A man arrested earlier this month and charged with holding up gas stations and convenience stores in Harford, Cecil and Baltimore counties was found unresponsive in his jail cell on Thanksgiving Day and has died.

Michael Ray Malpass, 26, was being housed in a segregated area of the Harford County Detention Center for medical reasons. The Sheriff's Department said staff found him and rushed him to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, where he died at 12:08 a.m. on Friday.

He was being held without bail awaiting trial on charges of armed robbery and assault. Here are details of the allegations against Malpass from a Maryland State Police statement: 

Continue reading "Man held in string of armed robberies dies in jail" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

An intruder died on Tuesday while struggling with an intruder -- a man police said lives on the same block.

The incident occurred in Harford County. The Sun's Steve Kilar reports that no charges have been filed as of yet in the case. Read Steve's story here. More details from the Harford County Sheriff's Department:

Continue reading "Intruder dies in struggle with homeowner, police say" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

Maryland State Police have arrested a 25-year-old man in a series of armed robberies of gas stations and convenience stores in Baltimore, Cecil and Harford counties. The attacks include a robbery of a gas station at an I-95 rest stop and several along Pulaski Highway.

The suspect is identified as Michael R. Malpass, 25, of Cecil County. Police said they got tips from photos of the suspect distributed to the news media. Police stopped him Thursday night driving a 2008 Chevrolet Impala on Pulaski Highway in Perryville. 

Police said they found evidence linking him to the robberies, and that the car he was driving when arrested was the getaway vehicle. Here is more from a statement from Maryland State Police:

Continue reading "Man arrested in string of armed robberies" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County, Confronting crime, Crime elsewhere, Harford County
        

This just in from The Sun's Arthur Hirsch:

A jury has found a Baltimore County man guilty of first-degree murder in the murder-for-hire slaying of a Towson gas station owner in March 2010.

The case will next go to the penalty phase, which is scheduled to begin Thursday morning. Walter P. Bishop Jr., 29, now faces the possibility of being sentenced to death. He could be the first person to receive the death penalty since a new law took effect that requires DNA or video evidence or a video taped confession in such cases.

Bishop was accused of shooting William "Ray" Porter in a Hess station on East Joppa Road on the morning of March 1, 2010. Five others have also been implicated in the crime, including Porter's wife, Karla, her sister, brother and nephew.

Watch video of police interview with Bishop.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news, Courts and the justice system, Harford County
        

Police in Harford County are looking for a man who they said tried to abduct a 14-year-old boy who was walking to a bus stop in Abingdon. The incident occurred about 6:30 a.m. Monday at St. Clair Drive and Benefit Court.

Authorities said the potential abductor was in a black work van with tinted front windows. Police said the man threatened to hurt the child if he didn't get inside. The youth ran back to his home and a parent called 911.

Here are more details from the Harford County Sheriff's Office:

Continue reading "Police say man in van tries to abduct child in Abingdon" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

The surveillance photos are fuzzy, but I'll put up what police gave us. They show a robbery that occurred Oct. 15 at a Chick-fil-A restaurant on Constant Friendship Boulevard in Abingdon.

Harford County sheriffs the gunmen attacked workers in the parking lot as they were preparing to open the restaurant for business.

They forced their way into the restaurant at gunpoint, got the manager to open the safe and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.

No employees were injured in the attack.

More details from the Harford Count Sheriffs Department and information about a reward is below, including a description of the gunmen:

Continue reading "New photos in holdup at Chick-fil-A in Abingdon" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

State police are asking for the public's help in the search for a man who shot at police officers during a robbery at a Virginia bank Friday and is known to frequent Baltimore and Harford counties.

Police say James Whittlesey, 51, may frequent or live sometimes in Harford and Baltimore counties. Authorities in Winchester, Va. have obtained an arrest warrant changing him with the attempted capital murder of a law enforcement officer after he fired at officers during a robbery of a bank on Oct. 14. 

Whittlesey is described as a white male, 5'11", 235 pounds with black/grey hair and brown eyes. He may have a mustache, and has a tattoo on his right forearm. He's considered armed and dangerous. According to the Winchester Star, he lists Dundalk as his residence on a Facebook page.

Anyone who sees Whittlesey or knows of his location is urged to contact Maryland's 24-hour tip line at 1-800-492-TIPS.

Maryland court records show Whittlesey was convicted in 1978 of armed robbery and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He escaped from the Brockbridge Correctional Institute in July 1980, and while a fugitive committed other crimes in Florida. Records indicate he was serving a 136-year sentence in Florida after being convicted for armed robbery and narcotics violations. Whittlesey appealed his Maryland conviction, arguing that he was not competent to stand trial; that, along with an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit, was denied.

