Court Documents

Federal agents found 500 pounds of marijuana and more than 10 kilograms of cocaine, along with an AK-47 and body armor, during raids on homes in Baltimore County and northeastern Baltimore as part of a cross-country drug investigation.  At least two men have been charged through a federal complaint in connection with the raids - Harold and Joseph Ibreham Byrd. Both men have had initial appearances in federal judge before a magistrate judge and are being detained; attorneys are not listed in court records.

A group of journalists and freedom of information campaigners are suing in federal court in Baltimore to get greater access to proceedings in the military trial of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking thousands of classified documents. The suit was brought by Julian Assange, the organizer behind WikiLeaks, Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, The Nation opinion journal and other organizations. It asks for access to filings in the case, orders of the court and transcripts or audio recordings of the proceedings.

When Antonio Malone needed $15,000 to pay off the assailants who stormed his West Baltimore rowhouse and demanded money and heroin, a gang leader told him exactly where to go. Police say he was sent to a 12 t h floor apartment at The Redwood, the home of Felicia "Snoop" Pearson. The building on South Eutaw Street, within walking distance of the Inner Harbor and featuring a large ninth-floor deck and a 'round-the-clock fitness center, seems appropriate for an actress on the much-acclaimed HBO series "The Wire.

Federal agents found 500 pounds of marijuana and more than 10 kilograms of cocaine, along with an AK-47 and body armor, during raids on homes in Baltimore County and northeastern Baltimore as part of a cross-country drug investigation.  At least two men have been charged through a federal complaint in connection with the raids - Harold and Joseph Ibreham Byrd. Both men have had initial appearances in federal judge before a magistrate judge and are being detained; attorneys are not listed in court records.

A Hunt Valley attorney who admitted to having his employees sign his name to foreclosure documents was found by a Baltimore County judge to have violated three of Maryland's rules of professional conduct for lawyers, according to court records. Thomas P. Dore engaged in behavior that was "prejudicial to the administration of justice" by "routinely and repeatedly" filing "with the courts affidavits purportedly signed by him and attested to by notaries" he employed, according to court documents.

The Washington man accused of shooting a Morgan State University football player Friday was carrying 16 baggies of suspected marijuana when he was arrested, according to court documents. A Baltimore City police officer spotted 20-year-old Keith Robertson running through traffic on Hillen Road shortly after the shooting was reported Friday afternoon. Robertson was trying to shove a handgun into the pocket of his hoodie as he ran, according to the documents. Robertson, of the 4900 block of G St., has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and several gun charges in the shooting of Tyrell Okoro.

MANASSAS, Va. - The string of cross-country violence attributed to sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad grew yesterday to include a mugging and a malicious wounding, according to court papers that also allege Muhammad said "America got what it deserved" on Sept. 11, 2001. The documents indicate that Muhammad expressed "racist and anti-American views," forged passports and drivers licenses in 2001 and 2002, and shot at passing cars with a rifle from a concealed location in McKinley Park in Tacoma, Wash.

A group of journalists and freedom of information campaigners are suing in federal court in Baltimore to get greater access to proceedings in the military trial of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking thousands of classified documents. The suit was brought by Julian Assange, the organizer behind WikiLeaks, Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, The Nation opinion journal and other organizations. It asks for access to filings in the case, orders of the court and transcripts or audio recordings of the proceedings.

The latest allegations of witness intimidation involve an unusual suspect: A correctional officer at Central Booking whose son is charged with murder. Rose Marie Peterson, 37, was recently charged with witness intimidation, assault, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. She is accused of threatening a female detainee who is a witness in the first-degree murder case of Peterson's son, Anthony Dickson. "You better not show up for court," Peterson told the woman, according to court documents.

The six suspects arrested in a federal sting in Hampden on Thursday planned to kill a co-conspirator in a robbery who was actually an undercover ATF agent, according to court documents. Unbeknownst to the suspects, the robbery plot was a ruse - part of a series of Baltimore operations set up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in recent months. For the second time, gunfire erupted in a public place as authorities moved in for the arrest, this time in the 3300 block of Clipper Mill Rd. Charged in the case are Tracey TheraldineÖ Betters, 20; Blake Aristotle Betters, 23; Brandon Harris, 20; John McLaurin, 22; Aaron Walker, 23; and 18-year-old IsiahÖ Benjamin.

