Drug Charges

Federal prosecutors indicted drug dealer Jose Joaquin Morales for ordering the 2008 killing of Robert Long, a witness against him in a theft case, just weeks after a man originally convicted of the murder had his conviction vacated. Morales is serving a 20-year prison term after pleading guilty to federal drug charges. Another man, Demetrius Smith of Baltimore, was convicted in state court of Long's murder in 2010. Smith maintained that he was innocent, and the City Paper reported in August that a new trial was ordered and his case quietly dropped when new information emerged in a federal investigation.

WEATHER The National Weather Service is calling for Wednesday to be cloudy, with a high near 87 and southwest winds around 8 miles per hour. There is a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Wednesday night is expected to be mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT Search continues for missing boater in Arundel : Rescue workers planned to continue searching waters near Gibson Island on Wednesday for a missing man who was tossed from a boat in the area during a squall Monday, according to a Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police spokesman.

A 28-year-old Severn man was arrested on multiple gun and drug charges Tuesday after paramedics responded to his home and found his 5-year-old son had ingested methadone, according to Anne Arundel County Police. Paul Kristopher Brooks, of the 1200 block of Reece Road, could also face child neglect charges, and charges are also pending against an additional, unidentified suspect, police said. Emergency personnel first responded to Brooks' home about 8:10 p.m. Tuesday after a 911 caller reported the boy was not breathing after accidentally ingesting the prescription narcotic and powerful liquid pain killer, police said.

Two men were arrested Tuesday morning on drug charges after a Baltimore County bomb squad found a chemical inhalant in the basement of a rowhouse in the Parkville-Hillendale area the previous day. Justin Trionfo, 19, who lived at the rowhouse in the 8300 block of Ridgely Oak Road, and Kahrl Retti, 18, of the first block of Bideford Court in Carney, were both charged with two counts of intent to distribute the inhalant found. The inhalant consisted of water mixed with Super Tech starter engine fluid, police said.

A Queenstown man who spent three years in prison for killing a Maryland Transportation Authority officer when his pickup truck rammed into the officer's cruiser was ordered Tuesday to return to prison for another two years. When charged last fall with drug violations, Albert Gene Antonelli, 40, was in the midst of his five years of probation after the end of his prison stay for causing the 2004 crash that killed Duke G. Aaron III of Pasadena near the Bay Bridge. Antonelli had been sentenced in 2005 to serve three years of a five-year prison term for manslaughter in Aaron's death, followed by probation.

A 55-year-old man operating an unauthorized cab in Baltimore witnessed a passenger's arrest, according to prosecutors, then turned down a bribe to give false testimony in the case. Months later, he was shot to death in front of the suburban home he shared with his elderly mother. City and Baltimore County prosecutors revealed the details of the 2011 killing of Ronald Givens on Thursday as they announced the murder indictments of four men, three of whom were also charged with conspiracy, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.

A 9-year-old boy who was seriously injured in a shooting last week in Druid Heights is progressing well, according to City Councilman Nick Mosby, who visited the boy in the hospital on Wednesday.  Police have formally charged Donte White, 23, in the Aug. 20, which occurred in the 400 block of Bloom St. and also injured two men. Police believe at least one of those men were the intended targets, and the boy was struck in the crossfire.  ...

A 16-year-old Havre de Grace teen is facing drug charges after police saw her walking through a neighborhood early Friday morning. A Havre de Grace police officer on patrol around 3:30 a.m. in Grace Harbour, where several thefts from vehicles have been reported in recent weeks, and saw a female, carrying a large purse, duck behind two cars, Ofc. Jeff Gilpin, of the Havre de Grace Police, said. The officer drove up the street, turned off his lights and drove back down Canvasback Drive, where he saw the girl sitting on a porch.

A 26-year-old Baltimore man has been charged with first-degree murder and 13 other crimes in a triple shooting inside a Mid-Govans home last month that left one man dead, police said Thursday. Police say they have identified Maurice Jerome Lonon as one of two men who on July 16 entered the home in the 5500 block of Lothian Road, pulled out a handgun and began shooting. Quinton Winder, 35, was shot in the head and later found sitting on a couch in a front room. Alfreda Ellis, 50, who was also shot in the head, was sitting on the floor, while Darnell Middleton, 28, who was shot in the face, was found in a rear alley.

A police investigation into how the body of a Charles Village woman ended up badly decomposed in a neighbor's apartment this month will continue after a state medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death, according to Baltimore police. The body of Kristie Hufnagel, 41, was found July 21 in an apartment at 123 W. 29th Street, after police entered the apartment following the arrest of its lease holder, Marvin White, 67, on drug charges, said Anthony Guglielmi, a police spokesman.