After serving 25 years in prison, he moved back to Maryland, according to the Star.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County, Harford County
        

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:

Continue reading "Accused child kidnapper arrested in Harford County" »

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

Continue reading ""Jack the Ripper" and a Harford County burglary" »

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

Del. Richard K. Impallaria has filed a lawsuit against the Harford County sheriff, claiming towing companies are committing "theft" and "extortion" and the county's chief law enforcement officer should do something about it.

The suit is the latest turn in the legislator's running dispute with Harford County towing companies and Sheriff L. Jesse Bane that began early in 2010 when Impallaria's Ford Ranger was wrecked in a two-car accident and towed. Impallaria has been steamed up since then about what he claims was the tow company's attempt to hold onto his personal property and his license plates until he paid his tow bill. His account of the incident has been disputed.

Since that experience, Impallaria has written letters, held meetings, filed legislation and gotten an opinion from the Maryland attorney general.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

People hold up banks all the time -- with notes, mostly, but sometimes guns. People also burglarize houses all the time. Rarely does someone burglarize a bank. But that's what police say happened today in Edgewood.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office says it arrested a man who broke into a vacant house, bore a hole through a wall and got into a bank on Pulaski Highway. He and an accomplice then broke off the top portion of an ATM, according to police.

Authorities are still trying to determine if any money was stolen. Here is a statement from the sheriff's office:

Continue reading "Edgewood bank burglarized" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

On the witness stand, Justin Ray Hannah repeatedly denied that he knew anything about guns. He did not possess one. He did not own one. He never held one. He never fired one. He didn't know the difference between a pistol and an automatic.

Justin Ray Hannah insisted he wasn't even interested in guns.

But he did write rap songs about guns.

And a prosecutor in Harford County used his lyrics to convince a jury that Hannah shot at his former girlfriend's new boyfriend, and then called his ex and said: "Your boys' done, this is finished, that's why we popped shots."

Hannah was convicted in 2007 of attempted first-degree murder and sentenced to 40 years in prison. On Wednesday, the Maryland Court of Appeals threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial, ruling that the judge should only have allowed the jury to hear the lyrics if the stanzas contained an admission of guilt.

Details from the ruling, which you can read here, and some of the lyrics:

Continue reading "Violent rap lyrics don't prove guilt, high court says" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Harford County
        

First, Harford County Sheriff deputies tried to stop a black 1993 Lexus on Route 40.

The driver refused to stop, crashed into a barrier, then a sign, and then went into the opposite lane of traffic. There, it collided with a Honda Accord with four people in the vehicle. In the wreckage, deputies said they found crack cocaine.

A person is in custody pending formal charges.

Read full details from a police statement:

Continue reading "Deputies find crack after crash" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

The Sun's Washington correspondent John Fritze reports:

The federal government has added Harford County to a regional taskforce created by the federal government to funnel additional resources to drug interdiction efforts, the White House announced Monday.

The county will be a part of the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, in which local law enforcement officials coordinate efforts and resources with the federal government to target drug shipments. There are 28 HIDTA programs across the country.

Harford County Sheriff L. Jesse Bane, who has long sought the designation, said the county's drug interdiction effort "takes a lot of people and it takes time."

"When you're a county that is small like us, getting additional resources is very important," he said.

Created in 1994, the Baltimore-Washington HIDTA already includes Baltimore city and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Charles counties.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

State police say an elderly man reported missing May 9 was found dead inside a partially submerged vehicle in a northern Harford County creek.

Police said Edward Jackson, 72, of the 5000 block of Brightleaf Court in Rossville, was found Tuesday morning just before 9:30 a.m. inside a 2003 Mercedes that was submerged in Broad Creek, off Route 165 and Pylesville Road in Whiteford.

Jackson had been last seen leaving a Veterans Affairs Hospital at about 5:30 a.m. on May 9, prompting a "Silver Alert," the senior equivalent of Amber Alerts that go out when children are missing.

State police said they are investigating along with Baltimore County police.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County, Harford County
        

Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the 1800 block of Pulaski Highway – Edgewood Laundromat, at approximately 3 a.m on Monday April 18th for a report of an armed robbery.

The victim, a 38-year-old female from Edgewood, MD, reported that a woman approached the door of the Laundromat. When the victim opened the door, two masked male suspects rushed into the facility, knocked the victim to the ground. 

The suspects are described:

• Black Male wearing black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes.
• Black Male wearing camouflage hooded jacket, blue jeans and black shoes.
• Black Female wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, brown shorts and white tennis shoes.

