submerged beneath the water, under the guardrail. Lt. Thomas, ho was still tied to Corporal Heinecke via their rescue rope, was able lift the male victim out of the water just enough to allow him to breath and held onto the victim until he received assistance from Sergeant Matthew Snyder when he arrived on scene.

Sergeant Bob Novotny, Corporal Daniel Pamer, Officer Rocco Pugliese and Officer Mike Fraser responded to the scene and were able to assist Lt. Thomas, Sergeant Snyder and Corporal Heinecke with retrieving the male and female victims from the water. Fire Department personnel transported the victims to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where they were treated and released. The roadway was eventually washed away by the force of the water.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Crime elsewhere
        

This post has been updated.

City police say a frantic call by parents for an abduction of their infant son led to the gruesome discovery of the boy's body in the family's Southwest Baltimore home.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the child's parents were in custody and were being questioned.

Guglielmi said police were called to the 2700 block of Riggs Ave., in the Winchester neighborhood. Wednesday morning for an abduction of a 1-year-old. At some point, officers discovered the boy in the basement of the home, suffering from trauma to his body that was initially described as possible stab wounds, police said. The boy was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead. Guglielmi did not have additional details including when police were called to the home or the boy's name. An autopsy was being conducted to confirm the cause of death, he said.

"We're obviously concerned as to how the baby died," Guglielmi said. "The circumstances are unclear and they're being sorted out."

At the residence late Wednesday afternoon, police were still on the scene. A neighbor said she had seen the boy's mother outside the home around 8:30 a.m., and said the woman "zapped out" and became angry when an ambulance, apparently carrying the child, drove by. She said the woman had an older child who had been dropped off at school earlier that morning.

Police crime lab technicians could be seen inside the rear entrance to the home, and they shut the door when a reporter walked through a rear alley. A second floor porch door was propped open with a door, and a child's blanket was draped over the railing.

In the past month, homicide detectives have investigated the deaths of two other infants. Dramiara Johnson, 4, died Aug. 27 from massive head trauma, and her mother was charged in her death. On Sept. 1, Davon Booth Jr., who was 13 months old, died Aug. 8, and the medical examiner later ruled that he suffered head trauma and his death was a homicide. That case remained open, as of the most recent update from police.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore Shomrim, the volunteer patrol group from Northwest Baltimore, is asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect in a theft of "shul pushkas," or charity boxes, from a synagogue.

City police spokesman Jeremy Silbert confirmed that police are investigating a theft from a synagogue in the 6800 block of Park Heights Ave. He could not provide a specific date, but a timestamp on a photo distributed by Shomrim appeared to be from the early morning hours of Sept. 5.

Here are some of the photos that are being disseminated:

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

This post has been updated.

Amid pounding rain, city police were investigating an afternoon shooting in Northwest Baltimore.

Details were scarce, but police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that officers were called to the 3300 block of Belle Ave., in the Ashburton neighborhood, for a report of a double shooting. Officers found a man who had been shot in the shoulder and stomach; police later said a victim was located.

The unidentified victims were transported to an area hospital, and their conditions were not immediately known.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

The U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland announced that 52-year-old financial advisor Ralph Edward Thomas Jr. pleaded guilty today to mail fraud in connection with defrauding "vulnerable" clients of $838,350. Here's the statement from prosecutors:

According to Thomas’ plea agreement, a trust account was established in 1994 for the benefit of a child suffering from cerebral palsy. The child’s mother was appointed as the trustee.  The trust account was funded by the proceeds of a $3 million medical malpractice settlement, which were used to buy an annuity.  The annuity was supposed to pay the child a minimum of $3,990 a month.
 
