Airy Man

A Mount Airy man was arrested Thursday night by state Natural Resources Police on charges of jacklighting deer, a police spokesman said.Jacklighting -- shining a light on wildlife at night while carrying a weapon -- carries a maximum penalty of a $2,000 fine and six months in jail, John Surrick, the spokesman, said.Arrested at a farm field in the Mount Airy area about 7: 15 p.m. was Neal G. Eitel, 48, of the 3800 block of W. Watersville Road.Natural Resources Police reported seeing grazing deer and said Eitel had a .270-caliber rifle with him when he shone his vehicle headlights at the animals.

A 27-year-old Mount Airy man was found dead on the beach in Ocean City on Tuesday morning, with what police believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officers were called to the beach near 45th Street about 7:55 a.m. for reports of an unresponsive man lying on the beach with a rifle in his lap, Ocean City police said. When they arrived, they found the man dead from what appeared to be a single gunshot wound, police said. A .22 caliber rifle was recovered, police said.

A Mount Airy man, who was arrested Monday on charges of raping and sexually assaulting a neighborhood girl, is being held at the Carroll County Detention Center on $25,000 bail, court records show.Alonso Steeve Rodriguez, 21, of the first block of Meadowlark Ave. was charged with second-degree rape and assault, and second- and third-degree sexual offenses.The girl, now 15, is not being named because of her age and to protect her privacy.According to court documents, the alleged sexual assaults began when she was 12 years old and continued to occur at various locations between Jan. 13, 1996, and June 14.At a bail review yesterday, visiting District Judge Alice P. Clark reduced Rodriguez's bail from 100 percent to 10 percent acceptable.

Maryland State Police on Wednesday issued a Silver Alert in hopes of finding Richard Eugene Skaggs, 77, who was last seen on June 21 in the 4300 block of Ridge Road in Mount Airy. Police said Skaggs was last seen at 9:15 a.m. driving a 2001 tan Toyota Corolla bearing Maryland registration HWD 984. Police did not state the nature of their concern regarding Skaggs' absence. He is a white male, 5'10", and weighs approximately 190 pounds. He has gray hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information concerning Skaggs or his whereabouts is asked to contact Trooper First Class Corey Green of the Maryland State Police, Westminster Barrack Criminal Investigation Section, at 410-386-3053.

A Mount Airy man pleaded guilty in Carroll County Circuit Court yesterday to abusing his younger sister. Sentencing was deferred until March 18.The man, 21, is not being identified to protect the privacy of his sister, now 15.Prosecutors said the girl was molested and sexually abused on many occasions during a six-year period before she told school officials, who contacted police in January.FireMount Airy: Firefighters responded at 1: 09 a.m. yesterday to an automatic alarm at Mount Airy Middle School.

A Carroll County grand jury has indicted a Mount Airy man accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in a Carroll County field in August.According to the indictment handed up Thursday, Ronald Eugene Muller, 20, of the 6300 block of Davis Road faces charges of second-degree rape, sodomy, fourth-degree sexual offense, false imprisonment and two counts of battery.Muller is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at the Carroll County Detention Center.The girl, who is not being identified to protect her privacy, was treated for multiple bruises and bites, state police investigators said.

A Mount Airy man was in critical condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center last night after his truck struck a tree early yesterday.George Frederick Jacobs Jr., 26, was driving west on Harrisville Road about 12:30 a.m. when he ran off the right side of the road and hit the tree, police said. The 1970 International truck Mr. Jacobs was driving came to a stop on an embankment.Mr. Jacobs, who lives on Harrisville Road, was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.No charges were filed in the accident.

The Carroll Board of Zoning Appeals has denied a request from a Mount Airy man to store contractor's equipment in buildings behind his home in Gosnell Estates.William D. Arterburn of the 2400 block of Braddock Road is a self-employed contractor who specializes in installing aluminum siding. He told the board he usually moves his equipment from one job site to the next but has had to store it at home because business has been slow.Neighbors had complained about the equipment.Board members wrote in their decision Friday that the storage area would be incompatible with the neighborhood, would hurt the values of adjoining properties and be detrimental to orderly growth.

A 32-year-old Mount Airy man pleaded guilty to charges of battery and attempted false imprisonment yesterday in the attack on a Taylorsville teen-ager in her home last July.In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped burglary and assault charges against Barry Lee Loman of Kimberly Drive.Police have said that Loman, who lives a few miles from the victim, works as a golf instructor in Washington."A person like [Loman] should be off the streets," said the victim's father yesterday, adding that his daughter never stays home alone anymore.

