Howard County Sheriff

As Maryland tries to keep handguns from people accused of domestic violence, the major obstacle is poor recordkeeping by sheriffs' offices, whose workers are ill-equipped to handle the staggering volume of files.Sheriffs place a low priority on logging domestic violence restraining orders -- often entering them incorrectly or not at all -- into the state police database that blocks the sale of a handgun to a person accused of domestic abuse, according to court documents and interviews with law enforcement officials.

At Smith Farm, our oft-maligned system workedCarping at our elected officials is always good sport. Sometimes, it may even become a podium-thumping exercise where the rules of engagement are foggy and private agendas veer wildly off the topic, but mostly it is hung on the sincere complaint of a single gored ox or the perceived slight.The seasoned administrator deftly handles this stuff in a manner that seeks to calm and placate the speaker showing respect for the opinion and discomfort of the aggrieved and moving the laborious proceedings along after taking notes for further study.

A 34-year-old Baltimore man is accused of breaking into an Ellicott City home Thursday and then leading a Howard County sheriff's deputy on a chase.About 1 p.m. Thursday, police said, someone spotted a suspicious car in the driveway of the home, called authorities and scared off the man, who had entered the home through a back window.The man drove away and was chased by the sheriff's deputy, police said. He was arrested near Chatham Mall on Baltimore National Pike.Charged with first-degree burglary, destruction of property and several traffic violations is Roy Edward Young of the 100 block of Solar Circle.

One effect of the rise in youth crime in Howard County? More teen-agers are in trouble than local juvenile authorities feel they can effectively handle.So today, the Howard County Sheriff's Office begins to take over management of many teen-agers sentenced to perform community service after being charged with crimes. Overseeing these sentences had been the responsibility of Howard's Department of Juvenile Justice.Though the overall crime rate in this suburban county remains relatively low, the number of teen-agers referred to juvenile authorities has almost doubled in the past four years.

After 26 years as a Howard County police officer, Joseph Collins retired one Friday. The next Monday, he began working for the Howard County sheriff's office, immediately boosting his annual income by roughly $6,000.The instant pay increase came from adding his new salary as a sheriff's deputy to his police pension.The potential for that sort of quick gain is partly responsible for drawing 12 retired police officers from the Baltimore region to the county sheriff's office, or more than one-third of its 25 sworn deputies and eight security officers.

When Richmond Laney and Michael A. Chiuchiolo ran against each other for Howard County sheriff in 1990, their campaigns focused on revelations that some top deputies had jokingly practiced Nazi salutes.Their electoral contest this year is following suit, as Mr. Laney -- the loser in 1990 -- is attacking Mr. Chiuchiolo for not doing enough to clean up the department.In the process, however, the Republican underdog has infuriated members of the department and even his own political party -- prompting several area Republicans to publicly endorse Mr. Chiuchiolo, the Democratic incumbent.

A man who owes more than $48,000 in support to his five children was arrested last week while paying for a pizza delivered to his Baltimore County home.Charles Anthony Farace, 43, was arrested without incident Friday by deputies from the Baltimore City Sheriff's Office on charges that he violated a Howard County court order requiring him to pay child support.Mr. Farace, who owes $48,135 in support, has paid less than $5,000 to his ex-wife, Joy Goldsmith of Ellicott City, since he was ordered to pay $600 a month in 1986, records say.Mr.

The Howard County Sheriff's Office is taking over and expanding the state program that enables some criminals to provide community service to avoid going to jail.Sheriff Michael A. Chiuchiolo announced last week that his office has received a $128,006 grant from the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to operate the community service program.The program will be aimed at reducing occupancy in the county Detention Center and easing the workload of the state's Office of Parole and Probation in Howard, Sheriff Chiuchiolo said.

A man who owes more than $48,000 in support for his five children was arrested last week while paying for a pizza delivered to his Baltimore County home.Charles Anthony Farace, 43, was arrested without incident Friday by deputies from the Baltimore City sheriff's office on charges that he violated a Howard County court order requiring him to pay child support.Mr. Farace, who owes $48,135 in support, has paid less than $5,000 to his ex-wife, Joy Goldsmith of Ellicott City, since he was ordered to pay $600 a month in 1986, records say.Mr.

Two Republican candidates for Howard County sheriff say their inexperience in law enforcement wouldn't hinder their job performance.Theodore Morse, a senior technical assistant for AT&T Corp, scoutmaster and former rancher, is competing against Richmond Laney, an Army Reserve captain.The two Ellicott City residents say they intend to boost the profile and expand the role of the Sheriff's Department, a small, but key county law enforcement agency.The winner of the Sept. 13 primary election will try to unseat Howard County Sheriff Mike Chiuchiolo, a 25-year Howard police veteran who is seeking a second four-year term and is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

The Howard County Sheriff's Office will take extra security measures for the capital murder trial this week of Brandon T. Morris, who attempted to flee a Howard County courtroom in May during jury-selection proceedings. His trial is scheduled to begin tomorrow in Howard County Circuit Court. Morris, 22, of Baltimore is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of corrections officer Jeffery A. Wroten in January 2006 during an attempted escape from Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown, where Morris had been taken for treatment of self-inflicted wounds.