The suspects fled on foot in an unknown direction. Watch a video of the robbery here. Anyone with information is urged to contact police:

Continue reading "Police seek suspects in laundromat robbery" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Harford County
        

Two men who robbed a Bel Air store that sells supplies for paintgun games apparently went heavy on spray-on tanning applications to disguise themselves. We don't yet know if they were Jersey Shore castmates, but we do know they drove away the red SUV pictured here.

Here is a plea from the Harford County Sheriff's Office:

At approximately 4:45pm on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, Harford County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to an armed robbery that had just occurred at JC's Paintball located in the 100 block of Tollgate Road in Bel Air, MD.  The two suspects entered the store, threatened the storeowner and a juvenile employee with a knife before proceeding to steal an assortment of paintball guns, CO2 cartridges, paintball masks and various paintball supplies.
 
Both  suspects are described as two white males in their early to mid 20's who had applied heavy spray on tan applications (described a dark bronze/black in color) in order to disguise themselves:

Continue reading "Police seek "tanned" holdup men of Bel Air store " »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

Maryland State Police have identified the body found along with the body of Phylicia Barnes in the Susquehanna River as a 53-year-old man. Police said there is nothing that connects him to the case of the missing teenager.

There has been speculation that the bodies were linked because they had been found on the same day about three miles apart in the river. But police now say it appears that the man left his house in March, well after Barnes disappeared in late December, and that he had threatened suicide. 

We'll have more information on this as the day develops. Here is statement from police:

Continue reading "Second body found in Susquehanna identified; does not appear related to missing teen" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Harford County
        

From new story on Phylicia Barnes by reporters Raven L. Hill and Jessica Anderson: 

The discovery of Phylicia Barnes’ body ended one mystery and began another for police, who must now determine how the missing North Carolina teen ended up in a river 40 miles north of Baltimore, and identify the man found the same day in the same body of water.

Authorities said it could take the medical examiner’s office days, weeks or even months to determine how Barnes and the man died. A police spokesman said there are no apparent signs of trauma on either body pulled Wednesday from the Susquehanna River near the Conowingo Dam (shown above in a picture by David Hobby).

“Our hearts are sad, but we stand strong,” said Phylicia’s father, Russell Barnes, who has led vigils and searches for his daughter since she disappeared Dec. 28 from a Northwest Baltimore apartment while visiting her half sister.

“We’ve got to find out who would do this to our angel,” Barnes said. “We are going to find out what happened with Phylicia. I told everyone at the beginning, her life will never be forgotten. Trust me, we’re not finished at all. The police assured me they are on this.”

The case attracted national attention, and her classmates at Union Academy in Monroe, N.C., held candlelight vigils in her honor. The school scheduled a news conference Monday to talk about Phylicia.

“Our hearts go out to Phylicia’s family and friends,” a statement from the school read.

Continue reading "Phylicia Barnes case moves forward; family mourns" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: Harford County, Northwest Baltimore
        

As the desperate search for missing honors student Phylicia Barnes came to a heartbreaking end Thursday, police said the discovery of her body in the Susquehanna River could be "instrumental" in hunting down new leads in a 4-month-old case that has yielded painfully few clues.

"We're at stage one of a new phase of the investigation," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. "Finding her body is really going to be instrumental in giving us an opportunity to bring closure to the family. … It gives investigators a real opportunity."

The African-American teen from North Carolina was 16 years old when she disappeared Dec. 28 from her half sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment, touching off the Baltimore Police Department's most extensive missing-person investigation in years.

The discovery came with a twist: Another nude body, that of a black male, was pulled from the Susquehanna hours later Wednesday after being spotted by boaters about three miles to the south. He had not been identified, and while police said there's no evidence of a connection, they also said they could not rule one out.

Col. Terrence Sheridan, the superintendent of the Maryland State Police, said police throughout the region have been notified about that body, and additional tests would be conducted on both to determine how they died.

"Our mission today is to find out what occurred with Ms. Barnes and the unidentified man recovered at the same time," Sheridan said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Harford County, Northwest Baltimore
        

Maryland State Police could learn today how two people died after autopsies are conducted on the bodies found Wednesday in the Susquehanna River near Conowingo Dam. The male and female were found hours and miles apart, and thus far there is no known connection.

The Sun's Jessica Anderson reported:

Crews working on the dam reported seeing what appeared to be a body floating in the river north of the dam, near the Harford County side, about 7:30 a.m., police said. They notified two state police troopers who were crossing the Conowingo Dam on Route 1. About an hour later, Natural Resources Police officers recovered the body of the unidentified female from the water. Shortly before 2 p.m., police said boaters in the river south of the dam found the body of a man, which Natural Resources Police later recovered.

