Featured MD News Stories:
Former Undercover Narcotics Officer Speaks Out Against War On Drugs
Stephen Webster
04 Dec 2006 12:00 am
Jack A. Cole is the Executive Director of a large-but-growing organization called L.E.A.P. – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
Founded in March of 2002, L.E.A.P. started with just five members, but quickly swelled to over 5,000. The group now serves a mostly educational role, sending featured speakers around the country to discuss their views concerning the "War on Drugs."
The Lone Star Iconoclast recently had an opportunity so speak with Cole about his experiences and what led him to start this organization.
ICONOCLAST: What are some of the core tenants of L.E.A.P.’s argument? Why do cops say "legalize drugs"?
Basically, what it boils down to is today, drugs are cheaper, more potent, and they’re far easier to get than in 1970 when I was working under cover. That’s a failed policy, any way you look at it. So, we say it’s time to think of a new policy.
Md. Settles With Parents of Slain Boy
DAVID DISHNEAU
27 Nov 2006 12:00 am
The state of Maryland has paid $200,000 to the parents of a slain 9-year-old boy to settle their claim that the killer, a convicted sex offender, was wrongly freed from prison five days before the murder. But the boy's mother may seek more, her attorney said.
Attorney Judson H. Lipowitz said Mary Voit plans to seek as much as $775,000 more from the state Board of Public Works or the General Assembly.
"The initial payment was totally inadequate to compensate her for what happened and the need to take care of her surviving children, who will live with this tragedy for the rest of their lives," said Lipowitz.
Christopher Ausherman Jr. was sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death in a baseball field dugout Nov. 19, 2000, by Elmer Spencer Jr. Spencer had been freed from prison five days earlier after serving about 3 1/2 years of a 10-year term for assaulting a woman. Now 50, he is serving two life terms plus 20 years for convictions stemming from Christopher's death.
Voit and the boy's father, Christopher Ausherman Sr., sued in 2003 seeking $20 million from the state and $80 million from Spencer. The complaint alleged the state prison agency had miscalculated the good-behavior credits that led to early release for Spencer, a mentally retarded man with a history of assaults, including the rape of an 11-year-old boy.
The state said that the calculations were correct, and that a release was mandatory.
A state law caps the amount payable by the state treasury in wrongful death cases to $200,000, but Lipowitz said the Board of Public Works has discretion to pay more. Lipowitz also said the Legislature could pass a law expanding payments.
From Mentor to House Arrest
Brigid Schulte
24 Nov 2006 12:00 am
A Metrobus driver from Crofton was indicted last month on charges of first-degree child sexual abuse and sex trafficking. He is accused of acting as a pimp for and having sex with an unidentified girl who was 14 when they met last fall through his work with the football team.
In court filings, prosecutors portray [him] as a sexual predator masquerading as a role model. They say [he], 36, lured a girl less than half his age into prostitution with the promise of easy money, driving her to cheap hotels in the District and Virginia and a carwash in Maryland, where she performed sexual acts for $50 or $100 -- less for his friends -- and then took a 60 percent cut.
The most damning evidence, prosecutors say, is a videotape they say he made of the girl having sex with him and his childhood friend, a U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. At the end of the video, which was seized by the FBI, a man prosecutors say is [the suspect] announces, "Another Bad Boy Entertainment film."
[His friend] is under house arrest. He pleaded not guilty to child sexual abuse charges in D.C. Superior Court.
The man prosecutors call too dangerous to let out of jail while he awaits trial is not the man members of his close-knit family and many former football players say they know.
Under District law, a person younger than 16 having sex with someone at least four years older constitutes child sexual abuse. One of [his] assault charges is "aggravated": Prosecutors contend that he knew the girl was underage because he saw a document listing her name and age. She is identified in court documents only by her initials.
The investigation by D.C. police and the FBI's Human Trafficking Task Force continues "to the extent that there are or may be additional victims out there who would like to come forward," said Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington.
Kevin Zeese For Senate: I'm A Legit Candidate
27 Oct 2006 8:34 pm
He doesn't have the campaign war chest or the television advertising budget of his fellow Senate candidates, but that's just the way Kevin Zeese said he wants it.
He said all he wants is your vote on Election Day.
"I'm a serious candidate who has been active in D.C. for 30 years in a range of issues, trying to improve the U.S. I've come to the conclusion that the only way we're going to improve the country is not through advocacy, but through electoral power," Zeese said.
