Kidnapping

A West Baltimore teenager who says three city police officers kidnapped him and dumped him in a Howard County park with no shoes or cellphone testified that he lied about being beaten up, and denied telling an attorney that he was choked by the officers. The admission came Monday, on the fourth day of testimony in the kidnapping and misconduct trial of Officers Tyrone S. Francis, Gregory Hellen and Milton G. Smith III, who are accused of leaving Michael B. Johnson Jr. in Patapsco Valley State Park on May 4, 2009, after dropping off his friend, Shawnquin Woodland, in East Baltimore earlier the same day. When Johnson called 911 from Howard County, he told the dispatcher he had been beaten up, which he testified on Monday was untrue, except for a tap of a nightstick.

Defense attorneys for a pair of city police officers accused of kidnapping two West Baltimore teenagers nearly two years ago contended Wednesday that the boys concocted the story to avoid being branded neighborhood "snitches. " That version of the incident — that officers Milton G. Smith III, Tyrone S. Francis and Gregory Hellen were simply gathering sensitive information from residents on violent offenders and high-level drug dealers as part of the elite Violent Crimes Impact Division — differed greatly from the one offered by Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein, who said the officers took the teens because the officers believed themselves "above the law they swore to honor and uphold.

The three city police officers charged with kidnapping two Baltimore teens two years ago will be tried on the charges together, a judge ruled Thursday, rejecting arguments by two of the defendants' lawyers that a joint trial would be unfair to their clients. The trial of Officers Milton G. Smith III, Tyrone S. Francis and Gregory Hellen marks the first time new city State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein has prosecuted a case since a stint with the U.S. attorney's office from 1987 to 1991.

A man whose suspended sentence in an armed holdup in Guilford three years ago became emblematic of problems with the city's criminal justice system pleaded guilty Thursday to two more violent attacks in the North Baltimore neighborhood and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. "You are a menace to the community," Circuit Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill told 21-year-old John Couplin. "The only thing that I can do is isolate you from the community. … There's a possibility you will rehabilitate.

Three Baltimore police officers have turned themselves in after being indicted Tuesday by a city grand jury on charges that they kidnapped two West Baltimore teens last year, leaving one in a Howard County state park without shoes, socks or his cell phone. The officers were waiting to see a District Court commissioner Wednesday morning, who would set an initial bail amount, officials said. The indictment came exactly a year after Michael Brian Johnson Jr. said he was picked up by the three officers and abandoned in Patapsco State Park.

Three Baltimore police officers were indicted Tuesday on charges that they kidnapped two West Baltimore teens last year, leaving one in a Howard County state park without shoes, socks or his cell phone . The indictment came exactly a year after Michael Brian Johnson Jr. said he was picked up by the three officers and abandoned in Patapsco State Park. The incident prompted a call from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for criminal charges against police, and the teen and his family filed a multi-million lawsuit against the officers in March.

Two men have been arrested and two Maryland girls have been found safe after police issued Amber Alerts over the weekend seeking help in solving the girls' alleged kidnappings. The first alert was issued Friday night, after police in Cecil County received reports of the abduction of a 4-year-old Elkton girl. Police found the girl Saturday at a convenience store in Glasgow, Del., and arrested 32-year-old Peter Jyles Pelletier in connection with her disappearance. Pelletier's estranged wife is the girl's mother.

The suspect in the slaying of an 11-year-old Salisbury girl found dead Christmas Day was indicted Monday on charges of kidnapping, child abduction and burglary, according to online court records. Thomas J. Leggs Jr. will face additional charges, authorities have said. A medical examiner has determined that Sarah Haley Foxwell's death was a homicide. Her body was found Christmas Day. Leggs, 30, has convictions for sex offenses in Maryland and Delaware. - Associated Press

A would-be bomber had just tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day, so we braced for extra security measures as we headed to the airport for a flight from Chicago to Baltimore last Sunday. Expecting a gantlet of pat-downs, dog sniffs and, who knows, mandatory trou-drops once we got inside, my husband and I decided to check in curbside. The agent asked our names and destination - prompting an exchange of groans over the Ravens' self-destruction in Pittsburgh that day - and soon our bags were on the conveyor belt and we had our boarding passes.