False Report of Missing Child
It was a scary time at Worton Park on Monday evening with Kent County sheriff’s deputies, state police, local firemen and emergency rescue squad personnel all searching for a missing child.
The State Police helicopter swooped low over the park. Deputies prowled the grounds on foot. Official radios crackled with directions. Concerned residents phoned around and emailed one another for news of what they’d heard about “an abducted little boy.”
It was all for nothing – a bogus tip.
“There was no little boy abducted,” Sheriff John Price said today.
“We had a report of a child unsupervised and unattended at Worton Park yesterday around 6 p.m.. The call was anonymous. Deputies responded and tried to see if it was a credible report.
The sheriff said deputies, assisted by fire department personnel, conducted a ground search but were unable to locate any child at all.
“We hadn’t received any (confirmed) reports of missing children,” said Price, “but we thought we should err on the side of caution.”
Whoever phoned in that tip erred, too. Today there’s quite a number of police and firemen with arresting words for the caller.
Crash Injures 6 of Centreville Family
A collision of a UPS truck and a van on Clark Corner road Wednesday afternoon injured six members of a Centerville family, at least two of them seriously.
Kelley Jean Gavigan, 33, and her 12-year-old daughter were flown to shock trauma for treatment of head injuries. Gavigan’s mother, Bessie Anne Salsburg , and her three other children, aged 8, 4 and 2, were taken by ambulance to Chester River Medical Center.
Queen Anne’s County deputies reported the UPS truck was westbound on Clark Corner Road and had stopped to let traffic pass before making a left turn into a driveway. The 2000 Dodge Caravan approached from the rear and was unable to stop before striking the rear of the truck.
UPS driver Gregory Stephen George, 48, of Centreville, was not injured.
Preliminary investigation indicated that wet road conditions at the time, 12:55 p.m., and speed, were factors in the crash.
“It also appeared that no one in the van (occupied by Salsburg and the Gavigans) was restrained by seatbelts or safety seats,” the sheriff’s office reported.
Charges are pending.
End of a Search
A four-month investigation by the Kent County sheriff’s narcotics team led them to the kind of search that no officer enjoys.
First, they got a search and seizure warrant for Darius Lamont Gibbs, 26, of Centreville, that included a Lincoln Town Car and a residence in Rock Hall.
According to the sheriff’s report, Gibbs was detained as he drove north on Rt. 289 near Pomona.
“During a search of Gibbs person,” as the report puts it, “it was revealed that Gibbs had a plastic bag that contained numerous individually wrapped rocks of suspected crack cocaine secreted inside of his body.”
Officers also recovered a handgun, a digital scale and cash, from an unspecified location.
Gibbs was being held Wednesday in lieu of $10,000 bond, charged with possession of crack cocaine, marijuana, CDS paraphernalia and possession of a firearm in relation to drug trafficking.
Poultry Go Up in Smoke
The death count from a fire at Kennedyville is estimated at 30,000 – chickens.
The victims could be identified only as “hatchlings.”
Deputy State Fire Marshal Paul Schlotterbeck reports the sudden fire destroyed a 564-foot-long, tin-covered wooden chicken house on the farm of Lee Troyer and somewhat damaged another adjacent poultry dormitory.
Damages to the structures are estimated at $175,000. The loss of the chickens was said to be $8,000.
Sixty-two firefighters from the Kennedyville, Chestertown, Betterton, Galena, Millington and Crumpton volunteer fire departments responded to the fire that broke out at 11 a.m. Friday. It took them about an hour to put it out.
No people were injured. No one was inside the building, except for the chickens. The cause of the fire is unknown. Schlotterbeck said the conflagration was “not considered suspicious in any way.”
Guests Are Coming, Hide the Cocaine
Crime tip: If you call up police about a suicide threat when your home is stashed with cocaine, marijuana, weapons and cash, things can go from very bad to even worse.
The Queen Anne’s County drug task force reports today on just such a distressing development that occurred Feb. 18, at approximately 10:30 a.m.
Sergeant Jones and Deputy First Class Sewell were dispatched to a house on Maple Drive in Grasonville after a report of a possible suicidal subject with a gun.
As they reported it, upon arrival the deputies made contact with a resident of the home and were given consent to check the welfare of the suicidal subject in question.