The Nottingham woman had ducked into a bathroom at the White Marsh Sears when she heard a voice from the adjoining stall: Her neighbor had found the toilet-paper dispenser empty. Could she pass some under the divider? As she gathered a bunch, authorities said, someone reached over the stall's door and took cash and credit cards from the purse she had hung there. It wasn't until she stopped at other stores that she realized her cards were missing. She would later find that the thieves had bought thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise with the cards.

Big Lots Stores Inc. has agreed to purchase inventory from the financially ailing Commerce Corp. for an amount expected to top $6 million, according to recent bankruptcy court documents. The entire proceeds are slated to go to M&T Bank, which was owed $17.9 million by Commerce in principal alone as of late February, court documents said. Creditors of Commerce filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition last month against the Curtis Bay-based distributor of lawn and garden supplies.

In Baltimore, authorities are finding that if they can't solve a robbery, the next best thing may be to set one up.  Five men - at least three who police say are members of the Black Guerilla Family - were indicted last week in federal court on robbery charges. They didn't commit a robbery, but were caught in recorded conversations with a government source planning and preparing to carry one out, according to court records.  It's a tactic that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has used at least three times here, and which the Federal Bureau of Investigation also used in a case involving a man charged with accepting a murder-for-hire proposal.  A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration - which was involved in this month's indictment - said the agency had "done this type of investigation many times before; all have been successful," but said he could not discuss the case in further detail.

A 40-year-old Edgewood man is being held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center after a New Year's Day fight, with a domestic element, that became a shooting and led a judge to tell the suspect that if ever there was a case that cried out for a person to be held without bail, this was it. David Lamont Gregg, of the 3400 block of Periwinkle Way in Edgewood, is charged with first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, use...

A Hunt Valley attorney who admitted to having his employees sign his name to foreclosure documents was found by a Baltimore County judge to have violated three of Maryland's rules of professional conduct for lawyers, according to court records. Thomas P. Dore engaged in behavior that was "prejudicial to the administration of justice" by "routinely and repeatedly" filing "with the courts affidavits purportedly signed by him and attested to by notaries" he employed, according to court documents.

WEATHER: Partly sunny, high near 65 . Tonight is expected to be mostly cloudy, low around 50. TRAFFIC: Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues. TOP NEWS Postal inspectors focus on Calif.-Md. delivery of drugs : Search warrants unsealed last week offer a glimpse into a long-standing - and growing - smuggling practice: mailing drugs from California to Maryland. 93,000 young adults in Md. are unemployed : In Maryland, 93,000 teens and young adults are neither working nor in school, a trend that threatens future financial stability and predicts chronic joblessness, advocates said.

The Nottingham woman had ducked into a bathroom at the White Marsh Sears when she heard a voice from the adjoining stall: Her neighbor had found the toilet-paper dispenser empty. Could she pass some under the divider? As she gathered a bunch, authorities said, someone reached over the stall's door and took cash and credit cards from the purse she had hung there. It wasn't until she stopped at other stores that she realized her cards were missing. She would later find that the thieves had bought thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise with the cards.

Big Lots Stores Inc. has agreed to purchase inventory from the financially ailing Commerce Corp. for an amount expected to top $6 million, according to recent bankruptcy court documents. The entire proceeds are slated to go to M&T Bank, which was owed $17.9 million by Commerce in principal alone as of late February, court documents said. Creditors of Commerce filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition last month against the Curtis Bay-based distributor of lawn and garden supplies.

The Washington man accused of shooting a Morgan State University football player Friday was carrying 16 baggies of suspected marijuana when he was arrested, according to court documents. A Baltimore City police officer spotted 20-year-old Keith Robertson running through traffic on Hillen Road shortly after the shooting was reported Friday afternoon. Robertson was trying to shove a handgun into the pocket of his hoodie as he ran, according to the documents. Robertson, of the 4900 block of G St., has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and several gun charges in the shooting of Tyrell Okoro.

After a long drive from Arizona, prosecutors say, Dmytro Holovko pulled up to a meeting spot on Liberty Road and unloaded hundreds of pounds of marijuana - another successful shipment for a drug ring accused of using Baltimore as a hub in a distribution network that brought in $1 million a month. Holovko, a 54-year-old Czech national, stands accused of being a courier for the violent organization, in a case that brought a consul from the Czech Embassy to a federal courtroom in Baltimore on Tuesday amid complaints about the defendant's court-appointed lawyer.