Charged With Child

A Harford County couple has been charged with child pornography crimes after a six-month investigation that stretched from Florida to Maryland linked them to Internet child pornography, state police said yesterday.Juli C. Wyatt, 28, and Robert J. Wyatt, 30, of the 200 block of Oak Leaf Circle in Abingdon face 12 charges each of creating, possessing and transmitting computer images of children engaged in obscene sexual acts, state police said. The pair also were charged with possession of child pornography and of a machine gun.The case began in Florida in May when an unidentified person called up a Web site for alternative lifestyles, said Detective Sgt. Barry E. Leese of the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit.

OUR SOCIETY is commendably concerned about nurturing and protecting our children. We pass laws against child labor and child abuse and work constantly to improve our schools.But do our measures sometimes backfire? This is a true account of one involving child abuse that did.It is the story of two immigrant families whose names I've changed for this article to protect their privacy. One family includes Thomas and his wife, who settled in Baltimore 15 years ago. The other family, which came from the same town as Thomas, consists of Mary and her son, Jacob, 12.Mary speaks little English and struggles financially.

A 57-year-old Towson psychologist has been charged with a third-degree sex offense and child abuse in an incident involving a former patient who was 7 years old at the time, Baltimore County police said yesterday.Leslie Peter Mandell of the 900 block of Starbit Road was released on a personal pledge with bail set at $25,000. Mandell was arrested Friday after officers served a search warrant at his office and home on Starbit Road.Police recently learned of the allegation after the child, whose name was not released, told her mother about an incident that occurred between 1992 and 1994.

A Westminster man was held in lieu of $25,000 bail yesterday after he was arrested on charges of slapping his 2-year-old son and leaving the boy and his 1-year-old sister alone at home.Troy T. Haller, 26, of no fixed address was found in a motel room Tuesday, 10 days after police were called to a Shaeffer Avenue apartment by a neighbor and took custody of the children.The children have been placed in foster care, said Lt. Dean Brewer of the Westminster police.Haller is charged with child abuse, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of leaving a child unattended.

The principal of a Baltimore County elementary school said she made repeated calls to police about suspected abuse at the home of 9-year-old Rita Fisher, whose death last month has resulted in the arrest of three household members.Shirley Harden, principal of Winand Elementary School, where Rita was a third-grader, said the child's bruises were sometimes so bad that they seemed like "a huge rash."Harden said in the three years Rita had been in her school in Pikesville, she had filed about five reports with police regarding possible child abuse.

Larry Snyder anticipates there will always be the firehouse jokes, the sideways glances and the whispers behind his back.It is to be expected, he says, when you're an Annapolis firefighter and you've been charged with child abuse."

A Yorktown man suspected of sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl in his home Aug. 18 surrendered to police Monday afternoon, officials said.The girl said she had gone to the man's house to do some cleaning. The man paid her and asked her to come back. When she did, he asked her to sit on the floor and began to give the girl a massage, police said.At that point the girl became frightened, ran home and told her mother, police said.The girl's mother reported the incident after her daughter told her what had happened, police said.

A Prince George's County woman who is accused of videotaping herself having sex with her 9-year-old son was indicted yesterday on 11 counts, including second-degree rape, the county state's attorney office said.The 32-year-old woman, of the 1800 block of Metzerott Road in Adelphi, also is charged with child abuse, assault with intent to rape, attempted rape, two third-degree sex offenses, a second-degree sex offense, incest, assault and battery and two counts of child pornography. The boy has been placed in foster care.

The Court of Special Appeals has upheld Ronald Walter Price's child abuse convictions, ruling his claim that he was illegally detained was "bizarre" and also rejecting his contention that he was charged improperly and tried with tainted evidence.The stinging 11-page opinion gave a graphic account of the crimes of the former Northeast High School social studies teacher, whose case gained national attention when he admitted on the television show "Geraldo!" that he had had sex with his students, then rejected his claims in a tone that bordered on the sarcastic.