No stranger to running as a so-called spoiler, Zeese served as Ralph Nader's press secretary in Nader's 2004 run for president.
Zeese currently directs the national anti-war group Democracy Rising and helped found True Vote Maryland, an organization working to end paperless electronic voting.
"I'm running to win. And that's one reason why I brought three parties together. That's never happened before in the United States, that three parties have nominated one candidate. I have the Green Party nomination, the Libertarian nomination and the populous nomination," he said.
If elected, Zeese said he would work to end the war in Iraq and push for a micro-tax on the nation's 1 percent.
"I think we need to start to tax the investor class and let the working class keep more of their income. I don't think any other candidate is going to say that, because they're both funded by the investor class," Zeese said.
"I’m looking for voters to stand up, show their spine, and vote for what they want. By doing that, you have a better chance in getting the country in the direction where you want it to go. By voting for the lesser evil, we'll keep getting what we're getting -- more evil," he said.
Mother of slain boy charged for leaving him in sex offender's care
Associated Press
06 Oct 2006 10:00 am
The mother of a slain boy was charged with reckless endangerment Thursday because she had allowed the suspected killer and convicted sex offender to care for her 11-year-old son, prosecutors said.
The investigation reflects the "ongoing concern for protecting vulnerable children who are at risk of injury and abuse at the hands of child predators and complicit caretakers," said prosecutor Julie Drake.
Authorities said Shanda Harris knew her friend, Melvin Jones, was a convicted sex offender but allowed him to care for her son, Irvin.
Jones, 52, was charged in July with first-degree murder for the stabbing death of boy, whose body was found on a golf course near his home.
Jones pleaded guilty in 2002 to having sex with a teenage boy and was sentenced to serve one year in prison, prosecutors said. He also pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse in 1989, and was convicted of indecent exposure in 1994, harassment in 1989 and battery in 1988.
Ex-DHS aide pleads no contest to online sex charge
Associated Press
19 Sep 2006 4:44 pm
A former Department of Homeland Security press aide pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges that he had sexually explicit online conversations with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Brian J. Doyle, 56, could face up to five years in prison under the plea agreement accepted Tuesday. He also faces up to 10 years' probation at sentencing scheduled for November 17, and must register as a sex offender.
Doyle resigned from the department shortly after his April 4 arrest.
Doyle, of Silver Spring, Maryland, could have been sentenced to up to 115 years in prison if convicted of the 23 felony charges, which included 16 counts of sending pornographic movie clips to a minor.
Prosecutors said Doyle wrote "very graphic" descriptions of sexual acts in online chats with a 14-year-old named "Ashlynne," who was actually an undercover Polk County sheriff's detective. (Read the complaint.)
Doyle was arrested after detectives said he tried to set up a meeting in Florida with the girl on a date when she wouldn't be menstruating.
According to court records, Doyle bragged about his government connections, provided his government-issued phone numbers, showed off his department ID and may have used his official computer in the communications with the detective posing as the girl.
Doyle told detectives he wasn't attracted to children, but had explicit conversations as a "kind of a power trip," court documents show.
His arrest sparked a national debate about Department of Homeland Security hiring practices. Secretary Michael Chertoff said he did not believe Doyle's alleged misconduct resulted in a breach of national security, calling it an individual's "misstep."
Doyle joined the federal government as a civil service employee shortly after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, working at the Transportation Security Administration. He previously worked, for 26 years, as a reporter at Time magazine in Washington.
He moved to Homeland Security's press operation in the summer of 2005 and was the fourth-ranking spokesman at the agency at the time of his arrest.
Police: Man Tried To Take Girl From Snowball Stand
19 Sep 2006 2:00 pm
The Harford County Sheriff's Department is looking for a suspect in connection with an attempted abduction of a 16-year-old girl from a snowball stand in Bel Air.
Police said the victim, an employee at the snowball stand, said a man approached her Sunday evening. She said the man purchased a snowball from the girl and then grabbed her wrist and attempted to forcibly remove her from the stand.
Police said when he was unable to get her out of the stand, he fled the area in a Honda Odyssey minivan. The victim was shaken, but not seriously injured.