Thomas was a vice president of Harbor Financial Services, a subsidiary of Harbor Bank. After meeting the child’s mother at Harbor Bank in December 2001, Thomas established complete control over the child’s trust account, which was moved to the Harbor Bank.  From December 17, 2001 through June 30, 2010, the period of Thomas’ fraud scheme, the annuity payments were deposited directly into the trust account.  Although the annuity payments averaged $6,287.53 per month, Thomas disbursed only $1,000 to $1,500 a month from the trust account to the mother for the care of the child.  He withdrew the remaining monthly balance by obtaining the mother’s signature on blank withdrawal slips, and deposited the funds into his personal bank accounts.  The total amount Thomas withdrew from the trust account in this manner and used for his personal benefit is $756,963.98.  Thomas purchased a home in Reisterstown, Maryland on July 30, 2009 using $100,000 of the stolen funds.

Furthermore, from June 2006 to May 2009, Thomas obtained three mortgages totaling $205,000 on the mother’s home in her name without her permission. As a result of this scheme,
the mother incurred a total of $26,886.36 in closing costs and losses.  Additionally, Thomas stole $12,500 from the mother’s personal account held at Harbor Bank.
 
Finally, from February 2004 through July 2010, Thomas was employed as a financial advisor by Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC.   Thomas admits that $75,000 was fraudulently withdrawn from an account held by an elderly Wells Fargo customer.  Of the $75,000 withdrawn, $42,000 was used to pay Thomas’ personal credit card accounts or other personal benefits.
 
As part of his plea agreement, Thomas has agreed to pay $838,350.34 in restitution, the total amount of loss resulting from the above described schemes, and to forfeit property in order to pay such amount, including funds held in investment accounts owned by Thomas, his home in Reisterstown and luxury automobiles.
 
Thomas  faces a maximum sentence of 20  years in prison and a $250,000 fine for mail fraud. U.S District Judge Catherine C. Blake has scheduled sentencing for February 3, 2011 at 9:15 a.m.
 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

In March, city police appealed for help in the killing of 24-year-old city employee David McClaughlin Jr., who had been fatally stabbed in a gas station parking lot on Edmondson Avenue after being followed home from a Baltimore County bar. They released surveillance footage and arranged interviews with the victim's mother in hopes of finding his killer.

Those efforts may have paid off. On Friday, police quietly arrested and charged a suspect in the case, 28-year-old Terrence Fitzhugh. Court records show Fitzhugh was charged with first and second degree murder on Sept. 3 and was being held without bond pending a bail review hearing.

Police could not provide additional information, but charging documents show that detectives traced the tag number on a vehicle shown in the surveillance video to a man who was later identified as the suspect who picked up the knife and stabbed McClaughlin.

Detectives picked up Fitzhugh on Friday and took him in for questioning. They say he gave a taped statement saying he was attacked by two unknown males at the gas station, one of whom dropped a knife during the altercation, records show. Fitzhugh said he picked up the knife and used it to stab McClaughlin, according to records. 

Here's what police said about the case in March:

Det. Sgt. Kevin Hagan said David McClaughlin had been hanging out with friends at Peju's restaurant and lounge in Woodlawn when he and his friends got into an altercation with another group of people. When McClaughlin and the friends left the club, police believe they were followed by as many as four carloads of people who began fighting with them at a gas station in the 4500 block of Edmondson Avenue, at the Edmondson Village shopping center.

As McClaughlin was defending himself from one of the attackers, Hagan said another man stabbed him repeatedly. Hagan said it appears that bystanders helped break up the disturbance, and one of McClaughlin's friends drove him to St. Agnes hospital.

He later died from his injuries.

Hagan said McClaughlin had a criminal history, but said that appeared to be in his past. He had a girlfriend, children, and had been working for the city for the past eight months. His friends all had clean records. "They out for an evening and it turned into a tragic event," Hagan said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

This post has been updated.

Baltimore police have identified the man fatally shot Sunday near Johns Hopkins Hospital as 31-year-old Antonio Laws, who was apparently shot while sleeping in his home.

An officer on patrol in the area of the 500 block of N. Chester St., in the city's Middle East community, was flagged down at about 12:10 p.m. by someone who said a woman was outside screaming and crying, said police spokesman Detective Donny Moses. When the officer arrived on the scene, the woman said, "He's dead upstairs." 