A 24-year-old Harper's Choice man was being held yesterday on $250,000 bond at the Howard County Detention Center, charged with the rape of a 10-year-old girl.The victim's mother called police to report the incident about 2 a.m. Thursday, according to detectives from the county Police Department's child abuse section.Kevin Lorenzo Nelson was charged with child abuse, second-degree rape and battery. He could face a 35-year jail term, police said.According to police, after the victim's mother went to sleep, the suspect allegedly entered the girl's room and assaulted her.

Appeal of sentence is denied A Columbia man who was sent to prison for 60 years after being convicted in 2004 of second-degree murder and physically abusing his then-2-year-old stepson was denied an appeal to have his sentence reduced. Marcus Owens, then 33, was found guilty in June 2004 of killing Kevonte Davis and received the maximum sentence - 30 years for murder and 30 for abuse leading to the child's death - from Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure, who also presided over the reconsideration hearing.

An investigation into a written account of a sexually explicit encounter found on a former state employee's work computer has led to a federal indictment against the 36-year-old man on child pornography charges, along with sex offense charges in Prince George's and St. Mary's counties. Ronald Glenn Draper Jr., a former clerk at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts of receiving, distributing and possessing more than 600 images of boys in explicit positions or engaging in sex acts.

A Bel Air business owner has been charged with sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy during an 11-month period that ended in July, according to the Harford County state's attorney's office. William L. Harrison, 62, owner of Trenton Property Services on Main Street, was arrested last week and charged with six counts of abuse, said Bruce Smith, the assistant state's attorney handling the case. Authorities say that the abuse occurred while the boy worked for Harrison's company. Police are continuing the investigation and have determined that Harrison has employed several boys of the same age in the past, Smith said.

An Owings Mills martial arts instructor has been arrested and charged with the sexual abuse of a 9-year-old girl, Baltimore County police said yesterday. Jacob Davis Jr., 51, of the 4600 block of Sherwood Mills Road was arrested and charged Thursday. The abuse began in 1999 and continued for about two years, police said yesterday. The girl was abused at her former home in Bel Air, at Davis' former apartment in Owings Mills and at the martial arts school where he has taught, in the 9600 block of Reisterstown Road, according to police.

A Timonium man has been charged in the death of his 13-month-old son, who was left in a car while the man went to work, police said. The man was to have taken the boy to a day care arrangement, police said. The boy was left in a car for about 3 1/2 hours Sept. 23 outside his father's workplace, and when the man returned and found the child hot and lethargic, the boy was hospitalized, police said. Kyrt William Barnhill died two days later, police said. David Barnhill, 36, of the first block of Dickens Square, is charged with child abuse resulting in death, child neglect and reckless endangerment, police said.

Baltimore homicide detectives have arrested and charged a 40-year-old woman in the death, apparently by suffocation, of her 18-month-old daughter. The baby was found dead in her home Saturday by Southwestern District police officers investigating a report of an injured child - one of two unrelated homicides last week in which babies were the victims. Charged with first-degree murder and held without bail at Central Booking and Intake Center was Monalisa Mackey of the 500 block of Brunswick St., police said.

BEL AIR -- An Abingdon man was arrested Wednesday at Bel Air Middle School and has been charged with one count of child abduction. He is being held without bond, Harford County authorities said. Gary Linwood Williams, 24, was seen in the school parking lot near dismissal time with a 12-year-old sixth-grader, schools spokesman Donald R. Morrison said. Morrison said Williams had befriended the youngster that afternoon. Williams, who had tried to sign out the pupil, was taken to the school office, where Bel Air police arrested him, Morrison said.

A Taneytown man has been charged with child abuse and assaulting his 4-month-old daughter on two occasions, in which the baby sustained a broken arm and ribs, and bruises, according to authorities and charging documents. Jason Phillip Summers, 21, of the first block of Carnival Drive was accused of assaulting the child Feb. 13 and Sunday. He was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of physical child abuse, court documents show. He was released on a $10,000 bond late Tuesday.

A Taneytown man has been charged with child abuse and assaulting his 4-month-old daughter on two occasions, in which the baby sustained a broken arm and ribs, and bruises, according to authorities and charging documents. Jason Phillip Summers, 21, of the first block of Carnival Drive was accused of assaulting the child Feb. 13 and Sunday. He was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of physical child abuse, court documents show. He was released on a $10,000 bond late Tuesday.

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.