Marijuana Plants

A Westminster man was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at the Carroll County Detention Center yesterday after being arrested Tuesday on marijuana charges during a state police raid at his home.Police reported seizing 10 suspected marijuana plants and a .22-caliber rifle that police said was reported stolen Jan. 6 in a York County, Pa., burglary.A coffee can with suspected marijuana residue, assorted ammunition and $542 were also seized, police said.Dennis Wayne Bare, 38, of the 1100 block of Sullivan Road was charged with possession of firearms, theft over $300, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and two counts of manufacturing and distributing marijuana.

Police investigating a complaint of child neglect entered a rowhouse in Southeast Baltimore last night and discovered 210 flourishing marijuana plants.A female resident of the house in the 2000 block of Bank St. in Upper Fells Point was arrested, and her 19-month-old daughter was turned over to the child's grandmother, police said.Police were seeking the woman's live-in boyfriend.Lt. George L. Klein Jr. of the Southeastern District said someone called police about 4: 15 p.m. and said a toddler was wandering the street shoeless.

County police seized $35,000 worth of marijuana plants growing near woods in Arnold on Wednesday after officers flying over the area in a helicopter saw the plants.Cpl. Larry Walker and Sgt. Michael Madison saw 78 plants growing in three sites of about 50 feet by 60 feet each along Hilltop Road near Deep Creek Avenue about 3: 30 p.m., police said. It was not immediately known who owns the land, they said.Police did not make an arrest because they do not know who planted the marijuana, said Officer Carol Frye, department spokeswoman.

A Sykesville couple convicted in January after homegrown marijuana plants were seized from their yard were spared jail sentences yesterday.Herbert W. Blackwell III, 40, and his wife, Linda Blackwell, 36, were arrested in September after state police from the Westminster barracks raided their home in the 1600 block of Andylin Way and seized about 3 pounds of marijuana and nine 8- to 12-foot marijuana plants.Mr. Blackwell pleaded not guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana, but agreed not to contest the statement of facts at his trial in January, court records show.

State police arrested a Lothian man yesterday and seized more than $220,000 worth of marijuana that was growing on his property in a highly publicized raid with the governor and lieutenant governor watching from a circling helicopter.Troopers found 113 marijuana plants growing in two patches of land along a tree line several yards from the house of Wayne Antosh in the 500 block of Barksdale Farm Road, police said.The house in rural southern Anne Arundel County, surrounded by fields of soybean and corn, is three miles from Lothian Elementary and Southern Middle schools.

A Mount Airy couple was arrested Friday and charged with narcotics offenses for allegedly cultivating marijuana plants in their apartment, state police said yesterday.Roland Stanley Becraft Jr., 35, and Theresa Anne Bakrim, 41, both of the 200 block of S. Main St., each were charged with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a common nuisance and were released on unsecured bond, police said.According to police, Cpl. Palmer Grotte, the resident state trooper whose office is across the street from the apartment, received a tip last month that marijuana plants were being cultivated in the apartment.

State police arrested a Lothian man yesterday and seized more than $220,000 worth of marijuana that was growing on his property in a highly publicized raid with the governor and lieutenant governor watching from a circling helicopter.Troopers found 113 marijuana plants growing in two patches of land along a tree line several yards from the house of Wayne Antosh in the 500 block of Barksdale Farm Road, police said.The house in rural southern Anne Arundel County, surrounded by fields of soybeans and corn, is three miles from Lothian Elementary and Southern Middle schools.

State marijuana laws, which say smugglers have to bring 100 pounds into Maryland before police may charge them with a felony, are inadequate to deal with today's drug trade, police and prosecutors told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday."

Narcotics detectives armed with search warrants raided two homes Friday night, arrested seven people and seized 2.4 grams of crack cocaine, 38 grams of marijuana and three marijuana plants, county police said.Detectives raided a home in the 2000 block of Harbour Gates Drive about 7 p.m. and found the cocaine, the marijuana plants, 6 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, police said.Brian Paitsel, 19, Joseph Michael Davis, 19, and Michelle Coppage, 21, all of the Harbour Gates Drive address, and Donna Yvette Martz, 21, of the 200 block of Hanover St. in Annapolis were charged with drug manufacturing and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

The Jarvis family pulled into a Shady Side marina on a sinking boat one summer afternoon two years ago, planning only to repair the vessel and move on. But they settled down, winning customers with their shipbuilding talents and charming a town with their quirky ways.Then one brisk night in November, the family vanished. It wasn't until federal agents stormed the boat hours later that residents learned their friendly neighbors were wanted, suspected of cultivating up to $20 million worth of marijuana on a farm in West Virginia for nearly a decade.