The officer entered the home and found Laws upstairs in a second floor bedroom unresponsive and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds, Moses said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:30 p.m.

Moses said it appeared Laws was sleeping when he was shot. Police did not provide a motive and the case remains open.

Relatives said Laws, who was known as "Tony," was a grandson of the late Bea Gaddy, the former City Councilwoman and advocate for the poor.

"He was a very good young man, a smart young man," said Sandra Chandler, 54, one of Gaddy's daughters. "He had a rough life at the beginning, but was getting back on the right track."

Court records show he had been sentenced to six years in prison on drugs charges in 2003, and had recently been held on sexual assault charges, which were dropped two months later. Chandler said Laws had been working at a downtown restaurant and was awaiting the birth of his first child. 

The family is struggling to come up with money for his funeral, she said, and relatives are fearful for their safety because the killing happened so close to their Bea Gaddy Women and Children for Center, which is in the 400 block of N. Chester St.

Police also identified two homicide victims from last week who had not been initially identified pending notification of their next of kin.

-Janice Drayton, 51, was the woman killed in the 900 block of Leadenhall St. on Friday; police say her boyfriend Gary Allmond has been charged in her death.

-Police say the man killed Aug. 28 in the 2800 block of Round Rd. was identified as Dewayne Jones. That case remains open.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: East Baltimore
        

Howard Scott Kalin, the Baltimore County magician who was arrested in Florida on a charge of seeking sex from a child, has signed a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

A Baltimore balloon entertainer faces up to 10 years in prison after signing a plea agreement in which he admitted traveling to Lake County for sex with a 14-year-old boy he found through an Internet personal ad.

Here is some background from our story in May:

A 47-year-old attorney and magician who runs a children's entertainment company in Baltimore County was arrested Monday and charged with flying to Florida to have sex with a 14-year-old boy, who turned out to be an undercover detective, according to police. Howard Scott Kalin, who lives in the 1700 block of Anne Ave. in Essex, was being held without bail by the Lake County, Fla., Sheriff's Office.

Police said he runs Funhouse Entertainment, in the 2200 block of York Road in Lutherville. Members of the Lake County Sheriff's Office cybercrime division said in a statement that Kalin contacted them in January through an Internet chat line, using the name "Ben Aldridge."

The detectives posed as both a 14-year-old boy and the boy's caregiver, the police statement said. The court document also says the suspect talked with undercover police about encounters with other children, but it does not indicate whether they were connected with his entertainment business.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County, Courts and the justice system, Crime elsewhere
        

It's the middle of a long weekend race cars will soon be flying around the downtown track. Here's a bit of crime news from the past couple of days:

Three people were shot in separate parts of the city on Saturday, none with life threatening wounds.

A Maryland State Trooper responding to a call struck and killed a woman in Baltimore County.

Anne Arundel County police seek suspects in credit card fraud case. See pictures and video.

Howard County man charged with stabbing in Ellicott City.

And this from Candus Thomson, reporting on a unique police recruiting effort (read full story here):

On Labor Day weekend, Ocean City sunbathers may notice an unusual come-on among the aerial banners touting happy-hour drink specials and marriage proposals: an invitation to join Maryland Natural Resources Police.

Facing what it believed to be the largest manpower shortage in its 143-year history, the state law enforcement agency is using every platform possible — including the salty air above sandy beaches — to fill its next academy class and those beyond.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimore County police say they have charged a former day camp and studio operator with sexaully abusing a female, teen-aged relative.

The suspect also works as a code enforcer for the county goverment, and has been suspended.

Police said the girl told them she was attacked at her home and at the suspect's business, School House Studio Company. The camp he ran, Superior Christian Summer Camp, was located on the grounds of Towson University.

Here are more details from a police statement:

Baltimore County Police have arrested Ronnie Turner, 48, of the 9300-block of Lykens Court, 21133 for sexual abuse of a minor, child abuse, and other related crimes.   

On August 15, detectives started an investigation when a teenage female relative reported that Ronnie Turner had sexually assaulted her repeatedly from 2008 to 2010. She reported that the abuse took place at her home and at a business owned by the suspect, School House Studio Company. 