A 10-year search for a Maryland fugitive ended in Arizona after a Howard County sheriff's investigator checking computer databases noticed that the man had recently obtained a driver's license there. Gilbert Blackman, 57, was arrested by Phoenix police Thursday, bringing to a close the longest-running fugitive search being conducted by the Howard County Sheriff's Office, Sgt. Charles Gable said yesterday. Blackman, formerly of the 6900 block of Knighthood Lane in Columbia, had been wanted in Maryland since 1996, when he disappeared after being charged with violating the terms of his probation.

After speaking with voters in his effort to unseat incumbent Howard County Sheriff Chuck Cave, county police union President Jim Fitzgerald is convinced that about the only people who know what sheriff's deputies do in this county are the prisoners whom deputies ferry to court from the county jail. Fitzgerald's message is that residents need a more aggressive sheriff, one who will secure more personnel, resources and media attention for the 69-person agency and "get red in face" if there's resistance.

Twenty-seven years to the day after a Howard County sheriff accepted the first set of keys to the first official sheriff's car, Howard Sheriff Charles M. Cave sat in a near-exact replica yesterday and turned the key. "Let's fire this thing up," Cave said, as the car, a powder blue 1974 Dodge Coronet purred and its owners, sheriff's employees Deputy Terry Chaney and security officer William Gamber Sr., watched. It took less than five minutes yesterday to unveil what took the two men nearly two years to conceive and create - a copy of the first car assigned to a county sheriff.

A Howard County Sheriff's Office sergeant who heads the department's criminal section has been stripped of his police powers and reassigned to administrative duties in the wake of a Baltimore County indictment charging him with insurance fraud. A Baltimore County grand jury returned the indictment, which includes two felony charges - theft over $500 and insurance fraud - against Sgt. Bryan K. Waser, 28, of Mount Airy, on Jan. 30. Waser, who also serves as Howard's sheriff's office spokesman, turned himself in at the North Point Precinct on Friday and was released on his own recognizance.

A Howard County Sheriff's Office sergeant who heads the department's criminal section has been stripped of his police powers and reassigned to administrative duties in the wake of a Baltimore County indictment charging him with insurance fraud. A Baltimore County grand jury returned the indictment, which includes two felony charges -- theft over $500 and insurance fraud -- against Sgt. Bryan K. Waser, 28, of Mount Airy, on Jan. 30. Waser, who also serves as Howard's sheriff's office spokesman, turned himself in at the North Point precinct Friday and was released on his own recognizance.

As Maryland tries to keep handguns from people accused of domestic violence, the major obstacle is poor recordkeeping by sheriffs' offices, whose workers are ill-equipped to handle the staggering volume of files.Sheriffs place a low priority on logging domestic violence restraining orders -- often entering them incorrectly or not at all -- into the state police database that blocks the sale of a handgun to a person accused of domestic abuse, according to court documents and interviews with law enforcement officials.

A 34-year-old Baltimore man is accused of breaking into an Ellicott City home Thursday and then leading a Howard County sheriff's deputy on a chase.About 1 p.m. Thursday, police said, someone spotted a suspicious car in the driveway of the home, called authorities and scared off the man, who had entered the home through a back window.The man drove away and was chased by the sheriff's deputy, police said. He was arrested near Chatham Mall on Baltimore National Pike.Charged with first-degree burglary, destruction of property and several traffic violations is Roy Edward Young of the 100 block of Solar Circle.

At Smith Farm, our oft-maligned system workedCarping at our elected officials is always good sport. Sometimes, it may even become a podium-thumping exercise where the rules of engagement are foggy and private agendas veer wildly off the topic, but mostly it is hung on the sincere complaint of a single gored ox or the perceived slight.The seasoned administrator deftly handles this stuff in a manner that seeks to calm and placate the speaker showing respect for the opinion and discomfort of the aggrieved and moving the laborious proceedings along after taking notes for further study.

One effect of the rise in youth crime in Howard County? More teen-agers are in trouble than local juvenile authorities feel they can effectively handle.So today, the Howard County Sheriff's Office begins to take over management of many teen-agers sentenced to perform community service after being charged with crimes. Overseeing these sentences had been the responsibility of Howard's Department of Juvenile Justice.Though the overall crime rate in this suburban county remains relatively low, the number of teen-agers referred to juvenile authorities has almost doubled in the past four years.