Police notified several police agencies in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Baltimore police have been searching for 17-year-old Phylicia Barnes since she disappeared in December. They have searched several parks, including spending a day in Patapsco, and the investigation has become one of the department's most extensive.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Harford County
        

Two bodies were recovered from the waters at Conowingo Dam Wednesday, a Maryland State Police spokesman said. Gregory M. Shipley said police were investigating the remains but he did not immediately release any additional details.

Baltimore City police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that one of the bodies was an adult female. He said homicide detectives were notified as is routine while police continue to search for Phylicia Barnes.

The 17-year-old has been missing since December and has been the subject of an extensive search. City detectives did not drive up to the scene.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

The Harford County Sheriff's Office announce today that they've concluded a six-month investigation that broke up what they're calling a multi-county drug group. Deputies searched 31 locations during the probe.

Police said they seized guns, pills and vehicles. Much of the drugs were prescription medications, the police said, but authorities also said that cocaine, marijuana and steroids were involved. Police arrested 14 people in Baltimore, Harford and Anne Arundel counties.

For more details, here's a statement from the Harford County Sheriff's Department:

Continue reading "Drug busts in Harford dismantle alleged enterprise" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

Prince George's County police have arrested two suspects in the Jan. 11 killing of a student at the University of Maryland, College Park. Justin Vance Desha-Overcash, 22, of Bel Air, was shot on 38th Avenue in the off-campus areas.

In a news release, police said the motive was robbery. But authorities have in the past said the killing was drug-related. The Washington Post is reporting police sources saying the victim was selling drugs and that detectives found scales and marijuana-laced lollipops in his home.

The victim's mother has denied her son was linked to drugs. Police identified the suspects as Stephan Weaver, 22, and Deandre Ricardo Williams, 23. Both have been charged with first-degree murder.

More details:

Continue reading "Arrests made in killing of College Park student from Bel Air" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Crime elsewhere, Harford County
        

The Harford County Aegis newspaper reports today on details of the allegations against Baltimore Officer Kevin Rowland, who was charged Wednesday with inappropriately touching a 17-year-old girl who police say was in his care.

The girl told police that he has kissed her on the mouth and had her sit on his lap, confiding in her about marital problems, exchanges she found "weird" and "uncomfortable," the newspaper reported. Rowland, according to court documents, said that the kisses were "normal pecks on the lips" and that he told her that their relationship could "never got that route, period."

Rowland was released after posting $100,000 bond in Harford County District Court. Rowland is a member of the regional gun trace task force and has been placed on suspension, city police said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

Harford County authorities said they have arrested and charged a Baltimore police officer with sexually abusing a minor.

In a press release, officials from the Harford County Child Advocacy Center say Kevin Rowland was charged Wednesday afternoon with sex abuse of a minor, fourth-degree sexual offense, and second-degree assault stemming from abuse that police say occurred while the minor victim was residing at his home in Edgewood, from September 2010 and until this month. Officials declined to answer questions about the case and the charges don't yet appear in the state's electronic court records database. .

Rowland has been on the force since 2001 and was most recently assigned to the regional Gun Trace Task Force, police. On his Myspace page, he says he is a married father of two who was in the Army National Guard.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said the department was “relying on information provided to us and we’ll … follow the outcomes in Harford County.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Harford County
        

The central question from people reading about the "Bathroom Bandits," who are charged with stealing credit cards from women at rest-room rest stops, is why merchants don't check IDs of people paying with plastic.

Well, Liz Kay over at the Consuming Interests blog found out from state police that a merchant did ask for an ID. And the suspect complied.

State police spokeswoman Elana Russo told Liz that the purchaser produced the ID stolen from the owner of the credit card and was allowed to make her purchase ... even though the photo on the ID was clearly not of the thief.

Russo said that investigators would appreciate it if more store employees checked IDs before taking credit cards. "It would be bonus if they could verify that somebody's credit card and ID matched the individual," she said.

Here's the irony, according to Liz: merchants violate their agreements with card issuers if they required ID before credit card purchase. For more, and to participate in a poll on whether you agree with this policy, head over to Consuming Interests.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Harford County
        

Today's Crime Scenes column on the "Bathroom Bandits" charged with stealing credit cards from women in rest stop rest rooms and going on spending sprees has raised questions from readers about why merchants don't demand identification from customers.

Police say the suspects were able to buy $16,000 in merchandise, such as the mink coats at left (evidence photo from Maryland State Police), with the stolen credit cards. "Asking for ID at the time of purchase would make these crimes go away," one reader commented "I know I always thank the person who asks for my ID when purchasing with a CC."

