Hightower

Robert Poch of Potomac has been convicted on one count of tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Gary P. Jordan and IRS District Director H. J. Hightower announced Friday.He pleaded guilty Friday before U.S. District Court Judge John R. Hargrove Sr. in Baltimore. Poch was charged with income tax evasion and structuring monetary transactions in order to circumvent reporting requirements for the 1987 tax year.

Co-workers of Emilia D. Raras -- the woman charged with hiring a hit man to kill her daughter-in-law -- testified yesterday that they knew of the custody battle between her son and Sara J. Williamson Raras, and of the elder Raras' friendly association with the man accused of killing the woman. The witnesses, who worked with Raras, 63, and Ardale D. Tickles at a Baltimore County nursing home testified that Raras and Tickles were seen talking on several occasions in the employee lounge and at the nursing station before Sara Raras, 35, was killed at her home on Meadowfield Court in Elkridge.

On June 8, 2009, LLOYD H. SMITH; devoted husband of Eleanor Hightower Smith and beloved father of Lorne and Lynn Smith. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Tuesday after 8:30 A.M. The family will receive friends on Wednesday at the Concord Baptist Church, 5204 Liberty Heights Avenue at 10:30 A.M followed by funeral service at 11:00 A.M.

A Glen Burnie woman on probation for helping to clean a murder scene was placed on house arrest yesterday while the judge decides what to do about a probation violation involving continued drug use, her second such violation. "I am trying to stay out of trouble," Corinne Catramados, 22, told Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Ronald A. Silkworth. "I have changed so much in the past three years that it's unbelievable." But a probation agent, E. Vicki Kozlowski, said that Catramados missed meetings with her, tested positive for drug use five times and is on her fourth drug program.

On a quiet, tree-lined street in Silver Spring, shaken neighbors were still struggling yesterday to understand the deaths of Dorothy and George Bechtold, whose bodies were found after their son walked into a Florida police station and confessed he had killed them.The youngest of the couple's five children, 23-year-old Brian Antonio Bechtold brought his Rottweiler dog named Ox when he walked into the police station in Port St. Joe, a town about 30 miles east of Panama City, and told Sgt. Timothy Hightower he wanted to turn himself in for murder.

In a gray shirt with a collar low enough to show the word "murder" tattooed on his neck, Shane E. Pardoe stood before Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Pamela L. North yesterday and begged for a second chance. "I'm sorry a thousand times," the 20-year-old convicted murderer from Glen Burnie told the judge. "I know I need to be punished for the wrongful things I did do, but I beg you to have mercy on me." Calling Pardoe a "very, very dangerous person," North sentenced him to 55 years in prison for the killing of his neighbor, Robert E. Hightower, in February 2000.

DISTRAUGHT and red-eyed, Chris Hightower, 15, emerged from Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth. Eight people were dead or dying inside the church, including the man who opened fire."

Blair Underwood has spent his career refusing to kowtow to Hollywood stereotypes. And that's why he's proud to be starring in G, a movie dominated by African-American characters and set in the upscale, moneyed world of the Long Island shoreline. The 40-year-old actor and his co-stars, Richard T. Jones and Andre Royo, are scheduled to be in Baltimore on Tuesday night for an invitation-only screening at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. G opens in theaters Sept.

Maryland's women's basketball team pulled ahead early and stayed in control the entire game as the Terps (7-2) rolled to a 73-42 victory over visiting Coppin State (2-6) last night. Junior Jamecca Harrell led Maryland with 16 points off the bench, and sophomore Terri Daniels had a career-high 12 assists. Keisha Brooks led Coppin State with 15 points, 12 in the second half. St. John's 61, UMBC 45: Tynisha Myles scored 17 to power the Red Storm past the Retrievers in their inaugural meeting in Jamaica, N.Y. Shalayna Johnson led UMBC with 14 points and Sheila Johnson had 11. Men Delaware State 84, Towson 66: Delaware State, led by Carrington Hightower (21 points)