Baumgarten

Portraying John Baumgarten and his two sons as being as adept at cocaine smuggling and counter surveillance as at cutting hair, federal prosecutors set out to prove yesterday that the family ran a $3 million drug ring from its Severna Park barbershop."

Police say six in burglary ring Anne Arundel County police have arrested six people accused of participating in a burglary ring in Pasadena, and have returned more than $20,000 in stolen property. The monthlong string of arrests began on May 2, with Joseph Leo Baumgarten III, 35, of the 1000 block of Cayer Drive in Glen Burnie. He and Laura Michelle Bruce, 24, of the 100 block of Lake Shore Drive in Pasadena, were accused of kicking in the front door of a home on the 8300 block of Beachwood Park Road on March 26 and stealing cash, jewelry and other items.

An incorrect wedding date was given in the Just Married feature in Sunday's Arts & Society section. Tracy Brinkley and Doug Baumgarten were married on April 25.The Sun regrets the errors.Family and friends are the most important part of Tracy Brinkley and Doug Baumgarten's relationship. It's been that way since her sister, Pamala Adams, introduced the couple in 1986, when Doug was a senior and Tracy was a sophomore at Lansdowne Senior High School.Some members of the Brinkley and the Baumgarten families were already acquainted with one another through their work in the Lansdowne Volunteer Fire Company.

On October 24, 2005, ROBERT BAKER of Fairhaven, Sykesille, beloved husband of the late Sarah Richter Wheeler Alexander, devoted father of Captain William T. Alexander, ret. and his wife Jacquelyn and Col. Joseph H. Alexander, ret. and his wife Gale, loving grandfather of Katherine Alexander Hill and her husband Jon and Kenneth B. Alexander and his wife Mary. He is also survived by four great-grandchildren and several nephews and nieces. A memorial service will be held at 2 P.M. Saturday at Fairhaven Chapel (7200 Third Avenue)

Federal prosecutors unsealed indictments yesterday against an Anne Arundel County man and his two sons, charging them with smuggling nearly 110 pounds of cocaine from southern Florida to Maryland as part of a busy drug ring they allegedly ran out of the family's Severna Park barbershop.The indictments came as prosecutors announced that three ring members had decided to plead guilty to their roles in running cocaine and marijuana up the East Coast to Anne Arundel and distributing the drugs to lower-level dealers in the county.

Police are investigating the death of a 37-year-old man with a syringe in his arm who terrorized neighbors in South Baltimore on Sunday night.Ralph R. Cornish, of the first block of Talbott St. in Brooklyn, died about 8: 30 p.m. at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, Sgt. Douglas Baumgarten of the Southern District.According to Baumgarten, Cornish broke into a house in the 3800 block of Leadenhall St. about 7: 30 p.m. and assaulted Catherine Handschuh, then fled when her husband, Charles, chased him away.

An incorrect wedding date was given in the Just Married feature in Sunday's Arts & Society section. Tracy Brinkley and Doug Baumgarten were married on April 25.The Sun regrets the errors.

Authorities arrested seven people in Maryland and New Jersey on drug charges, breaking what they called an interstate cocaine ring and seizing palatial estates, drugs worth $2 million, weapons and cash, federal officials said yesterday.The Drug Enforcement Administration reported recovering more than 2 kilograms of cocaine and marijuana, about $20,000 in cash, 15 handguns, two cars and two Maryland homes valued at $1.5 million during Thursday's arrest.DEA officials charged that a network headed by Joseph Leo Baumgarten Jr., 46, of Chester had been selling cocaine by the kilogram in Baltimore and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties for several years.

A federal jury convicted John Baumgarten and his two sons yesterday of running a much-feared drug smuggling ring out of their Severna Park barbershop, which they used as cover to sell more than 60 pounds of cocaine in Anne Arundel County.The Baumgartens appeared stunned when the verdicts were read in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Moments earlier, John Baumgarten Sr. had given a big smile and a "thumbs up" sign to his wife.The defendants' wives and relatives wept when a clerk announced the guilty verdicts on federal drug-distribution charges.