Liz Kay over at the Consuming Interests blog has an answer: doing so violates agreements between merchants and the card companies, who are reluctant to put up any restrictions on people using cards.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Harford County
        

They hunted down older women from out of state, followed them into the bathrooms of I-95 rest stops and then lifted their credit cards from their purses. In many cases, police said, the victims had no idea they'd been robbed until they had resumed their trip (read more details on the "Bathroom Bandits" from state police).

By that time, police said the suspects arrested this week had gone on spending sprees, buying thousands of dollars of gift cards, two mink coats, lingerie, gasoline, video games and even a $2.76 coffee drink. Some of the credit cards are shown above in a photo from Maryland State Police.

Maryland State Police said they arrested two women and charged them with multiple counts of theft and credit card fraud. The authorities said the suspects pretended to be rest stop workers, guided the victims into bathroom stalls and then distracted them so that another woman in an adjacent stall could steal from their purses.

Continue reading "State Police bust "Bathroom Bandits"" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

Harford County sheriff's deputies have arrested two suspects in the 2007 fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man who was killed at the Keyser Motel on Pulaski Highway in Aberdeen. Robert Donte Hemphill was shot in the back and was found lying on the floor of his room about 11:35 p.m.

Police have now charged Mark Christian, 23, of Aberdeen (at far left) and Michael Anthony Brown, 28, of Baltimore, with first and second degree murder and handgun charges. Both are being held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center.

Here are some details put out by the Harford County Sheriff's Department:

Continue reading "Arrests made in 2007 Harford County shooting" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

As part of a continuing series focused on tracing guns, the Washington Post today updates the status of a Harford County gun shop that was closed in 2005 amid a series of violations. The the owner unsuccessfully fought to have his license reinstated, the Post found that the shop has been open since 2007 after the owner's wife was able to obtain a new license. The paper writes that the scenario is legal, documenting 60 such cases:

At Bel Air Gun & Pawn in Fallston, Md., inspectors said in 2005 that they found a litany of problems - including more than 120 missing firearms and eight sales without background checks. Nationally, unaccounted-for firearms are a huge problem for ATF. Inspectors have found 113,642 guns missing during their visits to 3,847 inspections since 2005.

Charles David Scheuerman, who held the license for Bel Air, asked an inspector "if the findings of the inspection were unfavorable, could he put the business in his wife's name to avoid any problems," officials wrote. The inspectors told him that "changing ownership to avoid consequences with no real change in ownership is considered hidden ownership, is not allowable."

That October, ATF moved to revoke his license. For nearly two years, Scheuerman fought ATF internally and in court, challenging ATF's findings as "inadvertent, technical record-keeping errors." In 2007, a judge upheld the revocation.

Soon, Scheuerman's wife incorporated her own company, Bel Air Gun Supply & Pawn, and applied for her own license.

Inspectors met with her at the shop to go over her application. She told ATF that she had not officially worked at her husband's shop but "at times helped out with gun shows." They asked if "she actually had acquired" the business assets. She gave them a draft contract. Guns "would be sold on consignment and she would pay her husband as the firearms are sold," they wrote. ATF gave her a license.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Harford County
        

A 65-year-old New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to committing two home invasion robberies and to holding up a business. Daniel Chase of Browns Mill, N.J., faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in March.

One person, Constantine Frank, died in one of the attacks on South Lakewood Avenue in Baltimore. The Sun's Justin Fenton reported last year that Frank, 54, owned pool halls and shopping centers in Baltimore County.

Frank had owned Precision Vending and knew one of the robbers in the scheme and had visited Frank and knew the security and layout of the building. On July 29, 2009, prosecutors said Chase and another man got inside disguised as package delivery men.

The plea agreement filed in federal court says Chase took out a gun from a false package and held Frank captive. The two men then used zip-ties and duct tape to restrain Frank and stole more than $10,000.

They left Frank "bound and restrained," prosecutors with the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said, "knowing that he was sweating profusely and in obvious discomfort." Prosecutors said the suspect called one of Frank's other business and told a person on the phone, "Your boss is in his office and he is not doing too good." Police Founf Frank conscious, restrained and unable t speak.

He died on Aug. 11 of a brain hemorrhage.

For more on other crimes: 

Continue reading "Man pleads guilty in home invasion robberies" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County, East Baltimore, Harford County
        

James Kimble, 20, was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison for attacking a Baltimore police officer in Harford County -- an assault so severe that it left the officer legally blind and probably unable to work again.

The Sun's police reporter, Justin Fenton, wrote:

The doctors told Detective Jermaine Cook that the injury to his left eye was like placing a grape in a bag, slicing it in half, and then smashing it flat.