“The deputies were able to locate the suicidal subject hiding in the residence. As they were checking on the person’s welfare, the officers observed controlled dangerous substances and a digital scale sitting in plain view.”
Woops.
“Sgt. Jones and Dfc. Sewell quickly ascertained that the subject was hiding because of the controlled dangerous substances. At that point, they secured the residence in order to obtain a search warrant.” Members of the county’s drug task force “quickly responded and assisted with securing the residence as they simultaneously applied for and received a search and seizure warrant for the home.”
Here’s what they found: “445.0 grams of marijuana, 118.8 grams of powdered cocaine, a .45 caliber handgun with the serial numbers removed, $11,359.00 in U.S. currency, numerous digital scales, cutting agents and evidence of a complex drug distribution operation. These items were seized along with a 2008 Honda Accord and a Yamaha 4 wheeler. The marijuana and cocaine recovered had a combined street value of over $20,000.”
Christopher Alan Seligman, 27, currently out on bond for felony drug charges, was charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm in nexus to a drug crime and possession of paraphernalia.
Colby Rae Silver, 26 — currently out on bond for possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, possession of marijuana and paraphernalia — was charged with the possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm in nexus to a drug trafficking crime and possession of paraphernalia.
And the misery just goes on.
“Silver stated she had been physically abused by Seligman the previous evening in Anne Arundel County. The Criminal Investigation Division of the Maryland State Police is currently investigating this assault. This matter is still being investigated related to other suspects and additional charges.”
Getting A’s for Arrests
It’s almost routine at Kent County High School: a fight, a theft, underage smoking.
The sheriff’s office reports that at 1:45 Thursday afternoon it charged two 16-year-old Galena girls with disorderly conduct after they got into a fist-fight while taking instruction in a classroom.
“The students were separated by classmates and staff,” reads the report.
At 11 a.m. a 16-year-old male student, hometown Worton, reported a theft. Said the sheriff: “The victim reported a laptop stolen from his backpack at the Kent County High School. The laptop was a silver Apple Mac Book Pro. The approximate value is $1,200.”
At 2 p.m. two boys, an 18-year-old from Worton and a 15-year-old from Galena, were caught smoking outside the building during class hours and charged with underage possession of tobacco.
Suspected QAC Bank Robber Jailed
Fingerprints left at the scene of the crime led to the arrest today of the man believed to have robbed the PNC Bank in Chester, the Queen Anne’s County sheriff reports.
The robbery one week ago began when a male wearing a dark-colored hooded jacket and a baseball hat entered the bank and handed a note to the teller.
No weapon was shown. No injuries occurred.
The man fled with “an excess of $1,000,” according to the sheriff’s report.
This Thursday Deputy Stephen Stouffer learned the fingerprints had been positively identified as those of Joseph James Hopkins of Frederick, Md.
The deputy heard that Hopkins had been arrested in Charles Town, WVa, on narcotics laws as well as suspected involvement in another bank robbery in West Virginia.
Hopkins, currently in custody in West Virginia, is awaiting an extradition hearing to return to Maryland. He is suspected in several other bank robberies in Frederick and Littlestown, Pa.
Kidnapped Baby Abandoned in Newark
Discovery of a 20-month-old baby abandoned in a Newark, De., gas station has led to kidnapping charges against the father of the child.
Authorities today charged Dwayne Jackson, 25, of Edison, N.J., with kidnapping and first-degree reckless endangering for locking the little girl in the bathroom of the Shell service station on College Avenue in Newark.
Meantime, police in Rampago, N.Y., said a woman whose corpse was found burning there is linked to girl. However, they have not identified the apparent homicide victim as the mother of the girl.
Officials have not released the girl’s name, nor the identity of her mother, with whom she had been living in North Brunswick, N.J. The child remains for now in Delaware with her foster family.
Baby Doctor Accused of 400 Sex Crimes
The charges against a Delaware pediatrician in what’s being called the worst case of child sexual abuse in American history now list 471 counts of crimes against 103 children.
The indictment Monday against Lewes, De., doctor Earl Bradley, age 53, accused him of rape, sexual exploitation of children, unlawful sexual contact, continuous sexual abuse of children, assault and reckless endangering.