Loyalty cloaked one of the largest and most unlikely drug rings in Anne Arundel history through five years of police pursuit while it flourished in a Severna Park barbershop, authorities say.In the end being played out now, authorities say, those same ties brought down John Vincent Baumgarten Sr. and the home-grown "family" of drug dealers who terrorized a community and supplied the county with a steady flow of cocaine. One of their most trusted aides provided the information to put the group behind bars, officials say.As a strange story of barbering and drug-dealing unravels in a federal courtroom with chapters on cocaine transactions, arson, intimidation and a $25,000 contract for a hit, the quiet Magothy River community of Cape St. Claire near Annapolis has listened agog.

On August 27, 2005, JEROME W. MERRIKEN, of South Baltimore, beloved husband of the late Margaret M. Merriken (nee Baumgarten) and devoted father of Margaret Busch, Veronica Collier and Catherine Strupp, also survived by 6 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren. Family will receive friends at the family owned and operated MCCULLY-POLYNIAK FUNERAL HOME P.A., 130 E. Fort Avenue (South Baltimore) on Tuesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., where funeral services will be held on Wednesday at 10 A.M. Interment in Oaklawn Cemetery.

A 43-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 18 months in jail stemming from the assault on a Baltimore man at Denny's Food Market in Elkridge last year.Howell G. Chambers of Elkridge was convicted in January of second-degree assault in the beating of Thomas E. Baumgarten of Baltimore. Baumgarten alleged in court papers that Chambers "pounded [him] into unconsciousness" on Jan. 10, 1998, at the market."This isn't a run-of-the-mill assault," said Assistant State's Attorney Debra Saltz. "This is a serious case."

Police are investigating the death of a 37-year-old man with a syringe in his arm who terrorized neighbors in South Baltimore on Sunday night.Ralph R. Cornish, of the first block of Talbott St. in Brooklyn, died about 8: 30 p.m. at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, Sgt. Douglas Baumgarten of the Southern District.According to Baumgarten, Cornish broke into a house in the 3800 block of Leadenhall St. about 7: 30 p.m. and assaulted Catherine Handschuh, then fled when her husband, Charles, chased him away.

A former member of a drug empire was sentenced yesterday to three years' probation for intimidating a Severna Park man into dropping a civil lawsuit against an associate in the criminal ring.In March, David W. Griscom, 32, admitted that in 1992 he ripped up grass and shrubs and damaged the finish on four cars at the Manhattan Woods home of Ralph A. Walker, trying to scare Walker into dropping a lawsuit against neighbor Anthony Baumgarten.Walker had accused Baumgarten of beating him up and sued for $100,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

A federal jury convicted John Baumgarten and his two sons yesterday of running a much-feared drug smuggling ring out of their Severna Park barbershop, which they used as cover to sell more than 60 pounds of cocaine in Anne Arundel County.The Baumgartens appeared stunned when the verdicts were read in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Moments earlier, John Baumgarten Sr. had given a big smile and a "thumbs up" sign to his wife.The defendants' wives and relatives wept when a clerk announced the guilty verdicts on federal drug-distribution charges.

The federal case against Anne Arundel County's alleged "barbershop drug dealers" entered its final phase yesterday, with a prosecutor describing John Baumgarten and his sons as businessmen in a Cape St. Claire-based drug corporation."

A 43-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 18 months in jail stemming from the assault on a Baltimore man at Denny's Food Market in Elkridge last year.Howell G. Chambers of Elkridge was convicted in January of second-degree assault in the beating of Thomas E. Baumgarten of Baltimore. Baumgarten alleged in court papers that Chambers "pounded [him] into unconsciousness" on Jan. 10, 1998, at the market."This isn't a run-of-the-mill assault," said Assistant State's Attorney Debra Saltz. "This is a serious case."

Federal prosecutors unsealed indictments yesterday against an Anne Arundel County man and his two sons, charging them with smuggling nearly 110 pounds of cocaine from southern Florida to Maryland as part of a busy drug ring they allegedly ran out of the family's Severna Park barbershop.The indictments came as prosecutors announced that three ring members had decided to plead guilty to their roles in running cocaine and marijuana up the East Coast to Anne Arundel and distributing the drugs to lower-level dealers in the county.