Harassment

A long-running domestic dispute between movie actor John Heard and "Homicide" actress Melissa Leo moved yesterday to a Baltimore courtroom, where prosecutors dropped a stalking charge against Heard but named him in new harassment charges.Leo, 36, who plays a tough police detective in the NBC television series, alleges in court papers that Heard has been stalking their 9-year-old son, whom she was awarded custody of after a bitter 1994 court battle.She and Heard had a three-year relationship in the 1980s, but they were never married.

The owner of Basta Pasta restaurants in Fallston and Timonium is accused of sexually harassing employees, including teenagers, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, alleges that owner Michael Sakellis, repeatedly would inappropriately touch or would make sexual comments toward female employees, some of whom were teenagers. One female employee said she was given alcohol, which she believed was drugged in an attempt to sexually assault her, the suit says.

A day after two Baltimore County women sued their supervisor, a State Farm insurance agent, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Co. on grounds of sexual harassment, assault and defamation, a company representative said Wednesday that it would investigate the allegations. Jen Alvarez, a State Farm spokeswoman in Virginia, said that company officials had not had an opportunity to study the filing, and she would not discuss personnel issues. "What we can tell you is that we take any allegations of this nature seriously and will be thoroughly investigating the matter," Alvarez said.

A 2013 Maryland General Assembly bill bearing the name of a Howard County teenager who killed herself last year is expected to be signed into law, but it stands on shaky constitutional ground, an official of the Maryland ACLU said. The "Misuse of Interactive Computer Service" bill is also known simply as Grace's Law, named for Grace McComas, the 15-year-old Glenelg High School student who committed suicide on Easter Sunday last year after months of being harassed on social media sites.

Tom Kiefaber, former owner of the Senator Theatre , was released from jail Tuesday and gave his own account of events leading to his arrest Monday at the cinema, denying that he has trespassed and harassed the current owners. Kiefaber had been charged Monday with trespassing and taken to Central Booking downtown. Later that day, a Baltimore district judge issued a temporary peace order prohibiting Kiefaber from contacting Kathleen Cusack, who operates the Senator along with her father, James "Buzz" Cusack.

Days after operators of Baltimore's Senator Theatre accused former owner Tom Kiefaber of trespassing at the movie house and harassing workers, Kiefaber was arrested Monday at the site. Police were called to the York Road theater Monday morning where Kiefaber was being "unruly and inappropriate," said Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He was making threats and refused to leave, Guglielmi said. Kiefaber was charged with trespassing and taken to Central Booking downtown.

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Two Jewish brothers won a $115,000 settlement from a Texas-based human resources firm after alleging that they endured religious-based harassment - including verbal and physical abuse - while they worked at an office in Harford County, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday. Brothers Scott and Joseph Jacobson detailed several complaints, including being called "dirty Jew," "dumb Jew," "stupid Jew" and other anti-Semitic slurs by managers and co-workers while working at an office for Conn-X LLC, a cable TV service provider in Edgewood.

I agree completely with your editorial of Nov. 3 ("Mug-slinging campaigns in city were short on issues"). and would like to comment further. While it was quite a "mud-slinging" campaign of gigantic proportions, I wonder if anyone else noticed the two policemen in full uniform with the Moe election workers (parked cruisers in full view) at the community center on Election Day? While I fully support the police force exercising their political freedom, I thought that they should have been in "civvies" while doing so without the use of taxpayers' money for their transportation.

I say the following as someone who supports the pro-life position. Harassing individuals who are pro-choice and particularly their children is outrageous. It is unequivocally wrong to target Todd Stave through fliers comparing him to Nazis; advertising his private phone number; and doing so where he lives and where his daughter goes to school. Pro-life organizations who are unwilling to vociferously denounce these tactics are an embarrassment to the pro-life cause. On the other hand, The Sun didn't report how Mr. Stave is fighting back.

A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Harford County Public Schools and two school officials on behalf of a disabled student, who the suit claims was subjected to years of continuous bullying and threats from other students beginning when he was a student at Church Creek Elementary School and continuing when he was a student at Aberdeen Middle and High schools. The suit contends the school system not only failed to address the problem, but also failed to protect the student from the abuse.

An Arizona man pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of stalking his ex-wife in Maryland after a campaign of harassment and violent threats that included mailing the woman shredded copies of protective orders she had taken out against him, the U.S. Justice Department said. David Charles Richards, 49, of Phoenix, will be sentenced in June and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for stalking. Richards and the woman were married in the early 1990s and lived in Anne Arundel County, according to his indictment, but the marriage ended after about 10 weeks when Richards told his wife he had been previously arrested for assault and she ordered him from the home.

Many of us can remember what it feels like to be bullied as a kid in school or in the neighborhood. Perhaps you were the focus of a joke or a kick in the shin, or maybe it was the simple act of exclusion from the lunch table or the dodge ball team. Sometimes no harm was meant; other times the inflicted pain was intentional, and you remember it years later. One thing was certain, however, and that was the ability to escape the bullying in the safe haven of home. No schoolyard antagonist could penetrate the walls of home, and thus that sanctity served as an oasis where a bullied child could regroup and feel safe for a portion of each day while learning to navigate the world.

Three of County Executive John R. Leopold's top aides have threatened to sue a co-worker for libel after she accused them of sexual harassment, spying and destroying documents. An attorney for the three aides wrote two letters to the co-worker demanding an apology and calling the woman's claims "libelous" and "slanderous. " The letter also calls for her to retract her sworn affidavit, filed in two civil suits against Leopold. "The goal is plain and simple," attorney T. Joseph Touhey, who wrote the letter, said in an interview.

Baltimore Police want to know whether a man suing police for deleting images from his camera at the 2010 Preakness has a drug history, and have reached out to his ex-wife and former employers, an effort his attorneys say amounts to harassment and intimidation. In recent filings in U.S. District Court, police said "whether or not the plaintiff is a drug addict is absolutely material to his competency as a witness. " They have sought phone records, employment records, spoken to his ex-wife's mother and boyfriend, and want the result of a hair follicle test from 2007 divorce proceedings.

The former owner of the Senator Theatre told a police officer "he wished to be arrested in an attempt to get the media involved," according to charging documents in the Aug. 13 incident outside the Baltimore cinema. Tom Kiefaber was arrested that day and charged with trespassing. Below is the text of the charging document; it also appears as a related item (see left). There are seven charges filed against Kiefaber by James "Buzz" Cusack, current operator of the Senator: five counts of trespassing, one count of harassment and an accusation of illegal dumping (at the Senator on Aug. 8)

A bill to outlaw sexual harassment in Annapolis has won the support of two City Council subcommittees, paving the way for its expected approval Monday night.The three women on the council -- Ruth Gray, R-Ward 4, Theresa DeGraff, R-Ward 7, and Ellen O. Moyer, D-Ward 8 -- have agreed to co-sponsor the legislation introduced by Alderman CarlO. Snowden, D-Ward 5. Alderman Samuel Gilmer, D-Ward 3, also added his name to the bill yesterday.The bill would make sexual harassment a misdemeanor in the state capital and allow District Court judges to fine people convicted of harassment or jail them for up to six months.

Tom Kiefaber, former owner of the Senator Theatre , was released from jail Tuesday and gave his own account of events leading to his arrest Monday at the cinema, denying that he has trespassed and harassed the current owners. Kiefaber had been charged Monday with trespassing and taken to Central Booking downtown. Later that day, a Baltimore district judge issued a temporary peace order prohibiting Kiefaber from contacting Kathleen Cusack, who operates the Senator along with her father, James "Buzz" Cusack.