Agents

Undercover federal agents rented a booth at Patapsco Flea Market to gain access to its management as part of a 2 1/2 -year sting targeting merchants selling counterfeit and pirated goods - an investigation that resulted in a raid Sunday on the Southwest Baltimore marketplace, according to a search warrant and affidavit released Monday. Capping the intensive investigation into fake brand-name clothes and accessories, as well as pirated DVDs and musical recordings, special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations confiscated numerous items being sold at the sprawling market.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Baltimore lawyer Frank Morgan helped swimmer Michael Phelps , then 16 years old, select Peter Carlisle as his agent. Phelps was years away from stardom, but Carlisle aggressively marketed his client, hoping to eventually elevate him beyond the confines of an Olympic sport that mattered to a broad audience only every four years. Earlier this year, Carlisle signed another client - at the suggestion of Morgan - and put her on the Phelps plan. He's already signed a deal for jockey Rosie Napravnik to endorse Snickers - an agreement proposed before Carlisle learned that the candy bar was named for a horse - and has another in the works that could be announced before Preakness.

City police identified the man shot and killed by Baltimore County detectives Tuesday, as the union representing parole and probation agents expressed concern that the attempted arrest in the agency's parking lot put members of the public in danger. Christopher Shelton, 39, left an appointment with his probation agent and was fatally shot after pointing a .50-caliber handgun at two county officers who were investigating an armed robbery, police said. Shelton had served two terms in prison for armed robbery, most recently a 2000 conviction in Baltimore County that was apparently cut short by a three-judge panel, according to records.

Six military veterans from Maryland pleaded guilty to fraud charges this week in a scheme to obtain federal military benefits and state tax breaks with faked documentation claiming they were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. The veterans allegedly paid thousands of dollars in cash to David Clark, the former deputy chief of veterans claims in the state Department of Veterans Affairs Office, in exchange for $1.4 million in fraudulent benefits and tax breaks, prosecutors said.

It starts at the top Joseph Schwerdt Sun Sentinel First of all, Nick Saban questioning the integrity of sports agent rings hollow in South Florida, where four years ago he stared stone-faced at the Miami Dolphins' fan base and flatly said: "I'm not gonna be the Alabama coach." Right. But we digress. Who has ruined college sports? Agents. Coaches. Athletic directors. School presidents. Boosters. Networks. And others. Slice up the blame pie and give each an equal piece.

The article "Ethics classes for Secret Service" (May 1) leaves one astonished and livid. I'm sure that the great majority of Secret Service employees don't need training in ethical behavior, having had ethical parents, educators, relatives and close friends from birth until they were hired by the Secret Service. If as adults they have not digested what ethical behavior is all about, we should examine the hiring process carefully in our assessment of what to do about the problem, not just send them to Johns Hopkins ethics classes.

As part of their continuing search to add depth and improve their roster, the Orioles have had multiple, face-to-face meetings with the representatives for pitcher Kevin Correia and outfielder Nate Schierholtz, according to an industry source. The 32-year-old Correia was 12-11 with a 4.21 ERA in 32 games (28 starts) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he was an All-Star in 2011. He's made at least 26 starts in each of the last four seasons. Over his 10-year career, Correia is 60-65 with a 4.54 ERA with the Giants, Padres and Pirates.

The Orioles have, for all intents and purposes, completed deals with all of their arbitration-eligible players, agreeing to terms Saturday afternoon with the final one, right-handed reliever Darren O'Day on a two-year extension worth a guaranteed $5.8 million. The Orioles said the deal is not yet completed, but they are nearing a multiyear extension with O'Day, who was 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 69 games last year. “It is something he asked us to explore during the course of negotiations for a one-year deal and we are taking a look at it ... and there is work to be done,” Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette said.

Of all the KGB's secret agents, perhaps the most cynical are those who pretended to be simple clergymen. On their ecumenical trips from Moscow to New York to Geneva, they used the authority of two millennia of Christian witness to support an atheist tyranny. Groups like the World Council of Churches believed them; Russian peasants knew better.Moscow's top authority on these agents in cassocks, a human-rights activist since 1965, just spent a week in Washington. Father Gleb Yakunin did not tell all, but enough to make a damning case against the top echelon of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Officials destroyed a shipment of bunny scarecrows that recently arrived at the port of Baltimore after agricultural inspectors determined that the bamboo poles to which they were attached could contain harmful pathogens. The shipment from Hong Kong raised the concern of Customs and Border Protection agents working at the port, who are trained in biological sciences and agricultural inspection. Bamboo is regulated to prevent the spread of bamboo smut and other pathogens, officials said.