A Mount Airy man was convicted Friday of taking part in a Jan. 8 drive-by shooting in which a Catonsville man was injured.David William Doolittle, 29, of the 16000 block of Moss Meadow Way pleaded innocent to counts of reckless endangerment and transporting a handgun but allowed prosecutors to introduce a statement of facts with enough evidence to convict him.Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold sentenced him to a year in the Carroll County Detention Center and...

Laurel brothers charged with attempted murder A pair of teenage brothers from Laurel have been charged in the attempted murder of a Washington taxi driver, who told police they had called him to give them a ride from the Greenbelt Metro station. Jeremiah Bridges, 17, and Justin Bridges, 16, of the 9200 block of Van Fleet Court, were also charged by Howard County police in the robbery and assault of Getachew Lima on Sept. 13. Lima reported that after driving the teens to their destination, they began choking and beating him. Police found Lima in his car in the 9100 block of Bourbon Court in Laurel.

A Mount Airy cabinetmaker and maintenance worker found dead Friday evening in his home along with his wife and two children shot them in their sleep before killing himself, state police said Saturday. Charles L. Dalton Sr., 38, shot his wife, Jennifer A. Dalton, 37, their son, Charles L. Dalton Jr., 14, and daughter, Emmaline E. Dalton, 7, each once in the head Thursday night or Friday morning with a .12-gauge shotgun, said state police spokesman Greg Shipley. Police found the children lying in their beds in separate bedrooms at the front of the house on Contour Road.

Man crossing road is killed by SUV A pedestrian was hit by a vehicle last night in the North Point section of Baltimore County and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. His name was being withheld pending notification of kin. Shortly before 8:30 p.m., the man, 66, was struck by a southbound Mercury Mariner sport utility vehicle as he was while crossing North Point Boulevard at St. Monica Drive near his home. Police said the man was not in a crosswalk. The driver of the vehicle, a teenage female, stopped a short distance away and was interviewed by police.

Developer Rob Scranton will go before the Mount Airy Planning Commission tomorrow to present a proposal to incorporate an adjacent property into the rebuilding of the Bohn Building, which was demolished recently after a three-alarm fire downtown. Scranton's redevelopment plan calls for a commercial plaza, set back from the Main Street sidewalk, combining the Bohn site and Scranton's neighboring property at 114 S. Main St., where he was scheduled to begin construction on a project just days after the Sept.

A 53-year-old Mount Airy man died yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center from injuries suffered after the vehicle his wife was driving south on Littlestown Pike in Westminster collided with another vehicle Friday night, said the state police at the Westminster barracks. Police said Joseph Anthony Welsh Jr., 27, of the 1500 block of E. Mayberry Road in Westminster, was driving a 2003 Dodge Ram pickup north on Littlestown Pike about 10:30 p.m. and was nearing John Owings Road when he crossed the double yellow lines and crashed head-on into a southbound 2005 Toyota Sienna van driven by Bernadette Mary Phillips, 53, of the 2600 block of Leslie Road in Mount Airy.

A 19-year-old Mount Airy man died after he was hit by a car Saturday night while crossing Route 27, state police said. Christopher Shane Thornton of the first block of Meadowlark Ave. was walking south on Route 27 near Watkins Park about 9:30 p.m. when he tried to cross the road and was struck by a car traveling south. Thornton was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died shortly afterward, state police reported. The car's driver, Demetrios Poros of Silver Spring, was not charged, said Sgt. Tim Selby of the Westminster barracks.

A Mount Airy man accused of beating his 14-year-old daughter with a leather belt has been arrested and charged with child abuse, court records indicate. The girl was treated Monday for multiple bruises and contusions on her left leg, left side and right arm and released, according to the records. The 43-year-old man, who had been drinking alcohol that evening, is accused of striking his daughter with a belt about 15 times because she was not looking after her 2-year-old brother, court records indicate.

William Augustus Bell wants back in the game. When Bell was acquitted last week of assault charges in connection with an on-field melee at a high school lacrosse game in the spring, the Mount Airy parent was hoping Carroll County school officials would lift a ban that prohibits him from attending extracurricular activities at any county school. Schools Superintendent Charles I. Ecker said he is reconsidering his decision to "indefinitely" ban Bell but maintains that "some sort of penalty" is appropriate for spectators who go onto playing fields.

A Mount Airy man was sentenced yesterday to a year in the Carroll County Detention Center for violating Maryland's hate-crimes law by spray-painting racial slurs on a house. Justin Eugene Wright, 20, of the 200 block of Watersville Road, was also given three years of probation when he was sentenced in Carroll County Circuit Court by retired Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. Wright was arrested in September and charged with nine counts of malicious destruction of property and one count of racial or religious harassment for the defacement of several signs and homes, a sidewalk and a car in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Friendly Acres.