Investigation

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

An 18-year-old man was arrested and accused of making a false bomb threat on Thursday that targeted the Old Mill school campus in Millersville, Anne Arundel County police said. Matthew Permenter, 18, of Baltimore, was charged with disturbing school operations, threatening to detonate a destructive device and giving a false statement. It could not be immediately determined whether he had obtained a lawyer. Police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said police received a call from the school at around 8:46 a.m. A current student at the school had said a former student posted an item online that a bomb would be placed near the school and target a "Relay for Life" cancer walk event scheduled to take place on Friday evening.

A dozen city Department of Transportation employees may be fired after they were accused of stealing nearly $60,000 in scrap metal, city officials said Friday. An investigation by the city's inspector general estimated the employees were earning about $191,000 annually from the sale of heavy-gauge cable stolen from Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and the city's conduit system. The agency found evidence for only part of that sum, however, and did not know how long the alleged scheme might have continued.

Rutgers reinstated men's lacrosse coach   Brian Brecht on Tuesday, almost a month after having suspended him with pay over allegations of verbal abuse. While the university investigation found that the former Loyola University assistant did use inappropriate language and exhibited unprofessional behavior on occasion, the instances were infrequent and not directed at individual players. Accordingly the university found no criminal or university policy violations. “I regret my behavior and am determined to set a better example in the future,” said Brecht, who missed the last two games of the season.

As sure as its nude dancers and drink specials drew steady customers, the Ritz Cabaret on South Broadway in Baltimore attracted trouble. A money-laundering scheme launched at the Fells Point nightclub landed three men, including owner Francis Lee, in federal court. A bar brawl cost two Drug Enforcement Administration officers their badges. Illegally hired Hungarian dancers faced deportation. Even the producers of an HBO drama filmed part of the series at the Ritz, only to learn that it was about to be seized by the government.

A Baltimore City paramedic has been arrested and suspended without pay for allegedly assaulting a patient, authorities said. Shaun W. White, 31, was arrested Friday night on two counts of second-degree assault stemming from a Sept. 8 incident, court records show. Fire Chief Kevin Cartwright, a department spokesman, said an investigation was launched Friday into the arrest and alleged patient assault. Cartwright had no further information about the alleged assault, the condition of the victim or details surrounding the call that brought White and the victim together.

Baltimore County police are investigating an assault outside of Woodlawn High School Friday after a video was posted on YouTube. The incident took place sometime after school but does not appear to have been reported to police, according to a statement from the department. The victim and a 17-year old suspect have been identified, police said, but it is unclear if the teen will be charged as an adult or a juvenile. Police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathy Batton said investigators are still trying to determine if Woodlawn students were involved in the incident.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on Monday requested a meeting with Wal-Mart officials in response to allegations that the retailer covered up a bribery scheme to expand its business in Mexico. In a letter to Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke, the Baltimore Democrat says he is opening an investigation into allegations raised in a story over the weekend by The New York Times and asked the company to schedule a meeting with lawmakers to discuss the issue by Friday.

Baltimore County police are investigating a non-fatal shooting early Thursday in Pikesville. The victim, who police said is in his late 20s, remains hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Officers had responded to reports of shots fired at 1:19 a.m. to the unit block of Amleht Court, near Milbrook Park Drive. The investigation is continuing with no suspect at this time, police said. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Hall-of-Famer Eddie Murray declined all comment when asked Saturday about being investigated by the federal government as part of an insider trading operation that involved Murray's former Orioles teammate Doug DeCinces. Murray has not been charged in the investigation, but DeCinces was fined $2.5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission last August. Murray has been directed by his attorneys not to comment on the investigation and continued that stand Saturday. “You know I can't say nothing, right?

President Barack Obama justified targeted drone assassinations outside of U.S. war zones; where was his nerve when the American consulate in Libya was under attack last year on Sept. 11 ("U.S. diplomat details attack in Benghazi," May 9)? President Obama was inexplicably MIA. No one in the press is demanding answers to that bizarre episode. Apparently, President Obama essentially abandoned our ambassador and soldiers. To add insult to injury, President Obama failed to send troops or investigators into Benghazi immediately to recover the bodies.

