Kidnapping

Two Baltimore men who kidnapped and robbed an off-duty city police officer were each sentenced yesterday to 45 years in prison. This month, a city jury convicted Timothy Brockington, 28, and Tyrone Gross, 34, of kidnapping, carjacking and robbery. The two were caught after the kidnapped and blindfolded officer freed himself and shot the two men with his service weapon. Officer Antwan Boykin, who joined the force in 1999, was in his personal car about 1:30 a.m. July 5, 2005, when three men approached him at a gas station in the 500 block of E. Mulberry St. One man drove off with Boykin's car while another forced Boykin at gunpoint into a burgundy Lincoln driven by a third man. Inside the Lincoln, Boykin was robbed and struck in the head with the gun as the car headed toward the 1100 block of Myrtle Ave. There, the pair blindfolded Boykin, walked him down an alley and talked about stashing him in a vacant rowhouse.

A Las Vegas judge has set April 7 for the trial of O.J. Simpson and two co-defendants on 12 charges stemming from the alleged robbery of two men who traffic in sports memorabilia. During a proceeding that took less than 10 minutes yesterday, the three pleaded not guilty before Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass. Defense lawyers said they would file motions in the coming months challenging the charges. Accompanied by his lawyers, Simpson flashed a smile at television cameras as he entered the building to deal with his latest confrontation with the legal system.

A Baltimore man was sentenced yesterday to four consecutive 20-year prison terms after being convicted in Carroll County Circuit Court of armed robbery, assault and kidnapping in a case involving the December burglary of an Eldersburg home that led to the shooting of a state trooper. Ronald J. Presco, 37, of the 3000 block of Arunah Ave. was found guilty in June of 30 out of 31 charges, including armed robbery, burglary, first- and second-degree assault and kidnapping. A second suspect, later identified as Steven T. Jones, was shot and killed five days after the burglary in a Baltimore County house as state troopers from the Westminster barracks fugitive task force tried to arrest him, police said.

A 24-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced yesterday to life in prison plus 135 years for the 1997 kidnapping and execution-style murder of an Owings Mills woman whose body was left in Leakin Park.Thomas George Brown of the 1600 block of N. Calhoun St. received life in prison for the first-degree murder of Antoineen Darden, 30, who was shot once in the head after being driven around the city.Circuit Judge Carol E. Smith also sentenced Brown to 30 years each on two counts of kidnapping, 15 years each for first-degree assault and robbery with a deadly weapon, 10 years for burglary, and 35 years on two counts of using a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence.

In Baltimore CityNo suspect in death of boy, 15, shot in botched robberyHomicide detectives said they had no suspect yesterday in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Patterson High School freshman Friday night a few blocks from his Northeast Baltimore home.Police said Darien Ward of the 4500 block of Furley Ave. -- who played football at Patterson -- was the victim of a botched robbery when he was shot about 10 p.m. near Belair Road and Seidel Avenue."He was a good student. He had a clean record and had no brushes with the law," Homicide Detective Christopher Bieling said.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled in a Maryland case yesterday that an individual accused of using a gun in a crime that spreads to several states may be prosecuted in any of those states, no matter where the gun actually was used.By a 7-2 vote, the court rejected the argument that the federal gun crime may be prosecuted only in the state where that specific crime occurred -- Maryland, in this case.Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority that it does not matter that the gun was used only in Maryland, because it was used during a kidnapping that started in Texas and continued as the victim was moved to New York, New Jersey and, finally, to Wheaton, Montgomery County -- where the victim managed to escape and summon police.

A 35-year-old man was arrested yesterday and charged with kidnapping his ex-girlfriend Sunday from her Columbia apartment, Howard County police said.Police believe a man went to the woman's apartment in the 4900 block of Blue Wing Court around 6 p.m., knocked on her door, and forced her into his car, said Sgt. Morris Carroll, Howard County police spokesman."

Columbia resident John R. Righter was convicted yesterday of forcing a former co-worker into his vehicle and driving her handcuffed to Ohio in a case of infatuation turned obsession.The verdict came after Righter presented no evidence in his defense, leaving Stephanie Musick's gripping testimony about her 19-hour abduction virtually unchallenged. Howard Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney found Righter, 22, guilty of eight counts, including kidnapping, false imprisonment and assault.Sentencing is scheduled for July 31. The kidnapping charge alone carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

A former city police officer who has admitted working for a deadly East Baltimore drug gang detailed for the first time yesterday corruption plots, plans to kidnap and kill a rival dealer, and attempted bribes.Erick McCrary, who has pleaded guilty to witness tampering and conspiracy to commit murder, described in U.S. District Court how he used his badge to help a man described by prosecutors as "one of the most violent and feared criminals in Baltimore."That man, Anthony Ayeni Jones, 25, is the last of 18 defendants to be tried for their alleged involvement in a drug ring that sold $20,000 to $30,000 in cocaine and heroin a day from 1989 to 1997.

A Baltimore County man told a Circuit Court judge yesterday he felt close to death in July 1996 when his girlfriend's ex-husband kidnapped and beat him and threatened that his body would be wrapped in a carpet and shipped by the Italian Mafia to New York."

