Looking more Severna Park than Los Angeles in a navy blazer and striped button-down shirt, Sajak said that he likes to give back to the county. "For my family and me, it's been a wonderful experience here," he said. Sajak, a Chicago native, said his wife is originally from Anne Arundel County.
He said that he has never had a run-in with the law in Anne Arundel County, but that a Baltimore officer gave him the only traffic ticket he has ever received after he mistakenly turned the wrong way on a one-way street.
Sajak asked the sheriff to explain several legal terms to him and clucked over the youth of many of the suspects. "Oh Bill, Bill, Bill," he chided when the sheriff mentioned one named "William."
The sheriff's department, which is responsible for serving all county warrants, has netted about 1,000 arrests from the television program since its inception a decade ago, said Deputy Harry L. Neisser, spokesman for the sheriff's office.
Usually the names of people wanted for both misdemeanors and felonies are read, but the program, taped yesterday, focused only on those suspected of felonies.
There is no shortage of opportunities to watch the program on television. It will be aired four times each weekday and six times each weekend day throughout the month of November.
At the close of the show, Bateman named Sajak a sheriff's deputy and presented him with a plaque and a pin.
But the sheriff cautioned the game show host that it was an honorary title: "We can't have you at home in front of the mirror with your six-shooter or handcuffing people on the show."
Sajak smiled at the camera. "And don't forget," he said. "I'm out there looking for you."