The recent study estimating that there may have been 26,000 cases of sexual assault in the military last year stirred a lot of tough talk from the Pentagon and the White House over the past 24 hours. But the question is whether that outrage will translate into much-needed reforms within the armed forces. On that front, we have our doubts. The U.S. military's failure to adequately address sex crimes within its ranks is hardly a new problem, but the rise of such incidents - up from 19,000 in 2010 - is shocking.

Baltimore County police are investigating an assault outside of Woodlawn High School Friday after a video was posted on YouTube. The incident took place sometime after school but does not appear to have been reported to police, according to a statement from the department. The victim and a 17-year old suspect have been identified, police said, but it is unclear if the teen will be charged as an adult or a juvenile. Police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathy Batton said investigators are still trying to determine if Woodlawn students were involved in the incident.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating sexual abuse allegations by a former student at Monsignor Slade Catholic School in Glen Burnie, officials of the Archdiocese of Baltimore said Wednesday. In a letter posted on the archdiocese website and sent to parents via email Wednesday, Barbara McGraw Edmondson, the superintendent of schools within the archdiocese, said county police searched the school Tuesday afternoon and that those being investigated have been suspended until "a determination is made concerning the veracity of the allegations.

After less than a year on the job, Larry Tolliver is calling it quits as chief of the troubled Anne Arundel County Police Department. Tolliver, 67, said his resignation — or "return to retirement," as he called it — will take effect May 21. "I am resigning today because the department needs a chief who can focus solely on the department's mission, something that is challenging to do in the current environment," Tolliver wrote in a statement...

Federal investigators began examining Monday the wreckage of a two-seater, home-built airplane that crashed Sunday in Virginia, killing a man from Davidsonville and his son from Westminster, the father of 10 children. On Saturday, experimental airplane owner and pilot Barry Raymond Newgent, 73, and his passenger and son, Thomas Barry Newgent, 51, were bound for the Virginia Regional Festival of Flight, a weekend air show. The other small airplanes in a group of four traveling from Maryland arrived safely.

A Baltimore County police officer who was injured in a three-vehicle accident that shut down part of the inner loop of the Baltimore Beltway on Wednesday has been released from the hospital, a department spokeswoman said. The officer, a 25-year veteran, had been at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Police had no details on conditions of several other people who were hurt, but said they did not suffer life-threatening injuries. The accident remains under investigation. Det. Cathy Batton, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore County Police Department, said the accident occurred shortly before noon as the police officer was merging onto the highway from Providence Road.

A probe of alleged anti-competitive agreements between Blue Cross Blue Shield companies and hospitals has been expanded by the U.S. Justice Department beyond Michigan, where an antitrust lawsuit that alleged the agreements raised hospital prices was filed last year. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Maryland's largest insurer, confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that it received a civil investigative demand from the Justice Department but declined to comment further. Federal and state investigators also have sent civil subpoenas to Blue Cross Blue Shield units in Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and the District of Columbia, a person familiar with the matter said.

Authorities say they are continuing to investigate a student murder-suicide this year just off the University of Maryland, College Park campus, a revelation that comes a month after the case was declared closed. Detectives are not looking for additional suspects but are seeking background information on the alleged shooter, Dayvon Green. They are also awaiting responses to subpoenas in the case, according to a Prince George's County police spokesman. A department attorney, Jamar Herry, cited the inquiry as a reason not to provide a copy of the case file requested by The Baltimore Sun through the Maryland Public Information Act. Police would not say who or what was subpoenaed, or what information police are looking to find on Green.

Baltimore police are investigating the shooting death of a man in East Baltimore early Thursday. Responding to a shooting in the 600 block of Cokesbury Ave. in the East Baltimore Midway neighborhood at 12:39 a.m., police said they found a man with gunshot wounds. Paramedics took him to an area hospital but he was pronounced dead Thursday morning, police said. Police have no suspects or motives and did not release the victim's identity. The murder was Baltimore's 71 s t homicide this year, following the shooting death of Dominic Hicks, 19, whose identity police released on Thursday.