In Baltimore County
Ex-dental assistant pleads guilty in prescription scheme
TOWSON - A former dental assistant has pleaded guilty in county Circuit Court to passing false prescriptions in a scheme that netted more than 12,000 OxyContin pills, the state attorney general's office announced.
Valerie Rogers of the 5200 block of Cedgate Road entered the plea Monday to one count of felony Medicaid fraud and four counts of felony insurance fraud. Between February and December 2001, she obtained the opium-derived painkiller by passing more than 120 false prescriptions at a Kmart pharmacy, prosecutors said.
In statements to police, Rogers said she stole prescription pads, used patient and insurance information from the dentist's office where she had worked, and forged the dentist's signature. A date for sentencing has not been set.
Explosion injures worker at seed sterilizing company
HALETHORPE - A small explosion ignited by dust particles about 11:20 a.m. yesterday injured a worker at a Halethorpe birdseed sterilizing company, Baltimore County Fire Department officials said.
The one-alarm fire started in a seed drying oven at Imports Sterilization Inc. in the 1900 block of Halethorpe Farms Road, causing unspecified injuries to a worker, said Capt. Glenn A. Blackwell, a Fire Department spokesman. The worker was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he remains in fair condition, Blackwell said.
Dust particles sometimes ignite from static electricity in the air, which appears to have been the case yesterday, fire officials said. No damage estimate was available.
Rosenberg scholar to discuss U.S. spies, KGB operations
COCKEYSVILLE - Author Ronald Radosh will speak about espionage, U.S. spies and KGB operations tonight at 7 p.m. at the Cockeysville branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.
Radosh, professor emeritus in history at City University of New York, will discuss his books, The Man Behind the Rosenbergs and The Rosenberg File. He written extensively about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the American couple executed in 1953 after they were convicted of selling atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1940s.
The program is free. For more information, call 410-887-7750.
Retirement community to celebrate Flag Day
TOWSON - Pickersgill Retirement Community will celebrate Flag Day Friday evening, with a concert featuring the trio, Mirror Image, and re-enactors portraying the Fort McHenry Guard during the War of 1812.
Pickersgill is named after Mary Pickersgill, who sewed the huge 30-by-42-foot flag that flew above Fort McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the "Star-Spangled Banner" during the battle in Baltimore's harbor in September 1814.
The celebration begins at 7 p.m. on the grounds of Pickersgill, 615 Chestnut Ave. Festivities will move inside if it rains. For more information, call 410-842-0420.
In Baltimore City
City man, 24, convicted of murder in shooting
A 24-year-old city man was convicted of first-degree murder and handgun charges yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court.
Thomas E. "Pooh" Gray of the first block of Greenway Place is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 12. He faces a term of life plus 20 years.
After deliberating about five hours, a jury convicted Gray of shooting Antoine W. Williams, 22, on Dec. 10, 2001, as Williams, his brother and a friend stopped to make a phone call in the 400 block of Wilson St.
Woman found beaten, raped near middle school
An unidentified woman was found beaten, raped and unconscious yesterday morning near Calverton Middle School in West Baltimore, city police said.
The victim, partially clothed and believed to be about 30 years old, was found by two girls on their way to the school in the 1100 block of Whitmore Ave., said its principal, Karl Perry.
The woman had head injuries and was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said.
Health program planned today at Lexington Market
A community health and nutrition program will take place today at Lexington Market.
Cholesterol and diabetes screenings will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and speakers and specialists will address questions about topics such as smoking and heart health. Presentations will be held on physical therapy, cooking healthy desserts and nutrition during pregnancy.
The free event is sponsored by University of Maryland Medicine and Maryland General Hospital in association with Lexington Market.
