Child Abduction

Maryland State Police are looking for information relating to a possible attempted child abduction in the Bright Oaks community near Bel Air. The incident, which occurred off Route 924 near the Festival shopping center, was first characterized as a male passer-by breaking up a scuffle between two boys. It is being reinvestigated in light of new information from the boys and neighbors, said Detective Sgt. Doug Zeller, an investigator with the Bel Air barracks. "Since we can't say for certain [what happened]

Anne Arundel County police and school officials have thwarted a child abduction across state lines. Anonymous information related to a middle-school counselor on Sept. 6 detailed a 12-year-old girl's plans to run away from home with a boyfriend in a stolen vehicle. School personnel, including the resource officer, contacted the student's guardian and received permission to access the child's social media account and cellular phone data. Information discovered in those accounts convinced officials the boyfriend was an adult male, who likely knew the age of the child.

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 Baltimore man has been convicted of rape and child abduction for raping a 13-year-old girl after breaking up a fight between the victim and his niece. In June last year, the victim was at an east Baltimore corner store with her brother running an errand for their mother, according to prosecutors. An argument began between the victim and another woman; the brother fled and Marcus Lynch, now 29, intervened, prosecutors said. While the victim was trying to find her brother, Lynch grabbed her, dragged her into nearby Frank C. Bocek Park, threatened to kill her, strangled and raped her, prosecutors said.

An Iranian national accused of abducting his two children from Westminster in 1990 and taking them to Iran was indicted yesterday by a Carroll County grand jury.The panel returned a four-count indictment against Hossein Nasri Ghajari, who remains free on unsecured bond.The indictment charges him with two counts of child abduction and two counts of interstate child abduction.Mr. Ghajari, 52, was arrested in New York last month and returned to Carroll County to be tried on abduction charges filed years ago in District Court.

A Baltimore man has been convicted of rape and child abduction for raping a 13-year-old girl after breaking up a fight between the victim and his niece. In June last year, the victim was at an east Baltimore corner store with her brother running an errand for their mother, according to prosecutors. An argument began between the victim and another woman; the brother fled and Marcus Lynch, now 29, intervened, prosecutors said. While the victim was trying to find her brother, Lynch grabbed her, dragged her into nearby Frank C. Bocek Park, threatened to kill her, strangled and raped her, prosecutors said.

A former Finksburg woman, who was arrested Aug. 5 in Michigan on charges of abducting her 5-year-old son in 1990 after losing custody of him, was freed yesterday on $100,000 bail.Sharon E. Wimperis, 50, signed court papers for her release and left with David Seaby, her adult son from a previous marriage.She declined to comment without having her lawyer present.Wimperis has been held in lieu of bail at the Carroll County Detention Center in Westminster since Aug. 26, when she was returned to Maryland.

The Harford County Child Advocacy Center is pursuing a number of leads but has no one in custody in its investigation of a child abduction and sexual assault case in the Belcamp area, said Joseph I. Cassilly, Harford County state's attorney. The incident occurred in an area of Church Creek Road about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10. The abductor is described as a white male with black hair who was wearing blue jeans and a short-sleeved shirt.Cassilly said the man lured a 4-year-old boy into his white four-door car and drove to an undisclosed location, where he sexually assaulted the victim.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office said Monday that a Sykesville man — who had been wanted for allegedly abducting his girlfriend's son before releasing him unharmed — had turned himself in. Michael Andrew Terrell, 31, of Sykesville surrendered Sunday afternoon to sheriff's deputies, who served him with charges for second-degree assault, child abduction and disturbing the peace. Terrell's arrest ended a weeklong investigation into his whereabouts following an altercation between Terrell and his live-in girlfriend.

