Additional Charges

Prosecutors in Baltimore have decided not to charge the nine middle school students accused in the beating of a 26-year-old woman on a city bus with a hate crime as a judge postponed their trial yesterday until Jan. 31. Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon, the head of the city's juvenile judges, granted a request from the state to postpone a Jan. 4 trial date despite objections from the juveniles' attorneys. A hearing on the teenagers' home-detention status will take place Jan. 4. In court yesterday, Assistant State's Attorney Janet S. Hankin requested the addition of two charges: malicious destruction and disorderly conduct.

This week150 years ago in The SunAugust 3: On Saturday night, some thief watched an opportunity and stole from the butcher stall of Mr. Sterling Thomas, in Centre Market, about $30 of the proceeds of sales for the day. This, too, was characterized by a degree of boldness which shows that practised hands were at work.100 years ago in The SunAugust 1: Health Commissioner Jones has decided with the co-operation of the School Board, that no child shall enter the public schools of the city at their opening in September without a written certificate of successful vaccination.

Bail was revoked and additional charges were filed against a 35-year-old Westminster man who was accused last month of assaulting the mother of his infant son.State police in Westminster arrested Kenneth E. Kern Thursday night on charges of telephone misuse and violating a protective order the woman obtained to prevent him from contacting her after the alleged assault Sept. 10.Bail on the new charges was set at $100,000 in District Court Friday morning. Prosecutors said Kern was served with a bench warrant signed by visiting Circuit Judge Elsbeth L. Bothe on Friday that revoked the $75,000 bail he posted Sept.

Montgomery County developer Ruthann Aron faces additional charges of attempted murder in allegedly trying to poison her husband after a grand jury returned a five-count indictment against her yesterday.Aron, a former U.S. Senate candidate, has been jailed without bond since June 9 on police charges that she tried to hire a hit man to kill her husband, urologist Barry Aron, and a Baltimore lawyer, Arthur G. Kahn.The grand jury indicted her yesterday on the two solicitation of murder complaints, as well as three charges related to the alleged poisoning attempt.

A 19-year-old Westminster man, who allegedly attacked two city officers with a knife after slashing his wrist, was arrested Friday and later released by a District Court commissioner on $5,000 unsecured bond on assault and related charges.Douglas Ernest Cross of Babylon Court was admitted to Carroll County General Hospital on Feb. 9 for treatment of a self-inflicted wound. He was arrested Friday after police obtained a warrant.Police said when they were summoned to a house on Babylon Court about 9:30 p.m. Feb. 9, they found Mr. Cross in the house bleeding from the wrist wound and holding a double-edged knife with a 9-inch blade.

A 19-year-old Westminster man, who allegedly attacked two city officers with a knife after slashing his wrist, was arrested Friday and later released by a District Court commissioner on $5,000 unsecured bond on assault and related charges.Douglas Ernest Cross of Babylon Court was admitted to Carroll County General Hospital on Feb. 9 for treatment of a self-inflicted wound. He was arrested Friday after police obtained a warrant.Police said when they were summoned to a house on Babylon Court about 9:30 p.m. Feb. 9, they found Mr. Cross in the house bleeding from the wrist wound and holding a double-edged knife with a 9-inch blade.

A Virginia man, accused of stalking a woman from state to state and attempting to set fire to her Westminster apartment building Sunday, was held on $20,000 bond yesterday.Kenneth Rydell Murray, 32, of Charlottesville was charged with attempted first-degree arson, arson by threatening to burn, breaking and entering, and stalking Darlean Goode.City police said they arrested Mr. Murray after Ms. Goode reported that a man poured a flammable liquid around her apartment building in the first block of Charles St. and attempted to light it Sunday.

COLLEGE PARK -- The Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office yesterday charged Maryland sophomore running back Larry Washington with two counts of forgery.Washington, 20, from Randallstown High, was charged with forging a check and -- in a separate incident -- forging a signature after a purchase on a credit card. Forgery is considered a felony and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment or a fine of $1,000 or both.The charges stem from an incident involving redshirt freshman wide receiver Kevin Washington.

COLLEGE PARK -- The Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office yesterday charged Maryland sophomore running back Larry Washington with two counts of forgery.Washington, 20, from Randallstown High, was charged with forging a check and -- in a separate incident -- forging a signature after a purchase on a credit card. Forgery is considered a felony and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment or a fine of $1,000 or both.The charges stem from an incident involving redshirt freshman wide receiver Kevin Washington.

