Howard Police

Howard County police collected 256 pounds of unused, unwanted medications in four hours Saturday. The county's two police stations accepted medications from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., part of a National Take Back Initiative to reduce poisonings, misuse and theft, while also keeping people from flushing drugs down the toilet. Police did not examine the items, but sealed them and weighed them for disposal by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA said there were 4,094 collection locations nationwide and nearly 3,000 law enforcement organizations participated.

Howard County police say a man who went missing on Saturday has been located unharmed. Sean Adib Barazandehkar, 20, had been reported missing after family members last saw him April 27 at 8:55 p.m. at a family function in Highland Police said he was located in good condition in Prince George's County. No other information was available. This story has been updated. Staff Reports

The bespectacled man looks young and eager. Like an insurance salesman ready to get crazy with an actuarial table or two. Dressed in a collared dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a red tie and gray pants, he's holding a piece of paper in his hands. He's in western Howard County, on secluded Browns Bridge Road, sparsely lined with large houses hidden by trees. He's standing on someone's front porch at 10:24 in the morning, knocking on a storm door. The owner isn't home, but he's been burglarized before, so he has hidden a video camera to catch the next person who breaks in. This will be that person.

Howard County police are asking for the public's help in locating a elderly man who has been missing since Saturday afternoon, and have issued a Silver Alert in an attempt to find him. Huber Earl Smutz, Jr., 82, was reported missing around 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19. According to police, a family member woke up around noon and Smutz was gone from his home in the 700 block of Driver Road in Marriottsville. He left in a 2007 silver Honda Accord with MD tag HYR743, police said. Smutz is described as a white male, balding, with straight gray hair and blue eyes, no facial hair and a medium build.

Howard County Police are warning of a spate of so-called "bottle bomb" pranks in which plastic soda containers are filled with chemicals and left to explode. County residents have reported five bottle bomb incidents to police this year. Nine incidents were reported in 2011, police said. Victims of the pranks risk injuries to the skin, eyes and lungs. Anyone who finds a suspicious container is advised to stay clear and call 911. Common instructions for the bombs found online call for a mixture of drain cleaner, water and aluminum foil.

Howard County police are looking for two women who used credit cards at Laurel Mall that had been stolen from a Laurel home the same day. The women used the cards at about 6 p.m. Oct. 14 at the mall. The credit cards, two televisions and jewelry were stolen from the 8400 block of Old Columbia Road in Laurel that day. While at the mall, the women were recorded driving a 2002 white Ford F150 truck that had been stolen Oct. 6 from a neighboring jurisdiction. The vehicle was recovered Oct. 19 in another county with suspected stolen property inside.

Despite Tuesday's searing heat and humidity, Howard County police spent the day outside, bringing a trailer full of games and activities to the first of five different neighborhoods where kids free of school want something fun to do. Everything from the county police helicopter to the department's armored car was on display as hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on a grill behind Stonehouse, the Long Reach community center, though few neighborhood kids...

Howard County police have identified the man killed in a motorcyle accident Tuesday in a Jessup parking lot. Stacy Summers, 38, of Spring Grove, Pa., apparently lost control of his motorcycle Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of Frank's Seafood, in the 7900 block of Oceano Ave., and struck the back of a pickup truck. Summers was pronounced dead at the scene, and police said he was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. jtorbati@baltsun.com

Howard County has added 50 portable automatic external defibrillators to police cars, enabling officers on patrol to begin life-saving help on people whose hearts have stopped. The devices, which are used to jump-start a heartbeat, cost $55,850, police said. The units were placed in patrol cars and spread across the county because police sometimes reach emergency scenes before rescue workers, officials said. A police spokeswoman said the department will evaluate their use to determine whether having more defibrillators would be useful.

Howard County police are warning residents to keep close watch on gifts delivered by mail, after a surveillance camera in Ellicott City captured footage of a woman apparently taking a recently delivered parcel from a porch last Friday. The video was captured by a security system on the 8200 block of Weston Drive, police said. A delivery company dropped off a package at 9:50 a.m., according to a news release, and a blue sedan followed at 11:20 a.m. A woman got out of the vehicle, took the package, placed it in the vehicle's trunk and drove away.