A teen accused of taking part in a double kidnapping, robbery and rape reacted with indignation Tuesday when he was sentenced to a 40-year prison term for his role in the crime. "This is nuts!" Brian T. Scott, 19, said to his lawyer shortly after Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert N. Dugan handed down the sentence, under which Scott could be eligible for parole in 20 years. In an urgent whisper, Scott told the attorney, Jessica Bancroft, that he wanted a new trial. Scott and an accomplice, Kiheem Malik Taylor, 23, were each charged with 32 counts in the kidnapping and armed robbery of two teens at a light rail station in Timonium and the rape of one of them on Oct. 10, 2008.

Police reports in Baltimore city and county: Southwestern Baltimore Shooting: A boy, 16, was shot in the upper right leg about 9:20 p.m. Saturday as he was about to enter a car after he and another youth argued during a football game at the Leon Day Field in the 1200 block of N. Franklintown Road. There were no arrests. The victim was attending a Pop Warner football game when he became involved in an argument with another youth. Police said the victim walked away and was about to enter a car many yards from the field away when he was shot.

The case of Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters is terrifying, but we need to keep things in perspective. What happened to Ms. Dugard is so shocking, in part, because it is so rare. The case is certainly horrifying on multiple levels: that any child could be snatched off the street, be sexually abused and then become emotionally attached to someone like Phillip Garrido; that the victim would give birth to his children; that Mr. Garrido's wife would be complicit in some manner; that Ms. Dugard and her children did not escape; that children were raised with little contact with the social, educational and medical worlds; that authorities and neighbors missed earlier opportunities to blow the whistle; that a convicted sex offender was in the neighborhood; that Mr. Garrido's father said he was mentally unstable and did not intervene; and so on. However, according to a 1999 National Incidence Study that looked at all categories of missing children, the odds are roughly one in a million that a child will experience what the authors of the study call a "stereotypical kidnapping" - a small subset of nonfamily abductions where he or she is kept in hiding for a lengthy period of time and possibly killed.

For kidnap victims such as Jaycee Lee Dugard, recovery is rare. A full portion of her life - her entire teens and 20s - was poisoned by her abduction at age 11 and the 18 years of brutal captivity and deprivation that followed. Even psychologists and psychiatrists skilled at confronting the worst of human nature find it hard to fathom how Dugard can put the pieces back together and live some semblance of a normal existence. Things could well be worse for Dugard's two daughters, who were born into captivity in a ramshackle Antioch, Calif.

A 23-year-old bulldozer driver was ordered Friday to spend the rest of his life in prison for the armed kidnapping and robbery of two teenagers at a light rail station in Timonium last October and the subsequent rape of one of the victims. Kiheem Malik Taylor subjected the couple, both 17, to "torture" and "an absolute living hell" during a two-hour ordeal in which they were "in fear of death," Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert N. Dugan said. He sentenced the defendant to prison for the maximum term allowed under law - two consecutive life sentences plus 100 years.

In recent months, two groups of robbers have launched brazen plots to rob Maryland banks by kidnapping branch managers at their homes and forcing them at gunpoint to lead thieves to the loot. Both plots - including one last weekend in which a Clinton family was kidnapped - were ultimately foiled by authorities. The two cases in Southern Maryland are among a small run of incidents across the country this year in which robbers kidnap bank employees to gain entry to a bank. But even as official statistics kept by the FBI show that bank robberies are on the rise this year, the agency doesn't track kidnappings of bank officials in its quarterly statistics because such incidents remain rare, an FBI spokesman said.

Court documents unsealed yesterday reveal that a 17-year-old kidnapping victim was forced at gunpoint into the trunk of his car before he and his female companion, who was later raped, were driven to several banks to withdraw money from ATMs. The charging documents describe in previously unavailable detail the events surrounding the Oct. 10 abduction of two teenagers at a light-rail station in Timonium for which two men have been charged. The documents say that Brian Tyrone Scott, 18, who surrendered at a Baltimore County police station Saturday evening, told investigators that his accomplice was Kiheem Malik Taylor, 22, who was arrested the next day at his home in Baltimore.

A judge denied bail yesterday for two men charged in the kidnapping of two teenagers that began at a light rail station in Timonium and resulted in the rape of one of the victims. Police said Brian Tyrone Scott, 18, who was identified last week as a suspect in the Oct. 10 incident and was being sought, turned himself in Saturday evening at the Baltimore County police precinct office in Cockeysville. On Sunday, police arrested the man they consider his accomplice, Kiheem Malik Taylor, 22, at his home on Woodstock Avenue in Baltimore.

A 47-year-old Carney man was arrested and charged with kidnapping his 65-year-old girlfriend and assaulting her and her 10-year-old grandson, Baltimore County police said yesterday. Nathaniel "Sonny" Knox of the 9000 block of Waltham Woods Road was charged with kidnapping and two counts of second-degree assault after he forced Burnetta Mae Ajide out of the apartment they shared and into her car during a argument Tuesday, said Cpl. Michael Hill, a police spokesman. Ajide's grandson called 911 about 11 a.m. Tuesday Hill said.

A three-time convicted rapist was sentenced yesterday to life in prison in the rape of a 26-year-old Anne Arundel County woman almost two decades ago. Wendell Keys, 40, of Gwynn Oak was convicted by a jury last month of first- and second-degree rape and false imprisonment for the 1990 attack. Keys was linked to the crime through the state's DNA database in 2005 and was indicted last year. The woman, who is now 44, was at a Linthicum nightclub with a friend on the night of July 31, 1990, before she was raped in the back seat of a car by two men who threatened to kill her, said Pamela Alban, the prosecutor.