Pennsylvania State Police in Gettysburg have charged two men with robbery and conspiracy in an armed robbery in the home of an elderly couple.Travis Timothy Mann, 18, of Westminster and John Henry Williams Jr., 21, of Littlestown, Pa., were arrested Christmas Day following the Dec. 23 incident in Adams County, Pa.Police said they believe the men entered the Mount Joy Township residence, pointed a pistol at the couple and demanded money. No one was injured.The intruders fled with about $1,000 and the victims' wallet and purse.

A second person has died from injuries suffered in a crash in Howard County over the weekend, and police said additional charges likely will be brought against the driver, whom investigators suspect of being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. Victor Guitierrez-Almeida died early yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Howard County police said. He and Gilberto Garcia Vasquez, who died at the scene, were passengers in a car that crossed the double-yellow line on Route 32 in Dayton early Sunday and collided with a Dodge pickup truck.

A 46-year-old man has been charged in a rash of "smash-and-grab" burglaries of Howard County businesses in recent months, police said yesterday. Marvin Eugene Harding, of no fixed address, was arrested without incident by Howard County detectives at a residence in the 1900 block of Frederick Road in Baltimore on June 30. Harding is charged with second-degree burglary in 16 incidents, police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said, and additional charges are...

A 16-year-old Forest Hill youth has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, accused of shooting at a Harford County sheriff's deputy early yesterday, authorities said. Justin Jacob Bristol, who was charged as an adult, was being held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center, police said. The Emergency Operations Center received a call about 7 a.m. yesterday from someone saying that a teenager was agitated and possibly suicidal, police said. The caller said the teenager, who does not have a driver's license, had taken his grandmother's 2002 red Jeep Liberty without permission.

The state is assessing airlines operating at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport $25 million in new charges, including $13 million it says is owed by dominant carrier Southwest Airlines. Airport officials said the additional charges were being imposed to cover increased expenses, including higher security and utility costs. In Southwest's case, the state said it found that it had been undercharging the airline for its new terminal space. Southwest Chief Financial Officer Laura H. Wright disclosed the "surprise audit settlement charge" that it is negotiating with the Maryland Aviation Administration during the airline's first-quarter earnings conference call yesterday.

Prosecutors in Baltimore have decided not to charge the nine middle school students accused in the beating of a 26-year-old woman on a city bus with a hate crime as a judge postponed their trial yesterday until Jan. 31. Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon, the head of the city's juvenile judges, granted a request from the state to postpone a Jan. 4 trial date despite objections from the juveniles' attorneys. A hearing on the teenagers' home-detention status will take place Jan. 4. In court yesterday, Assistant State's Attorney Janet S. Hankin requested the addition of two charges: malicious destruction and disorderly conduct.

Fire investigators and federal agents charged a 28-year-old Havre de Grace man and a teenager from Level yesterday in an Aug. 22 incident in which an incendiary device was thrown through a window at the Havre de Grace library. Daniel Woodrow Ramsey Jr. and the 17-year-old male, whose name was withheld because he is a juvenile, were charged with manufacturing and using an incendiary device, fire officials said. Firefighters from the Susquehanna Hose Company responded at 3:12 a.m. and extinguished the blaze, which caused about $17,000 in damages to the Union Avenue building.

Police were investigating a report yesterday that a woman had been bound and held for three days at a Baltimore County motel. The 36-year-old woman told police about 7:30 a.m. yesterday that she had just freed herself after a man had held her for three days in a room at the Regal Inn in the 8000 block of Pulaski Highway in Rosedale, police said. The woman had injuries on her wrists, and was taken to Franklin Square Hospital Center. Officers found a 40-year-old man in the motel room and arrested him on warrants charging him in an unrelated assault and a burglary, police said.

After an accident left two people critically injured, a Tracys Landing man has been charged with causing life-threatening injuries under the influence of alcohol, according to documents unsealed yesterday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. Michael G. Barrett, 22, was charged with drunken and reckless driving shortly after the accident Dec. 1. Authorities brought the additional charges - the most serious of which carries a potential three-year prison sentence - against him this month.

In June 2000, Carroll County Senior State's Attorney David P. Daggett received a death certificate bearing the name of a defendant who had two criminal cases pending in District Court. An unsigned letter reported, "My son has recently deceased," he said. Defendants occasionally die before trial, Daggett said, but he noticed that this certificate had been crudely altered: He could feel the dried correction fluid on it, and the name and birth date had been typed over. "I just looked at it and it just looked shady.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Under attack by their clients, the court-appointed attorneys for two men charged in a multimillion-dollar visa fraud scheme were excused from their duties yesterday less than a month before the case was set for trial. U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton said he would find new lawyers for James F. O'Connor and James A. Geisler after an unusual 30-minute session in which one of the lawyers said he could no longer represent his client. Stating that one of the defendants made statements in court that "I know to be lies," Greg English, one of the defense lawyers, told Hilton, "I find myself in an untenable position.