Anne Arundel County police and school officials have thwarted a child abduction across state lines. Anonymous information related to a middle-school counselor on Sept. 6 detailed a 12-year-old girl's plans to run away from home with a boyfriend in a stolen vehicle. School personnel, including the resource officer, contacted the student's guardian and received permission to access the child's social media account and cellular phone data. Information discovered in those accounts convinced officials the boyfriend was an adult male, who likely knew the age of the child.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office said Monday that a Sykesville man — who had been wanted for allegedly abducting his girlfriend's son before releasing him unharmed — had turned himself in. Michael Andrew Terrell, 31, of Sykesville surrendered Sunday afternoon to sheriff's deputies, who served him with charges for second-degree assault, child abduction and disturbing the peace. Terrell's arrest ended a weeklong investigation into his whereabouts following an altercation between Terrell and his live-in girlfriend.

One sunny afternoon as our children played nearby, I asked a neighbor at what age she would allow her son to bicycle around the block by himself. "I don't think I would ever do that," she replied. "The world is a very different place now than it was when we were growing up." Did she really think the number of child molesters and kidnappers in the world had increased in the past 20 or 30 years, I asked? "Oh, yes, I think it is increasing. Because of the Internet." At a PTA meeting, during a discussion of traffic problems around the school campus, I asked what we could do to encourage families to walk or bike to school.

The lawyer for a deported Egyptian grandmother asked the state's highest court yesterday to erase her three-year sentence for helping to spirit her grandson away to Egypt with his mother, contending that anything Afaf Khalifa might have done took place before a new state law increased the criminal penalty. The Maryland attorney general's office told the state Court of Appeals that the Anne Arundel County conviction should be upheld because Khalifa continued helping her daughter in Cairo after the Maryland law was changed.

Abingdon man charged with child abduction 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 around 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 is accused of trying to sign the pupil out at school dismissal, was taken to the school office, where Bel Air police arrested him, Morrison 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.

The Harford County Child Advocacy Center is pursuing a number of leads but has no one in custody in its investigation of a child abduction and sexual assault case in the Belcamp area, said Joseph I. Cassilly, Harford County state's attorney. The incident occurred in an area of Church Creek Road about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10. The abductor is described as a white male with black hair who was wearing blue jeans and a short-sleeved shirt.Cassilly said the man lured a 4-year-old boy into his white four-door car and drove to an undisclosed location, where he sexually assaulted the victim.

Abingdon man charged with child abduction 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 around 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 is accused of trying to sign the pupil out at school dismissal, was taken to the school office, where Bel Air police arrested him, Morrison said.

An Egyptian grandmother, imprisoned in the state since January in an international custody dispute, moved nearer to freedom yesterday. A three-judge Anne Arundel County court panel reduced - from 10 years to three years - the prison term imposed in January on Afaf Nassar Khalifa, 60. In an eight-page ruling, the Circuit Court panel called the original sentence "excessive." Khalifa is incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup on her conviction for helping her daughter, Nermeen Shannon, 34, abduct Adam Shannon, 6. Adam's father, Michael Shannon of Millersville, had legal custody Aug. 25, 2001, when Nermeen Shannon and Khalifa took the boy to Egypt.

Maryland State Police are looking for information relating to a possible attempted child abduction in the Bright Oaks community near Bel Air. The incident, which occurred off Route 924 near the Festival shopping center, was first characterized as a male passer-by breaking up a scuffle between two boys. It is being reinvestigated in light of new information from the boys and neighbors, said Detective Sgt. Doug Zeller, an investigator with the Bel Air barracks. "Since we can't say for certain [what happened]

An Egyptian grandmother, imprisoned in the state since January in an international custody dispute, moved nearer to freedom yesterday. A three-judge Anne Arundel County court panel reduced - from 10 years to three years - the prison term imposed in January on Afaf Nassar Khalifa, 60. In an eight-page ruling, the Circuit Court panel called the original sentence "excessive." Khalifa is incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup on her conviction for helping her daughter, Nermeen Shannon, 34, abduct Adam Shannon, 6. Adam's father, Michael Shannon of Millersville, had legal custody Aug. 25, 2001, when Nermeen Shannon and Khalifa took the boy to Egypt.