The beer mug slung at his face by a Joppa man in May had caused irreparable damage. Cook, a Baltimore police officer who patrolled the toughest parts of the city, is now legally blind and can't drive long distances or at night. He's had trouble taking care of his children without assistance and has seen his income — which used to include significant overtime pay — drop substantially.

He may never be able to return to work, said his wife Tuesday, reading a letter from Cook to Harford County Circuit Court Judge Stephen M. Waldron as Cook looked at the floor.

Prosecutor Daniel Ryden was even less optimistic about Cook's prognosis.

"The damage to his eye was nothing short of catastrophic," Ryden said. "He will never work as a police officer again."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Harford County
        

The much-anticipated video war game "Call of Duty: Black Ops" isn't due out until Tuesday, so if you're playing it now, it might have been stolen at gunpoint this weekend.

The Sun's Jamie Smith-Hopkins reports that three robbers armed with semi-automatic handguns burst into a GameStop store in the Festival of Bel Air Shopping Center Saturday night and stole four cases of the game:

While the robbery at the Bel Air store was under way on Saturday, two customers stopped by and were forced into a storage area at gunpoint. Neither they nor store employees were hurt, the sheriff's office said.

The "Black Ops" games stolen Saturday night had been set aside for sale on Tuesday, said Monica Worrell, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. Fans across the country have pre-ordered copies to avoid missing out.

Continue reading ""Call of Duty: Black Ops," games stolen in armed robbery" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Harford County
        

Up in Harford County, Sheriff L. Jesse Bane is employing urban-style policing methods to combat crime in an area of Edgewood he has dubbed "a killing zone."

This year, two slayings and six shootings in the area have occurred, numbers that reflect violence that broke out here two years ago. Even with the the shift in strategy, the violence continues in one of Baltimore's northern-most suburbs.

And while the killings and shootings pale in comparison to Baltimore, to the residents of Harford County, this trend is disturbing. The Baltimore Sun's Jessica Anderson delves into the issue in a story today:

Edgewood is joining the list of communities far from the most dangerous neighborhoods in downtown Baltimore where residents and officials are struggling to get a handle on violence before it spins out of control.

The trend is frustrating residents like Shedrick E. Cain, who moved to Edgewood in 1990 and said the area reminded him of his "small, rural" hometown in Virginia.

"The population has grown. Crime can be just about anywhere. It doesn't matter if you are in the city or suburbs," he said. "It's individuals who make bad decisions."

Crime is down in Harford County, but the pockets of violence in and around Edgewood trouble some residents. The story focuses on Tamar Pair, who left Baltimore several years ago seeking a safer place to live. Shes in the above picture, taken by The Sun's Lloyd Fox.

In October, her 16-year-old son, Derrick Wingate, was shot to death in front of their Edgewood home. "I wish I could sell my house," Pair told Anderson. "I feel like if I didn't buy this house, it wouldn't have happened."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime, Harford County
        

A Harford County Circuit Court judge ruled this afternoon that a motorcyclist who was arrested for videotaping his traffic stop by a Maryland State Trooper was within his rights to record the confrontation.

Judge Emory A Plitt Jr. tossed all the charges filed against Anthony Graber, leaving only speeding and other traffic violations, and most likely sparing him a trial that had been scheduled for Oct. 12. The judge ruled that Maryland's wire tap law allows recording of both voice and sound in areas where privacy cannot be expected. He ruled that a police officer on a traffic stop has no expectation of privacy.

"Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public," the judge wrote. "When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (84)
Categories: Breaking news, Courts and the justice system, Harford County
        

Citing a 2,000-year-old Roman quote, "Who will watch the watchers?" a Harford County judge skeptically questioned prosecutors Friday pressing criminal charges against a motorcyclist for recording his traffic stop and posting the video on the Internet, The Sun's Peter Hermann reported.

Circuit Judge Emory A. Plitt Jr. said he would issue a written ruling shortly as to whether the case against Anthony Graber can proceed to trial Oct. 12, but he acknowledged that appeals courts have not ruled on the issue and that "we are on unplowed ground."

The judge referenced the videotaped beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, the proliferation of surveillance cameras and the ease with which virtually anybody can quickly snap pictures and record events and self-publish with a click of a button.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Harford County
        

In Harford County, a trial is underway in a May attack that left Baltimore Officer Jermaine Cook without sight in his left eye. Cook testified last week, according to The Aegis:

Baltimore City police detective Jermaine Herman Cook said he may never be able to see out of his left eye again.

Since the off-duty officer was attacked on his way home to Joppa early in the morning of May 6, he has undergone three surgeries and likely faces a fourth.