Bradley’s lawyer told reporters he plans to defend his client on grounds of mental illness, explaining, “It’s hard to argue with videotapes.”
Investigators said Bradley video recorded many of the attacks, which occurred in his examination rooms decorated with Disney themes, often while the victims’ parents waiting unknowingly in the reception area.
Delaware Atty. Gen. Beau Biden, almost in tears, said Monday, “These were crimes committed against the most vulnerable among us – those without voices.”
Biden and Gov. Jack Markell have ordered reviews to determine whether doctors, hospitals and any state agencies failed to comply with a state law requiring them to report a doctor who “may be” guilty of unprofessional conduct.
Officers alleged that Bradley’s assaults on children went on for years. He was arrested after a 2-year-old girl told her mother the doctor “hurt her” last December when he took her into a basement room.
Bradley is being held in lieu of bail set at $2.9 million. His medical licence was permanently revoked by the state last week.
Register This
Willie Sutton robbed more than 100 banks of $2 million over a 40-year career because, as he famously said, “That’s where the money is.”
Chestertown now has a similarly if not quite equally inspired criminal who’s got his own peculiar grasp on economics. He’s figured out where the cash is, so he steals the register.
About 9:45 a.m. Monday when he arrived for work at E & E Seafood on Morgnec Road, Gerald Lee Creighton of Rock Hall found a broken window but he couldn’t find the cash register.
“It was determined by Creighton that $117.50 in US Currency was also missing,” according to the report by Cpl. White.
But that was the least of the loot. The cash register is worth $400.
Somewhere there’s a thief who knows he’s really onto something.
Trooper Shoots Pit Bull
A state trooper shot and killed a pit bull in Millington last week. The dog attacked an officer while he was making an arrest.
On Feb. 11 at 9:30 p.m., Trooper N. Alvarez and Trooper First Class J. McConaha responded to a call in the 100-block of Little Glanding Road. According to the Maryland State Police press release, during a party George P. Thomas, 23, shot a handgun into the ceiling and out the windows of the house. He also held the gun to his sister’s head, 20-year-old Jessica L. Thomas.
Once they arrived on the scene troopers saw George Thomas trying to flee in a vehicle. Upon spotting the troopers, Thomas ran inside the house. As they approached the house, Alvarez and McConaha were met outside by Jessica Thomas and a 17-year-old female who tried to block access to the front door.
As they were arresting Jessica Thomas and the juvenile, the front door of the house opened and a large pit bull ran out and attacked Alvarez. According to the press release, the dog was “relentless in his attack on the trooper.” Fearing for his partner’s life, McConaha shot and killed the pit bull.
After locating George Thomas in the yard, Alvarez was transported to Chester River Hospital by ambulance where he was treated for dog bite wounds and released.
George Thomas is charged with first and second degree assault, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, failure to obey a lawful order by a police officer, malicious destruction of property, driving while suspended, driving a motor vehicle without required license, eluding a uniformed police officer by fleeing on foot and other related violations. He was also served with a bench warrant for failure to appear in Kent County. He is currently being held in the Queen Anne’s County Detention Center on a $53,000 bond.
Jessica Thomas is charged with disorderly conduct, failure to obey the lawful order of a police officer, and intentionally interfering with a lawful arrest. She was released on personal recognizance.
The 17-year-old is charged as a juvenile with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and failure to obey the lawful order of a police officer. She was released to the custody of her grandmother.
Rock Hall Fish Thief Caught
Every fisherman has his bad days, but Rudolph “Rudy” Tuner Sr. probably tops them all.
The 50-year-old Rock Hall man was arrested Jan. 22 for breaking into Ford’s Seafood. Apparently Turner has been breaking into Ford’s for a month, six times since mid-December to be exact. Each time he’s made off with several cases of fish valued around $200 each.
To put a stop the thievery, Detective Harry A. Kettner and Detective Brandon W. Davis with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division conducted surveillance during the early morning hours on Jan. 22. The two detectives witnessed Turner breaking into Ford’s where the seafood processing is done. After putting up a chase, Turner was arrested and charged for the previous burglaries at the Rock Hall establishment.
But it just keeps getting better for Turner. On Feb. 4 he was charged with 23 additional charges, including burglary and theft. Turner is currently being held in the Kent County Detention Center without bond and the Ford’s fisherman can sleep well at night knowing their catch is safe.
