Girlfriend

An East Baltimore man has been arrested and charged with strangling his girlfriend, whose body was found Tuesday in her North Port Street home, a spokesman for the city Police Department said. Michael S. Falls, 47, a resident of the Latrobe Homes community in the 800 block of Abbott Court, was arrested yesterday by members of the Regional Warrant Apprehension Task Force at an undisclosed location on warrants charging him with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Josephine House, 63, of the 1700 block of N. Port St., said Agent Donny Moses, the spokesman.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I was involved with this lovely lady in a short-term relationship. As it turned out, we went our separate ways, but remained friends, sharing the small details of life. Well, I thought I had a true friend, but soon found out differently. After moving into another relationship, as did my friend, we would share jokes on the Internet; but on one fateful day, I shared one with her and my new girlfriend. When my ex discovered my girlfriend's e-mail address, she pounced - sending old e-mails about our past to my new lady.

A man convicted in May of beating his girlfriend behind a church in Columbia's Owen Brown village will be sent to jail until he is sentenced in January, a Howard Circuit judge ruled yesterday.Alvin E. Crook of Bowie had been free on bond since he was convicted of battery and sex offense charges.The jury deadlocked on a rape charge after Crook's girlfriend recanted her testimony and testified that she fabricated the story about a rape in August 1995 because she was angry at him for beating her.In making her ruling, Judge Diane O. Leasure said Crook violated the conditions of his release, which restricted the consumption of alcohol.

Q: I recently met and became attracted to a man. We hadn't dated yet, but we were making plans in that direction. One day in the course of conversation, this man mentioned that he already had a girlfriend. After getting over the shock, I told him that in my book a man with a girlfriend was the same as a man with a wife. He told me to get another book, whereupon I immediately broke off the relationship.Can I hear your comments on this. I'm not sure if I was right in my response or if I jumped the gun and was being selfish.

The ex-girlfriend of a man charged with killing an off-duty Baltimore police officer testified yesterday that the defendant playfully pointed a 9mm semiautomatic pistol at her and "clicked" it moments before he left their Dodge Caravan without explanation on the night of the shooting Kelly Carter testified that she watched her boyfriend at the time, Brandon Grimes, turn the corner onto Fairfax Road in Northwest Baltimore. Then, she said, she heard shots fired. Worried that Grimes had been shot, she pulled the van around the corner but saw no one, she said.

A 31-year-old Ellicott City man was arrested Thursday and charged with sexually abusing his girlfriend's 6-year-old daughter.James Winstead Hunter was charged with one count of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of battery after the girlfriend's daughter told her mother, and later state police investigators, of a fondling incident recently at her Finksburg home.The names of the girl and her mother are being withheld to protect the child's privacy.Mr. Hunter was being held in the Carroll County Detention Center on $10,000 bail yesterday.

The big story in Baltimore lately has been about a situation between a former boyfriend and girlfriend. But the story's not about teenagers. The "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" are in their 50s. She's the mayor; he's a big-time developer. A few years ago, Baltimore had a police commissioner, Kevin P. Clark, who got into an argument with the woman he lived with. Their dispute made the news. She said she was Mr. Clark's wife. He said she was his fianc?e, whom he has been dating for 14 years.

A 19-year-old Millersville man was shot in the back Tuesday in the culmination of a two-day dispute over a former girlfriend, county police said.Joseph Izaiah Proctor, 19, of the 400 block of Secluded Post Circle was treated at North Arundel Hospital and released. Investigators were interviewing Proctor and at least eight witnesses yesterday searching for information about the gunman.Investigators said Proctor argued about his former girlfriend with another man near his home on Monday. The argument seemed to end peacefully, but about 4 p.m. the next day, a group of men went to Proctor's apartment complex and reopened the argument.

An Ellicott City man has been charged with breaking in to his girlfriend's house armed with a World War II-style rifle yesterday morning.Kalvin Ray Shiver, 34, of the 8600 block of Falls Run, was charged with breaking and entering, assault and battery, reckless endangerment and weapons violations, police said.Police said a man armed with a .30-caliber M-1 carbine and a knife broke into a house in the 7600 block of Coach Light Lane in Ellicott City about 2: 10 a.m. and threatened to kill his girlfriend, her brother and another person inside.

A 33-year-old man was released on his own recognizance by a court commissioner after a brief standoff with state police.Ronald Gordon Riley Jr., who lived with his girlfriend near Morgan Run, was charged with assaulting the girlfriend and her son Monday.State police said they were called to the house about 5:30 p.m. Monday after a man reportedly became angry at the supper table and allegedly kicked a chair into the woman's son, hitting the boy on the right knee. The youth's mother told investigators the man then pushed the boy out of his chair and to the floor, grabbed the youth from behind and took him to the kitchen.