Five arrested after brawl in the Inner Harbor
City police arrested five people Friday afternoon after a brawl at the Inner Harbor, police said. About 20 to 30 young people were observed fighting about 2:30 p.m. between the Pratt Street Pavilion and World Trade Center. Officer Troy Harris, a police spokesman, said police who were on routine patrol responded. No major injuries were reported, Harris said, though he did not have additional details about those arrested or what caused the fight. The incident comes as police have stepped up patrols in the harbor after a double stabbing April 25 that sent patrons fleeing from the city's premier tourist attraction.
- Justin Fenton
DNA ties Annapolis man to rape that occurred in 2000
An Annapolis man was ordered held without bail Friday after a hit in the state's DNA database led to his arrest on charges that he raped a woman nearly nine years ago. Michael Albert Brandford, 26, of the first block of Towne Pine Court is charged with nine counts, including rape, kidnapping and armed robbery. Reopening the cold case, investigators from the Anne Arundel County state's attorney's office sent DNA from the crime to the Maryland State Police laboratory and were notified Tuesday that it appeared to match that of Brandford, said Kristin Fleckenstein, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office. Brandford was arrested at home. On Aug. 26, 2000, the victim had been getting out of her car in the first block of Stewart Ave. in Annapolis when a man with a handgun approached her, took her to a nearby area and assaulted her, charging documents said.
- Andrea F. Siegel
Package of contraband bound for prison is intercepted
A package in a food service delivery box turned out to hold a cache of contraband bound for the Metropolitan Transition Center in downtown Baltimore on Forrest Street, which is a correctional institution. A spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said the container contained 26 cell phones, 26 chargers, two bags of marijuana, 15 bags of tobacco, 12 bottles of alcohol and two cell phone memory chip cards. The corrections agency credited an observant food service contract worker and its Division of Correction intelligence staff for detecting the package Thursday.
- Jacques Kelly
Convicted rapist indicted in death of Baltimore woman
A Frederick County grand jury indicted a convicted rapist Friday in the killing of 19-year-old Shneara K. Boone, a Baltimore woman whose body was found in her vehicle in Frederick several days after she had been reported missing. Ronnie L. Winkler, 34, of the 3000 block of Harford Road is charged with first-degree murder in Boone's death. He is also charged in the Aug. 15 killing of Kiuna Jackson, 19, whose body was found in Herring Run Park, and in two Baltimore rapes last year. Winkler had been released from prison in late 2007 after serving part of a 19-year sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl.
- From Sun staff reports