Police said he is a white man, about 70 years old, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, and weighing 200 pounds with white hair. He is also described as having a pot or beer belly, comb-over style haircut, large bulbous nose, a droopy left eye and droopy left lower lip.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office and the Harford County Child Advocacy Center are seeking information as to the man's identity and his whereabouts. Anyone with information should contact the Child Advocacy Center at 410-638-3294.
Former Teacher Gets 4½ Years in Student Sex Abuse Case
Associated Press
07 Sep 2006 6:03 am
A former Boonsboro Middle School teacher was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison Wednesday for molesting a female student 22 years ago.
Washington County Circuit Judge John McDowell suspended another 5.5 years and ordered 47-year-old Robert Merle Haines Junior, of Annapolis, to avoid contact with the victim, attend psychological treatment and register as a sex offender. He must also go through 3.5 years of supervised probation after his release.
Haines pleaded guilty in June to child sexual abuse, an offense with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of second-degree rape and molesting three other girls during the 1983-84 school year.
Haines was 24 when he inappropriately touched the 13-year-old girl during the 1983-84 school year. He subsequently resigned.
State Police began an investigation last year after the victim, who is now in her 30s, contacted police.
Letter To Ehrlich Seeks Help For Battered Women
Carole Alexander
15 Aug 2006 1:21 pm
Dear Governor Ehrlich:
The time is now. Now, we need your leadership and advocacy on behalf of thousands of victims of domestic violence in Maryland. Now, we need you to stand up. Governor Ehrlich, only you have the power to make this a new day for battered women and children who no longer believe that they have access to justice.
Last Friday, Judge Richard Palumbo sent you a letter resigning from the bench. However, he littered his road to resignation with derision, satire and jokes about the vulnerable and terrified victims who appeared before him. He left behind a trail of allegations of misconduct related to moral and ethical lapses.
Our justice system carries a heavy burden in protecting victims of domestic violence. In failing to direct sufficient resources to prevent the violence, we have made our courts the first and sometimes only resort for some victims.
Governor Ehrlich, you and I know that domestic violence is not a joke. A battered woman should never be the victim of a judge. Do not allow Judge Palumbo’s amnesty to stand. If you act now, you will help to give battered women back their dignity and their access to justice.
Jones case puts focus on sex offender laws
Stephanie Desmon and Sara Neufeld
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A state law passed in June makes it a crime for registered sex offenders to set foot on school grounds, as Melvin L. Jones Jr. did last year when he visited the 11-year-old he is charged with killing.
Had the law been in place a year ago, the principal of Collington Square School - who banned Jones from the campus and called the boy's mother when he learned of the man's history as a sex offender - would have been compelled to notify the police.
Six weeks after Maryland legislators passed a sexual predator law giving convicted sex offenders longer prison sentences, increasing supervision once they are released and expanding the avenues by which communities learn that predators have moved into their neighborhoods, several lawmakers said yesterday the tools were already in place to deal with repeat offenders.
But a series of missteps and mistakes in judgment by family members, school officials and other caretakers appears to have allowed Jones to befriend Irvin, baby-sit the boy without his mother's supervision and even accompany him to school - despite being registered as a child sex offender and being ordered to stay away from children.
Toni Chance, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Maryland, said people who have contact with sexual predators need to think of them in the same way they think of alcoholics - they might be in recovery, but they are still alcoholics.
"You can be a sex offender who has had treatment and is really working hard to keep control, but you're still a sex offender," she said. "Our legal system has to take that into account. Parents need to take that into account, too."
Convicted rapist charged with impersonating cop
SHANTEE WOODARDS
01 May 2006 12:00 am
Charles Edward Parker followed a woman for nearly a mile one morning last week before flashing his police badge, saying he wanted to discuss a drug offense.
But Parker wasn't a police officer and the badge was an inmate card from the Department of Corrections. The 31-year-old woman called city police, who charged him with impersonating a police officer.
Shortly after his arrest on Tuesday, police learned that Parker is a registered sex offender who in 1986 used his yellow Ford Pinto to stalk and abduct women in Annapolis and Calvert County. He served 20 years for rape and kidnapping.
The woman he approached last week, whom The Capital is not identifying because of the nature of the incident, was shocked to learn about Parker's criminal history. Parker was calm and the woman initially worried that she might be overreacting by calling the police.
"You see someone, identify them (to police) and if you're wrong, you don't know what you can do to their lives," she said. "It was really frightening. There was nobody around, he picked a great spot. I still wasn't certain."