Cook testified Thursday afternoon he was assaulted by James Aaron Kimble during an unprovoked attack in which Kimble allegedly called Cook racial slurs.

Kimble's friends testified that Cook escalated the argument and both men "had a chance to walk away."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Harford County
        

Harford County police said Sunday that a woman found dead over the weekend at her home in rural Street had been killed, and court records indicate that in late March she had sought domestic violence protection. Police have not given a motive in the crime or made any arrests.

Paramedics were called to the 1500 block of Clearview Drive, near the Pennsylvania line, about 9:20 p.m. Saturday for a possible cardiac arrest, but they contacted police as soon as they saw the woman, 52-year-old Deborah Elaine Burgess.

"What they found was not indicative of cardiac arrest," said Monica Worrell, a spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office. "There was trauma to the body."

Records show that on March 28, Burgess filed for a protective order from Manuel Dixon Holmes Jr. The order was dropped when she failed to appear at a follow-up hearing on April 6. The Harford sheriff's office has not released any updates in the investigation or any indications that her death was related to a domestic dispute, but we'll post any updates here.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

Watch the full episode. See more State Circle.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Harford County
        

The Maryland Attorney General's Office has issued an opinion that for the most part says recording police officers is perfectly legal.

As you may recall, the Maryland State Police charged a Harford County man with recording his traffic stop on a helmet cam. And at the Preakness, a Baltimore police officer warned a bystander to stop filming an arrest of a woman.

In both cases, authorities cited the state's restrictive wiretaping law that forbids recording audio of people without their consent. But prior opinions from the state's top law enforcement officer have generally held that words and images captured in public are protected.

An arrest at the Preakness in front of hundreds of people is in a public venue. A trickier issue is whether a traffic stop in which an officer talks with the driver is a private conversation or a public act. The Maryland ACLU argues that the officer is engaged in a public act because virtually everything an officer does is a matter of public record.

The AG does say there could be circumstances in which taping would not be OK, but that would be the exception, not the rule. The ACLU is taking up the case of the motorcycle driver, whose criminal case is pending.

Here is the Attorney General's opinion:

Continue reading "Attorney General says video recordings of cops generally OK" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Harford County, Top brass
        

A slew of crime news from the Baltimore region today:

-Baltimore County police officers shot and killed a man while breaking up an East Coast money counterfeiting ring, according to authorities. The Sun's Brent Jones reports that the shooting occurred during a raid at a Pikesville hotel on Reisterstown Road.

Details are still scant, but it appears the cops exchanged gunfire with at least one of the suspects. Two others were arrested. More details are here. 

-A woman who was knocked out from a punch to the face by a Howard County police officer is speaking out, saying the incident was "like domestic abuse."

"To hit me with a closed fist, that is uncalled for, that's like domestic abuse," said Rita Christine Anderson, of Columbia. "I feel like I was violated as a woman to be punched like that."

Read more from the Howard County Times' Kellie Woodhouse. 

-Harford County authorities are also searching for 20-year-old Baltimore County man Rakin Raid Muhammad in connection with a weekend slaying in downtown Bel Air, the first in that town in four years.

In 2007, when Muhammad was 17, he faced attempted first-degree murder, assault and related charges for "violently and repeatedly" striking a 44-year-old man with a baseball bat and kicking him; he was left paralyzed from the waist down after a brawl. Among the charges was a little-used gang statute passed by the state legislature in recent years.

Muhammad pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree assault and was sentenced to 10 years with all but three and a half years suspended.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news, Harford County, Howard County
        

The Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office has announced six arrests in a series of mail box explosions in Harford County. Here is a statement:

A joint investigation involving investigators from the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Aberdeen Police Department has resulted in charges of; Manufacture, Possession and Use of Destructive Device and Malicious Destruction of Property being placed on two adults and four juveniles from Harford County.

A total of nine rural style mailboxes in the Aberdeen area have been damaged as a result
of the suspect’s actions. One mailbox was exploded three times and another was exploded twice.
Seven other mailboxes were also exploded during a criminal spree that occurred on three
separate nights this month.

Alex E. Brainard (18) of Aberdeen, Andrea L. Siedlarczyk (18) of Abingdon and four juveniles from Aberdeen are facing twelve counts of each previously listed charge. The two adults will be served with criminal summonses and the juveniles were charged and released into the custody of their parents.

Such devices are referred to as, “Improvised Explosive Devices.” The penalty for each
device is twenty-five years imprisonment and/or $250,000 in fines. Malicious Destruction of
Property has a penalty of sixty days imprisonment and/or $500 in fines. Twelve devices were
detonated in the nine mailboxes.

