The two teens spent time growing up in East Baltimore, and both have criminal histories that put them under the current supervision of the state Department of Juvenile Services, city juvenile documents reviewed by The Sun show. Although documents showed coordination between city and county juvenile workers in the brothers' cases, county juvenile records were not among the documents reviewed by The Sun.
At age 14 in October 2005, Stephon Blackwell was arrested twice on juvenile drug charges, once for possession and once for possession with intent to distribute. Those cases were dismissed, his juvenile records show.
In July 2006, Stephon was found responsible - the equivalent of guilty - for malicious destruction of property and placed on probation. The case involved a 6 a.m. break-in at a Northeast Baltimore market, according to court documents.
A court order required the Department of Juvenile Services to assist the family with school enrollment and refer Stephon to drug treatment and counseling.
Sterling Blackwell was found responsible in March of last year for drug possession, his record shows. He was placed on probation last June. In December, a court order shows, Sterling violated the terms of his probation and was ordered placed under the juvenile agency's supervision, although he was allowed to remain with his mother.
After two hearings this January, Sterling's juvenile master noted in a court order that the teen was doing well in the community. As one of Stephon's court orders indicates, the teens were separated from their father.
Steven Blackwell Sr. has been in federal prison in Pennsylvania since January 2006, serving a 10-year sentence for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Baltimore police arrested him in February 2005 after receiving a tip from a confidential source that he was going to deliver raw heroin to another person that day at a Popeye's restaurant at Sinclair Lane and Moravia Road, according to charging documents.
An officer saw Blackwell's white BMW pulling up to the restaurant at 10 a.m. He was arrested with 50 grams of raw heroin, the documents say.
Police searched Blackwell's home in the 3800 block of Southern Ave. that day, according to the documents, and recovered another 80 grams of raw heroin, 120 capsules of heroin, $25,000 cash and a 9 mm handgun between a mattress and box spring.