Though he did not participate in torture, ex-CIA agent John Kiriakou was the first person to publicly acknowledge the Bush administration's inhumane abuse of detainees ("The truth about torture," April 23). Mr. Kiriakou's disclosures informed the public and encouraged debate that helped pull this country back from a very dark place. But in doing so he drew the ire of the government, which began to harass and intimidate him and his family under both the Bush and Obama administrations, looking for ways to prosecute him. Finally, when Mr. Kiriakou privately shared a colleague's name to a journalist for use as a source, the government seized the opportunity and threw the book at him. Mr. Kiriakou is now serving 30 months in prison.

Two days after the end of the NFL draft, former Maryland defensive lineman Joe Vellano has found a home. Vellano, a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference honoree, signed Tuesday with the New England Patriots, according to Terps coach Randy Edsall. Vellano is the fourth former Terp to join an NFL team as an undrafted free agent. The others are tight end Matt Furstenburg (Baltimore Ravens), defensive lineman A.J. Francis (Miami Dolphins) and linebacker Darin Drakeford (Kansas City Chiefs)

Running back Anthony Allen , a key performer on the Ravens' highly successful special teams units last season, signed his exclusive rights free agent tender, the team announced today. Allen, a 24-year-old who the Ravens drafted out of Georgia Tech in the seventh round of the 2011 draft, has 19 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown in two seasons with the team. He was one of the Ravens' most valuable and unheralded special teams players this past season. Allen was the lead blocker for Pro Bowl kick returner Jacoby Jones , who set a franchise record with three return touchdowns during the regular season.

Akua Zenzele, a community supervision agent in Southeast Baltimore who works with parolees, knows the first few days after being released from incarceration are crucial for former inmates. Many are paroled with few resources and nowhere to go. Some end up homeless, and without a way to meet basic needs; others wind up back in jail after committing new crimes just to get by. Zenzele, whose job is to monitor those on parole and probation, has seen the cycle play out before. When she found out that one of her clients was living in a homeless shelter, she decided to try a new strategy to help people get settled as soon as possible.

Ravens officials made it clear at this week's NFL meetings that their primary focus over the next month is not what remains on the free-agent market. With 12 selections in next month's draft, the organization is busy evaluating college players who will help replenish a roster that has been hit hard by free agency, releases and retirements. But with a little over $7 million of remaining salary-cap space, the Ravens are still looking to add a couple of free agents, hoping to find a couple of bargains that will help fill some holes.

The directions to the alleged brothel told the men that if they saw a house with green awnings, they'd gone too far. But some of them apparently misunderstood; would-be customers have shown up for years at the nearby house in Towson. Despite neighbors' complaints, police say, Di Zhang, 42, continued to operate the brothel from a white Colonial-style suburban home on Joppa Road, advertising on websites until this month, when county police and federal agents moved in. Neighbors said they weren't surprised to learn that Zhang, the operator of Jade Heart Health, had been charged with prostitution and human trafficking.

Maryland parole and probation agents have won an unusual midyear pay raise from the governor, though they still will be among the lowest paid in the nation.The Glendening administration has promised agents a 6 percent raise beginning Jan. 1, six months earlier than raises typically begin.The raise also is unusual because the state has not budgeted for it. Public safety officials plan to scrape together savings from other, still undetermined areas to finance it."We recognize that this group of employees is near the bottom of the pay scale when compared to other states," said Buddy W. Roogow, a deputy chief of staff to Gov. Parris N. Glendening.

Federal agents arrested a maintenance man yesterday on charges of operating a bustling gun-running business out of the boiler room of a building that is home to the state's Department of Probation and Parole.Thomas Earl Earp, 52, could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted of the federal charges, which include the sale of a sawed-off shotgun to agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).In all, ATF agents say, Mr. Earp sold them 46 firearms and they found 102 weapons at his Middle River home on Douglas Road.

As parents, we like to think we can predict what our children will grow up to be based on what captures their attention as kids. Then they return to the nest as young adults and we realize how far wrong we were. The best swimmer among my children's friends did not become a Michael Phelps. He's an engineer - who deals with water. The boy who loved dolphins and frogs did not become a marine biologist. He became a Marine helicopter pilot. We got a couple right. The little girl who would organize her Barbies into a classroom became a teacher.

I do not dispute one word of what your commentator Richard E. Vatz says about bias ("Liberal media bias is beyond doubt," March 18). Moreover, I always enjoy reading what he writes, look forward to more, and also hope he does books. In addition, I note that he has a decade long-plus record behind him of annually inviting first congressman, then governor, and now former Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to speak to his classes at state-funded and taxpayer-supported Towson University.