The construction of these devices in this and similar incidents have been misrepresented
as pranks, however, the destructive effect and potential of serious bodily injury is extremely
high.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Harford County
        

Today we posted audio - an edited and an unedited version - of a 911 call made by an off-duty Baltimore officer who is fighting to hold on to his sight in his left eye after taking a beer mug to the face as he returned home.  We sought the audio for one main reason: the family of the accused, who is being held without bond, has said the altercation was two-way, between two "loudmouths," and we wanted to see if the call would shed any new light on what it was like at the scene.

What you'll hear is the officer, Detective Jermaine Cook, calmly, but urgently, calling for backup as a man (or men) in the background threaten him and hurl obscenities and racial epithets. They maintain that the officer was struck only with a fist - clearly untrue - and they reference a knife that the suspect later says was used to stab him - though he suffered no stab wound and no knife was recovered. We can't know what truly happened in the leadup to Cook being struck in the eye, but the audio from afterward appears telling.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Baltimore, Harford County
        

Note: This entry has been updated with the new version of the story. 

A Baltimore police officer could lose sight in an eye after being hit with a beer mug during an off-duty altercation near his Joppa home, an incident the Harford County sheriff's office is calling a hate crime.

Detective Jermaine Cook was struck in the face after, police say, a man approached Cook's car at a stop sign early Thursday, and yelled at him about his driving. Sheriff's deputies who arrived at the scene said the officer, who is black, had a large cut near his left eye and was bleeding profusely, said Monica Worrell, a spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office.

James Aaron Kimble, 20, was arrested at the scene and faces assault and hate crime charges. He was being held on $1 million bail at the Harford County Detention Center, pending a bail review hearing today.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Harford County
        

UPDATE: A reader noted that this story was first reported on March 24 by The Aegis newspaper, a sister publication of the Baltimore Sun.  That story can be found here, and the paper identified the officer as Deputy First Class Ken Hildt.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office put out a press release this afternoon that they needed the public's help finding a stolen handgun. The release said it was taken from the Mountain Road Royal Farms Store in Joppa, and described the two suspects. It also included surveillance camera stills of the suspects and offers a cash reward.

What the release didn't include, The Sun's Jessica Anderson learned, was that the gun belonged to a county sheriff's deputy.

Of course, that was our first question: why was a handgun in a Royal Farms store in the first place? Police acknowledged that the gun belonged to a deputy who made a pit stop and left his gun in the bathroom.  Oh, and the incident occurred March 1.

Earlier this month, an off-duty DC cop had his gun stolen after picking up a woman in East Baltimore. He initially said he had been carjacked. 

Jessica will have a story up about the missing gun in Harford soon, and we'll link to it here. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Harford County
        

Here's one I haven't heard of before: a federal judge sentenced a 72-year-old guilty in a child pornography case to 20 years in prison and ordered that he sell his house in Harford County.

Authorities can seize assets linked to the crime, and cars and houses of drug dealers are routinely taken. But I've never seen such action in a child porn case. The judge ordered the defendant to surrender his computer (20 years in federal prison with no chance at parole means this guy will be 92 if he survives long enough to get released), which makes since.

I'm going to try to learn some more information on whether this case is special or part of a new trend to combat child porn. Here is what the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office had to say:

U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced George Kenneth Hayward, age 72, of Kingsville, Maryland, today to 20 years in prison followed by supervised release for life for sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography.  Judge Blake also ordered that Hayward forfeit his residence and the computers seized at the time of his arrest.

Continue reading "Judge in child porn case orders suspect to sell house" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Harford County
        

Sunday's shooting of an intruder in a Baltimore County home in Perry Hall is a reminder that people in Baltimore and in the suburbs sometimes use deadly force to protect themselves. But police and prosecutors don't always agree on how to proceed.

I pulled a list of what I think are the Top 10 self-defense cases -- most involve shootings, but who can forget one of the most recent, a Johns Hopkins student and his samurai sword? In most cases, prosecutors ruled the incidents justified. But sometimes they prosecuted, only to get a conviction that carried a lenient sentence or an outright acquittal.

I purposely didn't include domestic cases, where one spouse shoots or attacks an abusive spouse. That got a bit complicated and didn't fit the current scenario. But we do have a variety of cases, from homeowners and business owners surprised by gunmen in robberies to elderly men shooting at children for vandalizing cars.

As you can see, the cases are never totally clear-cut. In some cases, the property owners were criticized for laying in wait for burglars, raising the specter of vigilante justice. I'd love he hear your thoughts, and any cases I might've missed.

Read the list and judge for yourselves:

Continue reading "Top 10 self-defense killings" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)