Girls Go Wild at KCHS
Discipline problems continue to plague Kent County High School.
According to a sheriff’s report, on Feb.2 two female students got into a fight during class. What started out as a verbal altercation quickly turned physical when one of the females struck the other. The fight was broken up by a staff member.
Both students have been charged with second degree assault and referred to the Department of Juvenile Services.
Threatening Note at High School
Passing notes in school is not allowed, especially when one of those notes contains a threat.
On Feb. 3, a male student at Kent County High School wrote a note threatening the students, staff, and visitors at KCHS. After being identified from surveillance footage, the student was referred to the Department of Juvenile Services for “disturbing activities at a school; threatening students,” according to the sheriff’s report.
The student, who is from Millington, has been from suspended from school pending a hearing in front of the Board of Education.
Former Academy Headmaster Sentenced
Queen Anne’s County Circuit Judge Thomas Ross sentenced Lowell Sydney Litten Jr to eighteen years in prison on Monday. The former school director of the Seventh-day Adventist run Eastern Shore Academy in Sudlersville had pledged guilty last November to sexual abusing two students, who were fourteen at the time, while they attended the school. Litten’s attorney indicated that he may face additional charges in the State of Delaware.
Their World’s No Oyster Now
Four Tilghman Island watermen are facing charges of oyster poaching.
Natural Resources Police report they were patrolling Broad Creek in Talbot County in an open patrol boat at 1:30 a.m. Thursday when they discovered Bartlett Wade Murphy Jr., 36; Edward Bruce Lowery Jr., 45; Bobby Lee Gowe, 25; and Richard Nicholas Fluharty, 24, on two vessels illegally power dredging for oysters.
The poachers were working with their navigation lights off in order to avoid detection, according to NRP, but officers were able to observe their illicit activity with night vision goggles. As the NRP officers approached the closest vessel, “Lady Katie”, they found two men culling oysters with lights strapped to their heads to illuminate the boat’s deck and working area. The watermen on the vessel were identified as Murphy and Lowery. The “Lady Katie” and her crew were more than 7,500 feet into a well-marked hand tong only area where power dredging is prohibited at all times.
When the Officers approached the second boat, “Lil Lady”, the crew gunned the boat’s engine and attempted to flee. After a few minutes the vessel stopped, and the two poachers, Gowe and Fluharty, were arrested without further incident. The officers determined the poachers were taking oysters more than 8,000 feet into the well-defined hand tong only area. Also, found in the water was a glow stick that the crew used to mark their unlawful spot.
All four watermen were charged with power dredging outside legal hours, power dredging in a restricted hand tong area and possession of oysters on board a vessel more than two hours after sunset. Each of these citations carries a prepayable fine of $125.00 and a maximum fine of $1000 for the first offense per offense. Gowe and Murphy received additional citations of operating a vessel without navigational lights which carries a prepayable fine of $85 and a maximum fine of $500.
Junk Burglars Strike
In what could be another sign of the sick economy, Queen Anne’s County now appears to have a trash thief.
Somebody was so desperate to get to the leavings at the County Transfer Station on Harper Road that he, she or they cut through the exterior plastic roofing material to a new recycling building.
Once inside, according to Deputy George Sewell, the perpetrator(s) started a forklift and used it “to turn over several stacks of cardboard.”
While ransacking the dump, the intruder “damaged several large outside security lights” and “removed a metal ramp used to load the large cardboard bails onto a tractor trailor.”
Next, not satisfied with the cardboard, or a metal ramp, the burglar raised his sights and “a stereo was removed.” But quite clumsily. “Entry was then made into the small shed located next to the dump containers where a large water bottle was overturned.”
The thief managed to make away with “stolen property (worth) $52.
The estimated damage was $10,327.
The Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Unit is on the lookout for one or more plainly needy and apparently clumsy perpetrators, possibly with low self-esteem and a cardboard fetish.
Adventures in Marriage #49
Some days it hardly pays to get out of your car.
Consider what happened in a driveway on Woodstock Road outside Chestertown. Queen Anne’s County deputies and EMS personnel answered a call for a domestic disturbance at the address.
