Mall Security

A woman arrested after she allegedly ran through The Mall in Columbia while waving a large kitchen knife Thursday was taken to Springfield State Hospital Center in Sykesville for evaluation, Howard County police said yesterday.Sgt. Steven Keller, a police spokesman, said 18-year-old Stephanie Meghan Hiteshew of the 7100 block of Smooth Path in Columbia's Owen Brown village pulled a 8- to 12-inch-long knife from under her shirt when a mall security guard attempted to help her about 5: 30 p.m.Police used pepper spray to subdue the woman.

Book - Signing Mo'Nique appears at bookstore Comedian Mo'Nique of Balti more will meet her fans and sign her book Skinny Cooks Can't Be Trusted at Security Square Mall. The book features soul-food recipes and her fond est mealtime memories. The signing is 6:30 p.m. at the mall, 6901 Security Blvd., Wood lawn. Call 410-265-6000 or visit karibu books.com.

In an article in The Evening Sun yesterday about a shoplifting at Eastpoint Mall, a security guard on the scene was incorrectly identified as the suspect. The guard, Edward J. Cramer, Jr., was injured when he was struck by a car driven by the fleeing suspect, who was later charged with assault with intent to kill and theft of property of less than $300.The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.

A Toys 'R' Us employee at Security Square Mall in Woodlawn helped rob her own store Saturday morning, according to Baltimore County police. Police had previously report that the incident was an armed robbery committed at about 8:15 a.m., but mall security cameras show that a male suspect was working with a female store employee who is now in police custody, said Frank Meyer, general manager of Security Square Mall. "Our security cameras showed that it was an inside job," he said.

Frank Jones, who arrived at Golden Ring Mall in December in a cave man outfit and left in handcuffs, won one and lost one yesterday in Essex District Court.He was found not guilty of disorderly conduct, but guilty of trespassing. He received one year of unsupervised probation from Judge Darrell Russell after a two-hour hearing, and has to stay out of the mall for an indefinite period.Maximum sentence on the trespassing charge is 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.Mr. Jones went to Golden Ring Mall on Dec. 1 dressed in a cave man outfit, which consisted of a leopard-skin bikini, a cape, and a bone in his hair.

Uniformed and undercover state troopers will be watching holiday shoppers at Carroll County malls and shopping centers through Christmas, authorities said."

Dragonball Evolution: (20th Century Fox) A young man must track down seven mystical treasures before an evil lord uses them to take over the world. Based on the popular Japanese cartoon. Hannah Montana: The Movie: (Walt Disney Pictures) The teen pop star is torn between her jet-setting Hollywood scene and the slower pace of her hometown in Tennessee. With Miley Cyrus and Jason Earles. Observe and Report : (Warner Bros.) A mall security guard hopes to advance his career and his love life by catching a serial flasher.

Man gored by bull in serious conditionMalcolm Smith, 45, of Hanover, Pa., who was gored by a bull while working on his brother's Old New Windsor Road farm Tuesday, was in the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore in serious and stable condition yesterday after his transfer from Carroll County General Hospital.Emergency medical crews from New Windsor were dispatched to the John Parker Smith farm about 2 p.m. and took the injured man to the local hospital after farm workers managed to get the bull into a pen and away from Mr. Smith.

Thieves and shoplifters beware! The Maryland State Police have initiated "Operation Yuletide," a state-wide prevention program with local law enforcement agencies and retail merchants.Beginning on Thanksgiving Friday, special teams of troopers will be deployed to patrol shopping centers and malls. Their main goal is to reduce crime in the retail district.The special enforcement effort will feature foot patrols inside the retail centers, "ride-along" patrols with mall security in the parking lots, and undercover officers in search of shoplifters.

A 16-year-old Columbia girl was attacked in the parking lot at The Mall in Columbia Tuesday night, Howard County police said.Police said the girl, a Hickory Ridge village resident, was tackled from behind in the parking lot near Sears at 7 p.m. as she walked to her car.According to a police report, a man knocked the girl to the ground, began beating her and demanded that she turn over the keys to her car.The girl managed to break free without giving the...