Mr. Turner was also charged with second degree assault, fourth degree sex offense, and third degree sex offense by a different adult victim who is also a relative.  
 
Mr. Turner also ran a youth day camp for children called the Superior Christian Summer Camp in 2010.  The camp was held on the grounds of Towson University.  He is listed as the owner of the Full Ministry Family Church, which was formerly located in the 9800-block of Liberty Road.      

Mr. Turner is employed by Baltimore County as a Code Enforcement Inspector.  He has been suspended without pay pending adjudication of the charges. Mr. Turner was arrested on August 25 and both warrants were served at that time.  He has been released from custody on $100,000 bail and is pending trial. 

Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Crimes Against Children Unit at 410-853-3650.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Think you’ve snagged the perfect, and free, spot to watch the Grand Prix by standing atop a building overlooking the track?

Think again.

Baltimore police are not happy with rooftop spectators that began popping up around the downtown on Thursday. Authorities say it’s too dangerous for the people watching, to the fans in the stands and to the racers themselves.

Police sent out an alert on Twitter: “Baltimore Police will gain access to these buildings and remove spectators from high roofs if needed to ensure safety. Many of these roofs are not suitable for seating or standing by unauthorized individuals and could pose a safety hazard.”

City police are even using surveillance cameras, of which there are an abundance downtown, to “monitor the area for improper standing or sitting on unsecure rooftops.”

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi could not provide specific addresses or the height of some of the buildings people had been spotted on top of. He could not say whether standing on a roof is a crime, but stressed, “It’s a public safety issue.”

The spokesman said the request does not apply to rooftop decks on private homes or elevated portions of private buildings designed for people to be on. He said police are concerned with commercial buildings with flat roofs that are “not equipped to handle people.”

Picture above is by The Sun's Jerry Jackson, from Friday's practice.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Downtown
        

UPDATED at 11:15 p.m.

A friend of a Baltimore Grand Prix official who purportedly was robbed of her cell phone and wallet Thursday night is refusing to speak with city police, who are trying to determine whether an attack took place and should be investigated.

“We are unable to locate a crime scene,” said the city police department’s chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi. “We are unable to locate a victim. We have no calls for service for something like that. I just cannot confirm that it happened or took place.

“We have several hundred officers who are trying to make this event safe,” the spokesman said. “We encourage victim cooperation. I think the circumstances of this are questionable. It is suspect that this took place.”

Word of the alleged robbery came from Tom Blattler, who runs Sports Management Worldwide, a public relations consulting firm based in Indianapolis that was hired by the Baltimore Grand Prix to run the media center.

Blattler told police that members of the Grand Prix crew — two men and a woman — had been robbed.

An earlier version of this blog post misstated that Blattler told a Sun photographer about the alleged crime.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Downtown
        

The death of a 13-month-old boy last month is being investigated as a homicide, Baltimore police said today.

Davon Booth Jr. was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital on Aug. 8 after his father reported that he had found the boy unresponsive with vomit on his face, police said. The father said he had fed the baby and placed him in a bassinet, then walked into another room to cook dinner. When he saw the boy was not breathing, he called 911 and attempted CPR, police said. Davon was transported from the home, in the 5600 block of Woodmont Ave., to Good Samaritan and pronounced dead at 5:50 p.m. that day.

Police were told that since his birth, Davon had "bouts with vomiting after eating," and had been found unresponsive before, prompting 911 calls, said Detective Donny Moses, a police spokesman. But during an autopsy, a medical examiner determined there was blood in the boy's brain, indicating that he had been shaken or suffered other head injuries. Though there were no external signs of injury, the medical examiner's office determined his death was homicide by head trauma, police said. 

Moses said the case remains open and the medical examiner's office was conducting additional tests. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

A 51-year-old man was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after he told police he beat his girlfriend, who later died at an area hospital.

