Identity

One of the people responsible for a scheme to steal the identities of at least 15 people was sentenced to 61 months in prison yesterday in federal court in Baltimore. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Lavon Caldwell, 25, of Baltimore to also serve three years of supervised release on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Bennett also ordered Caldwell to pay restitution of $414,323.30. According to the plea agreement, Caldwell, Nekia Hunter and others purchased at least $320,000 in retail goods and $220,000 in automobiles using fraudulently opened credit accounts in the names of the victims without intending to pay for the goods.

State police released the identity yesterday of a 26-year-old Prince George's County man whose remains were spread across Interstate 95 after being struck multiple times before dawn Monday, closing northbound lanes for seven hours. Investigators notified the relatives in Mexico of Antonio Orozco Martinez, of the 3400 block of Dodge Park Road in Landover. But they released no other details about Martinez, and it remained unclear how his remains came to rest on the interstate, said Maryland State Police 1st Sgt. Russell Newell.

State police at the Golden Ring barracks were trying to determine the identity of a man who was killed when his car struck a tree in the median of Route 702 near the Baltimore Beltway in Essex early yesterday and burst into flames. Shortly after 5 a.m., a passing motorist saw a blue 2008 Toyota engulfed in flames on the northbound ramp of Route 702 leading to the Beltway and called police. Police said a preliminary investigation at the scene indicated that the driver had lost control of the vehicle on the ramp, entered the median shoulder and crashed into a large tree.

County police and Department of Natural Resources officers yesterdaywere trying to determine the identity of a man whose body washed up on a Churchton Beach.A crabber working near a pier behind the 5500 block of Harford Street found the body in shallow water at 9 a.m., near Franklin Manor on the Bay Beach, police said.DNR police said the man was not wearing any jewelry or shoes and had no identification. The state medical examiner said the body had been in the water between 24 and 48 hours.

Lori Kranz is the founder of Baltimore's 10-year-old Splitting Image Theater, a company that explores issues of identity. In her own life, Kranz also explores identity issues and understands that style is an important way of expressing -- and masking -- identity. As she travels through her life in Baltimore and around the world, Kranz has been drawn to vivid garments that express her soul. But she can also intuit when a more neutral, "chameleon-like" uniform is required to let others feel at ease.

COLLEGE PARK -- The team is coming off a disappointing road loss and is talking about finding the maturity needed to win in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It is still trying to adjust to life without its former star, an NBA lottery pick last summer.Sounds like Maryland, you say?Nah, try seventh-ranked Duke.Relatively speaking -- relative to nearly all of the other 297 Division I teams in the country -- the Blue Devils are struggling coming into today's 1:30 game against the Terrapins at Cole Field House.

BOSTON -- I have been thinking about Ann Dunham's other child, the girl child, the one she had with her second husband. Maya Soetoro-Ng is now a 36-year-old teacher who describes herself as "half white, half Asian ... a hybrid." She is a Buddhist, married to a Chinese-Canadian, the mother of a 2-year-old, and a woman who is so routinely identified as a Latina that she learned Spanish. This daughter lives in Hawaii, a state where nearly a quarter of the citizens check off two racial boxes or more on the Census Bureau questionnaire.

If there's one word that sums up the principal concern expressed by contemporary art shows in 1993 it's "identity."In a world in which instant communication breaks down old barriers, in which poverty, famine and crime threaten the social order, in which old values seem not to matter, people are increasingly in search of a place to call home. That is reflected in the art we see.There are two major kinds of identity. One is cultural, the other psychological.Cultural identity is a broad term that can refer to such things as race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, economic and social status.

A man was shot Friday night in the 3100 block Cliftmont Ave. in the Belair-Edison neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore, according to police. The victim's identity was not released, but police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi reported the victim suffered gunshot wounds to his extremities. Police were dispatched to the scene around 9:23 p.m. No further information was available on his condition or the circumstances of the shooting. Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

WASHINGTON -- To "mainstream" or not to "mainstream"? That is the question that energizes student and faculty protests at Gallaudet University. The return of protests at America's only liberal arts university for the deaf and hearing-impaired has been obscured by other big stories in Washington these days. But in many ways, the complicated and emotion-charged politics of Gallaudet reveal a much larger story. It is a saga about identity, the many ways we humans see ourselves as individuals or as groups, and how far we will go to keep our groups intact.