Detective

Two con artists who claim to be Anne Arundel County detectives investigating credit-card misuse apparently have devised a scam targeting Asians, county police said yesterday.In the last week, the men have called four restaurants, three owned by Asians, and claimed to be investigating credit-card fraud in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. They requested names, numbers and expiration dates on credit-card receipts.Workers at the Grand Palace Restaurant in the 5700 block of Ritchie Highway in Brooklyn Park, and the Sunset Restaurant and Lounge in the 600 block of Greenway S.E. and Ying's Restaurant in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway, both in Glen Burnie, supplied the information to the bogus detectives, said Detective Ronald Hines, a police spokesman.

An undercover Howard County detective cruising Washington Boulevard in Elkridge in an unmarked car hit a pedestrian in the roadway early yesterday morning, killing the man, county police said.The detective, whom police would not identify, was traveling north in the 7300 block of Washington Boulevard about 2:20 a.m. when she hit a man identified by police as Kenneth W. Ernest, 25, of Jessup.Police said Mr. Ernest was in the middle of the road trying to retrieve his bicycle, which had apparently been thrown onto the highway from the parking lot of Champs Bar by a man with whom the victim had been arguing.

At a critical moment in the police interrogation of Dontay Carter, homicide Detective Donald Steinhice rose from his chair to hit the teen-age suspect in a tender spot -- his ego.Convinced that Carter was lying when he initially tried to pass the blame for Vitalis V. Pilius' death to a youth known as "Tom Boh," the detective said: "In other words, you ain't s," according to testimony yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court."

Daniel W. Shea, a veteran detective who spent his last eight years solving murders and other crimes for the Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit, died Saturday at home after a five-month battle with lung cancer. He was 42.Services for Detective Shea were held yesterday.Well-read, thoughtful and possessed of an exceptionally dry wit, Danny Shea was as unlikely a candidate for a police career as could be found. A careful student of history and literature, he was as comfortable discussing English poets and Irish rebellions as he was talking about bullet calibers and wound tracks.

An undercover Howard County detective filed a $4.3 million suit yesterday against three Columbia men who have been charged criminally with robbing and severely beating him in a drug deal that went amiss.The police officer took the unusual action of suing the people he claims assaulted him because "he wanted to send a strong message that it is not an acceptable kind of conduct to beat and kick any citizen," said his attorney, Clarke F. Ahlers.The 26-year-old officer, Michael J. Oles 3rd, who has been on the county force 2 1/2 years, was hospitalized for a day and missed seven weeks of work in recovering from his wounds to his left eye and head.

A county police detective assigned to the Northern District has received one of two statewide awards from the Maryland Retailers Association for outstanding efforts in combating retail crime. Detective Terresa L. Robey was recognized in the category of retail crime investigation and apprehension for developing "a new database and reporting system that allowed police to target chronic offenders," the association said. She also was recognized for her work with the statewide Organized Retail Theft Task Force, in which she is developing a regional pilot program for Anne Arundel County and Southern Maryland.

When area residents turn on their stereos to listen to their favorite radio station, kick back their feet to watch television, or show off their favorite piece of jewelry, many of them have Det. Linda Bowers to thank for it.In the past four years, the Eastern District detective has recovered stolen property worth $160,000 and made more than 140 arrests -- laurels that made her worthy of the Eastern District Police Community Relations Council Officer of...

A 57-year-old accountant admitted to police that he played a role in the chloroform inhalation death of his 20-year-old girlfriend, according to a detective who testified at a Howard Circuit Court hearing yesterday.Melvin Robert Bowers of Ellicott City told investigators after his arrest that he helped his girlfriend hold a rag soaked with chloroform over her mouth to treat a toothache, Sgt. Stephen Prozeralik testified.Mr. Bowers, a divorced father of four children, reported that the last thing he remembered before falling asleep was that Geneva Marie Hodge of Baltimore still had the rag over her mouth in the early morning hours of Sept.

Howard C. Corbin, a decorated Baltimore police detective who worked on all the major murder cases after joining the homicide unit in 1966, died Dec. 7 of a heart attack at Good Samaritan Hospital.He was 68 and had been on medical leave after suffering a stroke in 1992.During his years with the Baltimore Police Department, he received 21 commendations, four Bronze Stars, a Unit Citation and a Distinguished Service Award. He was the senior member of the department in years of service."He worked one way or the other on all the major homicide cases.