Police said they were called to the 900 block of Leadenhall St., in the Sharp Leadenhall community between Federal Hill and M&T Bank Stadium, at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday for a report of an assault. When the officers arrived, they were met by Gary Allmond, who said he had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend, said Det. Donny Moses, a police spokesman. During the fight, he said he had beaten her and put her into a headlock, at which point she stopped breathing.

The woman, who has not been identified yet pending notification of her next of kin, was pronounced dead at 1:45 p.m. Allmond was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bond pending a bail review hearing.

Court records show Allmond has no prior criminal record in Maryland. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: South Baltimore
        

A man charged with kidnapping and rape in North Carolina was caught early today after he escaped from a cell in Annapolis District Court. Bonrick Lee Barksdale, 25, overpowered guards and got out after a judge denied him bail, police said.

Police went on a door-to-door search Thursday. He was found in a hotel in Glen Burnie.

Barksdale, who gave police an Annapolis address, has prior convictions in Maryland and a pending assault charge.

Here are details of his escape and apprehension from Anne Arundel County police:

On September 1, 2011 officers from the Annapolis Police Department, Anne Arundel County Police Department, Anne Arundel County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland State Police, Howard County Police Aviation Unit and Maryland Department of General Services Police responded to the Admiral Heights community in Annapolis after Bonrick Lee Barksdale escaped from custody while being held at the District Court lock-up.

Barksdale had appeared before a judge after being arrested on August 26th on a fugitive warrant.  Prior to his arrest, detectives from the Anne Arundel County Police Criminal Investigation Division received information from the Greensboro Police Department in North Carolina that Barksdale was in the Anne Arundel area. The authorities in North Carolina wanted Barksdale on numerous charges including kidnapping, attempted 1st degree rape, first degree sex offense and robbery among other charges.

Detectives located and arrested Barksdale without incident at the Park Plaza Hotel in Glen Burnie and charged him on a fugitive warrant. After his initial appearance before a District Court Commissioner on August 27th, he was ordered held without bond.  Just prior to being transported to the Anne Arundel County Detention Center, Barksdale attempted unsuccessfully to flee on foot.  He was charged with first degree escape and delivered to the detention center.

On September 1st Barksdale was transported to the Annapolis Court House located at 251 Rowe Boulevard to appear before a judge on the fugitive warrant. After his hearing, Barksdale was placed in the District Court’s holding cells. While in the cell area, Barksdale overtook the guard and fled after forcing the guard to open at least two doors. 

Barksdale ran from the courthouse and toward the community of Admiral Heights.  A Sheriff’s Deputy in the area saw Barksdale and gave chase on foot, but Barksdale eluded capture and disappeared in the area of Dewey Drive in Annapolis.

Officers from the Annapolis Police Department, Anne Arundel County Police Department, Anne Arundel County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland State Police, Howard County Police Aviation Unit and Maryland Department of General

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

This post has been updated.

Stanley Needleman’s 30-year law career officially came to an abrupt end Thursday with the criminal defense attorney pleading guilty to evading taxes and agreeing to pay more than $1 million in penalties.

The plea came four months after agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided his downtown law office and Pikesville home, finding $1.15 million in unreported income inside two safes. Agents found a ledger detailing the cash payments from his legal clients, prosecutors said.

“Any businessman who receives payments in cash face the temptation to commit similar crimes – some fall to that temptation,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Our hope is that cases like this come to the public’s attention and serve as a deterrent.”

Needleman, 68, who specialized in drug cases, voluntarily agreed last week to disbarment, officials said. His plea calls for him to pay more than $660,000 in unpaid taxes, and to forfeit more than $490,000 in cash that prosecutors say he “structured,” a term for depositing money into an account in chunks below $10,000 to avoid reporting requirements.

The plea did not include an agreed upon sentence, and Needleman faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison at his sentencing on December 15. The case is being heard in Greenbelt, after federal judges in Baltimore recused themselves from the case due to Needleman’s extensive work in federal court.

“Stanley has definitely stumbled, but he’s been a great lawyer for a long time. He made a mistake, he was a man and admitted his mistake, and he’s going to move forward in his life,” said his attorney, Kenneth W. Ravenell. “We expect he’ll continue to do positive things for others and positive things in his community, because he’s that type of person.”

