Man Wanted

In Baltimore City Cold Spring ramps of JFX to close for roadwork 3 nights The city Office of Transportation will close two Cold Spring Lane ramps of the Jones Falls Expressway for three consecutive nights, beginning tonight, for milling work on the road. Affected are the exit ramp from the southbound lanes of the JFX to eastbound and westbound Cold Spring Lane, and the entrance ramp from westbound Cold Spring to the southbound lanes of the expressway. The closings will take place from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., providing the weather cooperates for roadwork.

A Westminster man, once convicted and imprisoned for sexually assaulting a teen-age boy, wants the state to offer help to those struggling with pedophilia before they commit a crime. Michael Melsheimer, who has undergone treatment for pedophilia and has made his disorder known to his Carroll County neighbors, said Maryland lacks a comprehensive list of services and treatment programs, for prevention and intervention, and has no money available for outreach efforts. "Unless there is dialogue, you will never solve this problem," said Melsheimer, 59. "People don't think we want to do anything about this problem, but many of us do. The state deals with offenders after someone is hurt, but it never does anything for prevention."

An 18-year-old accused of trying to kill a 43-year-old acquaintance April 12 has been arrested in Ellicott City, Howard County police said. Officers found Andrew L. Papathakis of the 5000 block of Avoca Lane in Ellicott City at a residence in the 3500 block of Court House Drive late Wednesday, police said. Police said Papathakis fired a shot at Robert Allen Whichard after aggressively following him as the two drove near Routes 103 and 104. The two had been friends, according to court documents, but Papathakis had recently accused Whichard of "stealing a large amount of money" from him. Whichard told police he narrowly dodged a bullet fired through the rear window of his 1996 Chevrolet truck after he had turned onto Elko Drive in Ellicott City, court documents state.

Orioles manager Mike Hargrove had to make one small concession yesterday while praising Melvin Mora's versatility and trumpeting his value to the team. "I haven't seen him catch," Hargrove said, "so I'm not sure he can do that." Mora's ability to move around the field like a hot dog wrapper on a windy day made it easy for Hargrove to put him in left field once Marty Cordova went on the disabled list. Expected to be used in a utility role this season, Mora again has become a regular presence in the Orioles' lineup.

The order from an FBI commander to a SWAT team waiting outside a Glen Burnie 7-Eleven was simple and direct. "Follow the red car." To FBI Special Agent Christopher Braga, it signaled that the man inside the car, the one wearing the white baseball cap, was the bank robbery suspect agents had been tracking. Braga, with other members of the elite FBI team, moved in to make the arrest. What unfolded next could hardly have been worse. Within minutes, a bullet from Braga's M-4 rifle crashed through the front passenger window of Krissy Harkum's red Pontiac Grand Am and hit Joe Schultz in the face.

Memo to Mayor Martin O'Malley: Someone's taken Baltimore, Maryland, and he's holding it for $8,500 in cash. What happens if you don't pay up, Mr. Mayor? Well, whenever anyone goes to the Web site www.baltimorema ryland.com, they won't find anything approximating the city, its government or civic life in general. Unless pornography counts as civic life. That's right, Baltimore truly has joined the Information Age, though not in that "Digital Harbor" way O'Malley's been imagining. "I'm disgusted, repulsed and annoyed," O'Malley said after learning about the pornography site last week.

A man wanted in a string of home-invasion robberies that targeted the elderly in Northwest Baltimore and Baltimore County surrendered to police yesterday. Durante Ricco Ervin, 41, walked into Baltimore County's Garrison Precinct shortly after midnight, police said. County police charged Ervin in 11 incidents, most of which have occurred since Nov. 25. Ervin has been charged by the county with one count of armed robbery, four counts of robbery, three counts of first-degree burglary, one count of attempted robbery and two counts of petty theft.

A doctor who had a family medical practice near Atlanta turned himself in to federal authorities in Baltimore last night on charges that he fatally stabbed his ex-wife two weeks ago, almost severing her head from her body and burying her in the crawl space beneath his suburban Georgia home, federal agents said. Eric Robert Wooten, 34, had been on the run with his two sons, ages 5 and 4, since July 10, when police found his ex-wife's body wrapped in a carpet underneath the home. She had been reported missing by relatives July 9. Baltimore FBI spokesman Peter A. Gulotta said agents had focused their search in the Baltimore-Washington area after learning that most of Wooten's family lives in the area.

An East Baltimore man wanted in four armed robberies was mistakenly released last week from the Central Booking and Intake Center after city police failed to discover the outstanding warrants against him. William E. Bostic, 41, was arrested July 10 for being in a vacant house and was taken to Central Booking for processing. City prosecutors declined to charge Bostic, and jail officials released him the next day. But police said Bostic - who is charged in warrants with armed robbery in four incidents in Baltimore and is wanted in Baltimore County - should never have been released.

A band of Brooklyn Park neighbors tracked down and beat up a man who had been sought by police on a charge of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl, authorities said yesterday. Michael Austin Dring, 32, a resident of Brooklyn Park, was charged in a warrant nearly a week ago with kidnapping and sexual assault involving the girl - the daughter of a woman friend. The incident allegedly took place April 29 after Dring picked up the girl from a house in the area. He dropped the girl off near a Pizza Hut at Ritchie Highway and 10th Avenue, leaving her to walk home, police said.