Four people hospitalized after shooting in West Baltimore Four people were hospitalized after being injured in a drive-by shooting early Friday in West Baltimore, police said. The victims - a 21-year-old woman and three men, ages 38, 31 and 29 - were sitting on the front steps of a home in the 1700 block of N. Warwick Ave. about 12:30 a.m. when a white, four-door Acura pulled up and the front and backseat passengers opened fire, police said. The woman was struck in the right ankle, while the men were struck in the left thigh, right thigh and left shin, respectively, according to police.

Glen Burnie couple held in car break-ins A Glen Burnie couple was arrested after breaking into and stealing property from cars in Pasadena and Severn, Anne Arundel County police said. Police responding to a report of suspicious-looking people on Gullane Court and Braid Hills Road in Pasadena around 2 a.m. Monday found Scott D. Roberts, 29, and Amy L. Roberts, 39, of Wilson Road. Both had outstanding arrest warrants. Police seized briefcases, a video game system, a purse, and a wallet that had been stolen from vehicles.

One-fifth of a ton of marijuana, a sophisticated plant cultivation system and marijuana plants -- some 4 feet tall and growing -- were confiscated when city police raided an Upper Fells Point rowhouse after receiving a tip on the department's drug hot line. Police entered a three-story rowhouse in the 1900 block of East Pratt St. about 9 p.m. Tuesday. John Arbuckle, 33, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Police said Arbuckle was in the house.

A joint investigation by several police agencies led to an early-morning raid yesterday at a Southwest Baltimore rowhouse in which authorities said they seized 36 marijuana plants with a street value of about $100,000, a cache of guns and $11,000. Baltimore police, along with authorities from Baltimore County police and the state police participated in the probe. Roy Dean McMillan, 36, owner of the home in the 3100 block of Wilkens Ave., was arrested, police said. McMillan - who court records show was convicted in 1999 of marijuana possession - has been charged with various drug and weapons offenses.

An Anne Arundel County police narcotics unit seized 6-foot-tall marijuana plants Monday that were growing in the back yard of a Linthicum house, police said. They estimated the street value of the crop at nearly $11,000. Michael Anthony Zimmerman, 47, and Julie Montgomery, 30, both of the 200 block of Church Circle, were charged with manufacturing a controlled dangerous substance, possession of marijuana and heroin and possession of drug paraphenalia, police said. The northern district's tactical narcotics team obtained a search warrant for the house.

In Baltimore City Director of zoo resigns after 8 years `for a new challenge' The Baltimore Zoo's executive director, Robert Birkel, resigned yesterday after nearly eight years overseeing the Druid Hill Park attraction -- the third-oldest public zoo in the nation, with about 500,000 visitors a year. "I am pleased at what I have accomplished for the zoo during my tenure here," Birkel said. "But after more than seven years, I am ready for a new challenge. I am leaving the zoo much stronger than I found it."

Marijuana plants in the window of a Queen Anne's County house might have led police outside to suspect that the resident committed a crime, but they did not justify police entry without a warrant, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. In a unanimous decision, the state's highest court reversed a Court of Special Appeals ruling that upheld the drug-manufacturing conviction of a 45-year-old Church Hill woman in Queen Anne's County Circuit Court. Marijuana plants seized from her home were used as evidence in her prosecution.

Baltimore man arrested on sexual assault charges A 39-year-old man has been charged with lifting women's skirts and grabbing them from behind in downtown Annapolis, city police said yesterday. Five women, ages 17 to 30, had complained to police within the past month that a man assaulted them as they walked near a parking garage on Gorman Street, authorities said. Undercover officers, using a description provided by the women, arrested Russell Clinton Jones of the 5500 block of Eldron Ave. in Baltimore and charged him with five counts of sexual assault, police said.

Police investigating a complaint of child neglect entered a rowhouse in Southeast Baltimore last night and discovered 210 flourishing marijuana plants.A female resident of the house in the 2000 block of Bank St. in Upper Fells Point was arrested, and her 19-month-old daughter was turned over to the child's grandmother, police said.Police were seeking the woman's live-in boyfriend.Lt. George L. Klein Jr. of the Southeastern District said someone called police about 4: 15 p.m. and said a toddler was wandering the street shoeless.

A Westminster man was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at the Carroll County Detention Center yesterday after being arrested Tuesday on marijuana charges during a state police raid at his home.Police reported seizing 10 suspected marijuana plants and a .22-caliber rifle that police said was reported stolen Jan. 6 in a York County, Pa., burglary.A coffee can with suspected marijuana residue, assorted ammunition and $542 were also seized, police said.Dennis Wayne Bare, 38, of the 1100 block of Sullivan Road was charged with possession of firearms, theft over $300, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and two counts of manufacturing and distributing marijuana.