Attorneys in Baltimore were stunned by the development. Michael Kaminkow, a defense attorney who said he’s known Needleman for more than 30 years, was in Greenbelt for a separate matter and attended the hearing.

“I’m saddened, for him and his family,” Kaminkow said. “He was extraordinarily well-liked by defense attorneys and prosecutors. [Since the raids] I can’t say he was in good spirits, but he tried to keep up with his work. It’s hard to put up a good face when you’re looking at going to prison, potentially.”

It was unclear whether there was a broader scope to the investigation. It was DEA agents who initiated the case and executed the search warrants, but Needleman ultimately faced IRS-type charges.

Rosenstein declined to discuss how the case was initiated or why particular agencies were involved, though he said the DEA and IRS jointly investigated after an initial review of Needleman’s tax returns did not appear to match up with the revenue expected from the cases he handled.

Separately, Needleman faces charges in Baltimore County District Court, where he is accused of stealing a textbook from a judicial clerk’s desk. Ravenell said earlier this week that those charges were “without merit.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

NEWS ANALYSIS

Baltimore's Fraternal Order of Police lodge says the city doesn't need more cops - it needs to better compensate those it has.

Yesterday, the union released a statement from president Robert F. Cherry saying Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's plan to hire 300 officers "will put scores of inexperienced officers on the street and will not fix Baltimore's crime problem."

"Why not spend a fraction of the taxpayers' money to retain quality veteran officers, whom we have already paid to train, instead of losing them to surrounding jurisdictions after their first five years on the job as we are doing now?  How can we expect to maintain a quality police force when public safety pensions and benefits are no longer competitive and our working conditions are the most dangerous in the state?  Quantity of officers will do little for this city if quality is not a consideration.”

Rawlings-Blake's plan has, in my view, been distorted during this campaign. The city lost a significant amount of officers to retirements and Rawlings-Blake's plan largely holds the line and pledges to fill those spots, given an alternative of cutting them as budget casualties. Yet the political discourse from her opponents in the mayor's race would lead one to believe that Rawlings-Blake added positions to the police budget. It suits the political goals of both the mayor and her opponents: For Rawlings-Blake, it gives voters the impression that she is beefing up the department's ranks to make the city safer, which her challengers can attack as unnecessary and a misplaced priority as rec centers and youth job programs are cut.

Cherry's position is not new - the union has long advocated for better compensation for its current members. But he's making clear that the union is fine with the police department thinning its ranks if it will result in better conditions for the officers already on the payroll.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: City Hall
        

The month of August concluded in Baltimore with 13 homicides, the lowest figure for that month since 1979, when Jimmy Carter was president and the city had 180,000 more people.

This month's victims included a Bhutanese refugee killed in a robbery, a 4-year-old girl whose mother has been arrested in her death, a 91-year-old woman killed in her home in Northeast Baltimore, and an IT professional from DC who was walking away from a confrontation at a bar when he was fatally stabbed.

Statistically, the total is significant relative to Baltimore's long struggle with crime. From 1999 to 2008, the city averaged more than 21 killings per month for every month but February. This year, the city has seen less than 20 killings in six of eight months, including four with 15 killings or less. There was a stretch of 18 days during which two people were killed, which is unheard of here.

Of course, 13 killings in a city like Boston or Atlanta would be a call to action. Baltimore's on pace for 200-plus homicides, which wouldn't budge the city from its top-five or six murder rate. To get to DC's murder rate for last year, for example, Baltimore would have to record less than 140 murders.

For the year, homicides are down about 5 percent, with 139 slain as of Thursday morning compared with 147 at this time last year.  The year to date total is the lowest since this time at 1985.

And non-fatal shootings are down, too. For August, there were 34 non-fatal shootings, down from 43 last August. For the year, as of Aug. 20, the most recent data available, shootings were down to 254 from 267 at this point last year, a difference of about 5 percent. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)