False Imprisonment

Baltimore police believe they may have thwarted a killing Wednesday when they tracked down a 17-year-old boy who had been abducted while on his way to school and was being held for ransom in a vacant dwelling in Southwest Baltimore. About 9 a.m., an officer was flagged down by a man who said his son had been abducted. As he was talking to police, he received a call on his cell phone from his son's number, and on the line was a man who demanded cash and two "bricks," a term typically used to describe a large package of drugs.

Man sought in altercation with police on I-695 Police were searching yesterday evening for a man who pulled a knife on a Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer during a traffic stop, prompting another officer to fire at the man, authorities said. The incident began at 12:30 a.m. yesterday when an officer pulled over a 2003 Cadillac along Interstate 695 in Anne Arundel County.

A three-time convicted rapist was sentenced yesterday to life in prison in the rape of a 26-year-old Anne Arundel County woman almost two decades ago. Wendell Keys, 40, of Gwynn Oak was convicted by a jury last month of first- and second-degree rape and false imprisonment for the 1990 attack. Keys was linked to the crime through the state's DNA database in 2005 and was indicted last year. The woman, who is now 44, was at a Linthicum nightclub with a friend on the night of July 31, 1990, before she was raped in the back seat of a car by two men who threatened to kill her, said Pamela Alban, the prosecutor.

These days, talk of kidnappings or executions by hideous means usually refers to disturbing news from the Middle East. But, oddly enough, such topics also apply to a gem of a comic opera that manages to get laughs out of false imprisonment, a shooting and even an attempted impalement -- all set to deliciously tuneful, rhythmically buoyant music. If you go L'etoile will be performed at 8 p.m. tomorrow and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Barns at Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna, Va. Tickets are $58. Call 877-965-3872 or go to wolftrap.

CARROLL COUNTY FINKSBURG Man indicted in imprisonment case A Reisterstown man accused of holding a woman against her will for more than a month in a Finksburg home was indicted by a grand jury on more than three dozen charges, including assault and reckless endangerment, according to court documents. William Thomas Parrish III, 25, was indicted on 39 counts last week, said David Daggett, Carroll County deputy state?s attorney. The charges include first- and second-degree rape, first- and second-degree assault, false imprisonment and sodomy.

NATIONAL Obama raises $25 million Sen. Barack Obama's announcement that he has raised $25 million this year - nearly as much as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton - shakes up the presidential race and makes it clear that no Democrat will attain early dominance. pg 1a Army probing two deaths A week after acknowledging a litany of errors in the friendly fire death of former NFL star Pat Tillman, the Army said that two soldiers killed in Iraq in February might also have been killed by their own comrades.

The 25-year-old woman had known William Thomas Parrish III since they were about 16 and had started seeing him romantically in December after he was released from jail. A couple of months later, Parrish was holding her against her will in a modest brick home owned by his grandfather in Finksburg, according to court documents. By the time she managed to escape, the woman says, Parrish had beaten, burned and assaulted her, gagged her with socks and tattooed her with his name. Parrish was arrested Saturday after authorities searched the house and is facing charges of first- and second-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and malicious destruction of property, police said.

A 21-year-old man who pleaded guilty last month to assaulting a law enforcement officer, false imprisonment and escape was sentenced yesterday in Baltimore District Court to four years in prison. Rodney M. Bethea admitted that he took a civilian police employee hostage in April at the Northeastern District station in Baltimore, where he was being interviewed after an arrest on a charge of marijuana possession. Yesterday in court, the employee submitted an impact statement that was reviewed by The Sun. In it, she describes the fear she felt and how the attack has made her tense and anxious.

A 21-year-old man who took a civilian police employee hostage at a Northeast Baltimore station house this year pleaded guilty yesterday to charges stemming from the incident. Rodney M. Bethea had been arrested on a charge of marijuana possession April 13 when officers brought him to the Northeastern District station for an interview. Court documents said that Bethea first tried to hang himself in an interview room and then later assaulted an officer with a three-foot halogen light bulb.

Kenya Lincoln told police she spent 60 hours confined to her room, the door padlocked from the outside. She said she was tied to her bed frame by a silver chain wrapped around her right ankle, with no food and no water. The reason, Baltimore police said: The 15-year-old had brought home a bad report card. Prosecutors said the mother's boyfriend -- arrested on charges that include child abuse and false imprisonment -- was ordered held without bail after a hearing in District Court yesterday.