December 27, 2001|By Jennifer McMenamin | Jennifer McMenamin,SUN STAFF
A day and a half after turning himself in to police, armed robbery suspect John Henry Williams Jr. was charged yesterday with more than 20 counts of kidnapping, armed robbery and assault in the abduction of a Woodbine family as he attempted to elude police, authorities said.
Williams, 30, whose most recent address was in the first block of Pennsylvania Ave. in Westminster, was charged in a criminal warrant last week with armed robbery, assault and theft in the holdups of Admiral Cleaners in Sykesville and the Winfield Amoco gasoline station Dec. 11. Last night, he remained in the Carroll County Detention Center in Westminster, where he is being held without bail.
Williams surrendered to authorities about 6 p.m. Monday at the Maryland State Police barracks in Westminster, ending a six-day manhunt that included police in Maryland and Pennsylvania and the FBI's fugitive task force.
On Dec. 18, Eva and Harold Pipes of Winfield told police that a man broke into their home and forced them at gunpoint to drive to Taneytown Shopping Center. The man then released the couple and their 11-year-old son, all unharmed. He left them in their car, but took $60 in cash and jewelry valued at $150, police said.
A motel room used by Williams in Hanover, Pa., was searched Dec. 19. A sawed-off shotgun that police believe was used in the abduction was recovered.
The break-in at the Pipes' house occurred minutes after a state trooper stopped a car nearby on Braddock Road after a one-mile pursuit in which a man jumped from the passenger side of the vehicle, police said.
The car's driver, Sharron Denise Bowman, 37, of the 1800 block of Sams Creek Road near Winfield, was arrested on 21 charges in the Dec. 11 robberies of the laundry and the gas station.
She told police that she was paid $100 to wait in the car during the two robberies, according to charging documents.