Here’s what they described: “Alexandra Walter advised she had passed out while moving her vehicle within the driveway and had run over her own leg/ankle. After which her son, Charles and her husband got into argument over the accident, which escalated to a physical altercation.
“The husband had left the scene before QACSO and EMS arrived. Charles Walter 3rd had no visible injuries and declined to press charges against his father. Alexandra was flown by MSP Medivac for the injury to her leg/ankle.”
Relatives — and Vandals
For a while there, Queen Anne’s County deputies were on the lookout for a thief with a hot horse shed.
Deputy Seth Ambrose responded to Spaniard Neck Road outside of Centreville on a theft complaint: “Investigation revealed unknown suspect(s) had stolen a 20 x 20 horse shed from the field on the property. Approximate value of said property is $4,000.
The deputy had to amend his report: “It was later discovered that it was a family matter and a relative had removed the shed.”
—
Many folks in northern Queen Anne’s County awoke Thursday to an unpleasant discovery: they had been visited by a vandal with thieving tendencies and lamentable energy.
“Multiple victims,” was the sheriff’s findings.
“Overnight, numerous vehicles had windows broken out while parked in the Crumpton and Chester Harbor communities,” reads the official report.
“Many of the victims reported nothing taken, but console and glove compartments had been ‘rifled through.’ In one case a purse left in plain view had been taken and in another the stereo was removed.”
Several deputies spent hours taking reports on the incidents. The sheriff is asking anyone with information, or who observed suspicious persons or vehicles, to call (410) 758-0770
Camp Director Charged with Sex Abuse
A longtime teacher at Sidwell Friends School has been charged with sex abuse of a minor while serving as director of the posh private school’s summer camp in Queen Anne’s County.
Robert A. Peterson, who was employed at Sidwell until last week as a 7th and 8th grade teacher of social sciences, was criminally charged on that same day with 4th degree sex abuse, sex abuse of a minor and 2nd degree sex assault.
Sidwell, which both of President Obama’s daughters attend, issued a statement today that read: “Immediately before the 2009-10 academic year began, the school first learned that Mr. Peterson had allegedly engaged in inappropriate conduct away from campus. As soon as it became aware of the allegations, the school notified the authorities and placed Mr. Peterson on Leave.
“The leave began before classes commenced. Sidwell Friends terminated Mr. Peterson’s employment on January 14, 2010, upon learning that charges were being brought. The school continues to cooperate fully with the authorites.”
Peterson, age 65, was identified by the Queen Anne’s County sheriff’s office as a longtime employee of the school who lives in Silver Spring, Md.
Sidwell Friends identified Peterson as the former director of the school’s “Camp Corsica.” Sidwell said Peterson was in charge of its summer program at the camp from July through September of last year.
“Charges state that Peterson allegedly touched the (child) inappropriately on one occasion during that time,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Peterson also was charged with similar offenses in Montgomery County.
In its statement Sidwell said, “The school administration has informed the Sidwell Friends community of the charges against Mr. Peterson and has arranged for additional counseling support.”
Stephen K. Barker, interim Head of Sidwell, said, “The allegations against Mr. Peterson are obviously deeply troubling. We are focusing on the needs of our students, families, faculty and staff, as we begin to cope with this sad and challenging situation.”
According to the DC Examiner, Sidwell Associate Head Ellis Turner said Peterson had taught in the middle school since 1979. Turner said, “I can tell you that we’ve never dismissed a teacher for similar cause in the three decades that I’ve been here.”
Sidwell, one of the nation’s premier private schools, has been home to the heirs of Washington elites. In addition to Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, it has taught the daughters of Presidents Nixon, Carter and Clinton, and three grand-children of Vice President Joe Biden.
While the sheriff’s office identified the site of the offense as Camp Pecometh, on Bookers Wharf Road, that appears to be not quite the case. According to the Rev. Jack Shitama, Pecometh’s director, explains that Sidewell rents the facility for four weeks every summer to run its own Camp Corsica and the two operations are entirely separate.
“They rented the facility from us and provided their own counselors and superintendents and even provided their own cooking and food service,” says Shitama. “They are defined as a ‘user group’ and they have responsibility for children in their custody. We are actually n ot the party responsible for those children, and we want to make sure we never see this happen in any situation.”