Howard County police are searching for a man who installed a video camera in the bedrooms and bathroom of an Ellicott City condominium where two young women live, unbeknownst to the women. Police released footage of the suspect that was found on the camera after its discovery last month, and are asking for the public's help identifying him following an unsuccessful investigation to date. The man allegedly entered the condo of the women, both in their 20s, multiple times over a period of four months to change the location of the hidden camera, police said.

A man and woman were arrested Thursday night after fleeing a Laurel motel room that police were about to raid as part of a drug investigation and leading officers on a pursuit through multiple jurisdictions, according to Howard County Police. Police had arrived about 5 p.m. at the Turf Motel in the 9800 block of Washington Boulevard to serve a search and seizure warrant at one of the motel's rooms when they saw the pair drive off in a 2003 Ford Taurus, police said. Police pursued the vehicle and attempted to make a traffic stop, but the man driving the Taurus refused to stop, police said.

A Baltimore man was fatally shot by a Howard County police officer during a joint effort by Baltimore City and Howard County police to arrest him at a home in Columbia late Thursday, according to Howard County police. The man, who was not identified late Thursday because his family hadn't yet been notified of his death, was wanted on assault, reckless endangerment and gun charges stemming from a domestic dispute with his child's mother early Thursday morning, Howard police said. Officers from both jurisdictions surrounded the home in the 9000 block of Constant Course Thursday night after learning of the man's presence there and obtaining a warrant for his arrest, Howard police said.

Howard County police detectives searched the office of the Columbia Housing Corporation on Wednesday in an investigation involving an employee, a lawyer representing the nonprofit agency said in a statement. Thomas Meachum, of Columbia, said in an email that the agency "provided the information and documentation requested by the Police Department, and will continue to provide any other information the Department feels it needs to conduct its investigation of the employee. The employee in question has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

With record highs on tap for the next few days , experts are reminding us to keep an eye out on our kids and vehicles. The Howard County Police are asking people to remember the kids can get overheated very quickly, and that cars parked in direct sunlight can reach temperatures of 131 degrees to 172 degrees F when outside temperatures are 80-100, and we're expecting higher than 100. "It's critical that caregivers know it is never safe...

Howard Community College was evacuated Thursday morning after someone called in a bomb threat to local police. Howard County police officials said they ordered all students out of the Columbia school before 10 a.m., after receiving a call stating there was a bomb on the college's property. After searching the school, police ruled the threat a hoax and allowed students to return to class before 11 a.m., officials said. Mike Scrivener, a college spokesman, said the buildings were evacuated for about 40 minutes and the disruption was minimal.

Police Officer Sarah Miller has already filled her new headquarters in Columbia's Owen Brown Village Center with large wall maps, informational brochures and community fliers, dozens of coloring books and a bowl brimming with lollipops. After months on bicycle patrol, she knows her territory and now has a spot from which she can direct efforts to safeguard the village she serves. "I wanted as many maps as possible," she said. "Owen Brown can be a confusing area geographically.

Police in Howard County are investigating a string of break-ins of shops and other businesses in Columiba, all committed late Tuesday into early Wednesday, and all in close proximity. Here is a list from the Howard County Police Department: "6400 block of Dobbin Center Way : Tan Stand: Front glass door of business shattered. Cash was taken. Pei Wei: Front glass door of business shattered. Unknown what was taken at this time. Max Muscle: Glass at front of business shattered.

Teens learn on YouTube to make the "bombs" with a few cheap, household items, then travel in groups late at night — eager to hear the boom, laugh with friends and gauge whatever damage they've wrought. According to Lt. Carlton Saunders of Howard County's office of the fire marshal, teenagers consider it a prank when they experiment with "bottle bombs," which have been found over the years in counties all across the Baltimore region. The explosions are rarely associated with damage greater than a busted mailbox, and are even more rarely associated with injuries, Saunders said.