Maximum Penalty

A Columbia woman whose conviction in the 2005 strangulation of a fellow Loyola College doctoral student was overturned in September agreed to a plea deal yesterday in Howard County Circuit Court that freed her from prison. The state Court of Special Appeals had ruled that Melissa Burch Harton, 27, was entitled to a new trial after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter because Howard County detectives waited until she made incriminating statements to advise her of her Miranda rights.

A 15-year-old boy was charged yesterday with setting off fireworks last week in the North Carroll High School gym, according to the state fire marshal's office.The incident occurred about 2: 30 p.m. Friday, when Principal Gary Dunkleberger reportedly discovered the student discharging small fireworks in the gym, officials said.Deputy fire marshals interviewed the boy at the school in Hampstead yesterday, according to the incident report. No injuries or damage were reported.The boy, who was not identified because of his age, was suspended from school and released to his parents, a spokesman for the state fire marshal said.

A Dallas man pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore yesterday to one count of mail fraud for his role in the Peak Performance Institute, an organization that sponsored one-day seminars that promised to teach people the secrets of getting rich.John Thomas Polk, 39, admitted that his television infomercials soliciting seminar customers included phony newspaper articles heralding his company's achievements and falsely said that two men became wealthy by attending the seminars.Peak Performance and its successor company, Success Achievement Systems, were located in Hagerstown and operated between 1993 and 1996.

A dozen pit bull terriers confiscated by police remained at Baltimore County Animal Control yesterday, their futures undecided, while some of their owners posted bail on charges stemming from an organized dogfight.Eight men, all from Baltimore County or Baltimore City, were charged after police said they broke up a gathering that attracted dozens of spectators and dogs to the 4000 block of Buckingham Road in the Villa Nova area Saturday night.Officers said they found the dozen pit bulls, many bleeding from fresh wounds, and a dog pen heavily stained with blood, in a garage at the site.

Sharon E. Wimperis, who abducted her son after losing a bitter custody battle in 1990 and lived on the run for eight years, pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge in Carroll County District Court.Wimperis, 50, remained silent. Her lawyer, D. Dusky Holman, said she entered the guilty plea because she wanted to avoid embarrassing her son.Judge JoAnn Ellinghaus-Jones sentenced Wimperis to the 105 days she has served in jail for taking her son out of state. The maximum penalty is one year.

Sharon E. Wimperis, accused of abducting her son after losing a 1990 custody battle, stands by allegations that her former husband abused the boy -- a belief that led to an eight-year flight, her attorney said yesterday.Defense attorney E. Thomas Maxwell Jr. said his remarks at a bail review hearing Tuesday were misinterpreted in an article in The Sun yesterday. He said Wimperis was wrong to disobey the court order but not necessarily in her belief."What I meant to say is, she doesn't recant her statement that her husband sexually molested the child.

Brian James Beacom, 29, was crossing Mountain Road near a bar in Pasadena just after midnight on a Saturday when a dark-colored minivan struck and killed him, then sped away.While that was the most horrifying news county police delivered to his mother March 1, there was also this:If police did not find the driver of the minivan within the next few hours, they told her, there would be no way to determine whether the driver had been intoxicated at the time of the accident. And the most serious charge the driver who killed her son would face was leaving the scene of an accident where there was a fatality.

Two Baltimore men were each sentenced to 50 years yesterday for the murder of a nationally recognized scholar-athlete from Walbrook High School who was killed in a hail of gunfire outside a city nightclub. The 50-year sentences for Terrell J. Neal, 22, and Gary A. Hall, 26, were the maximum penalties Baltimore Circuit Judge John N. Prevas could impose.Neal and Hall were convicted Sept. 30 of second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Tyrone Carroll on May 26, 1996, outside Club Indigo, a nonalcoholic dance club in Lexington Market.

Agents from the Maryland comptroller's office arrested a 21-year-old New York man along Interstate 95 earlier this week on charges of possessing and transporting more than 1,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes.Marvin A. Bond, assistant comptroller, said agents from his office stopped Khlaed S. Almulaili, 21, of the Bronx, N.Y., on Monday near Route 175 in Jessup and confiscated 1,015 cartons of cigarettes and a 1990 Chevrolet Lumina minivan.Almulaili was charged with illegal possession and transportation of untaxed cigarettes.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge yesterday sentenced Richard "Ricky" Green to the maximum penalty of life without parole for the fatal stabbing of an Annapolis judge's 81-year-old mother.Judge John N. Prevas emphasized that the severity of the sentence had nothing to do with the fact that the victim was part of a high-profile family."I am not giving any special prominence to the fact that the victim is Beatrice Lippman Manck," mother of District Judge Joseph P. Manck, Prevas said. "I haven't hesitated to give life in these situations."

The big news in Baltimore this week was the theft of the "8" statue from the Eutaw Street Plaza at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The number is a tribute, of course, to none other than Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr., the closest thing we have to a favorite son. He is to this city what George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are to the country, but with better teeth and the ability to turn a double play. What could possibly have motivated the four young men arrested by city police in this atrocity?

A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday in Anne Arundel County District Court in the May fatal shooting of an Annapolis man. Deonte Desmund Boyd, 25, of the 3700 block of St. Margaret St. also pleaded guilty to a handgun violation in the death of Michael Lee Thompson Sr., 31. According to a statement of facts read by Assistant State's Attorney Kelly Poma, Thompson had suffered 10 gunshot wounds, including two to the head that appeared...

Christopher Nieto believes in Baltimore. His car has been broken into four times. They took his iPod, his Discman and the empty plastic suction cup that held his navigational device. They even stripped the rubber off his wiper blades. His former house in Pigtown was burglarized three times. They took two television sets, his suits, watches and two laptop computers. "I have absolutely nothing left of value anymore," he says. "I'm down to a pretty skeletal home life." Christopher Nieto also believes in his job. He is a public defender.

A federal grand jury indicted a Catonsville man and two others yesterday, charging them with conspiracy and intent to distribute more than 2 million doses of weight-loss drugs. According to the indictment, Susana Mendez, 49, and Jose Riopedre, 50, both of Miami, operated Web sites that allowed customers to order drugs after filling out a questionnaire, which purportedly would be reviewed by physicians. The online prescriptions would be filled at brick-and-mortar pharmacies and shipped to customers, the indictment says.

A former Columbia resident accused of raping and assaulting his estranged wife was found not guilty yesterday by a Howard County jury. The jury acquitted David T. McNey, 44, on all six charges he faced -- first- and second-degree rape, a third-degree sex offense, first- and second-degree assault, and false imprisonment. McNey's wife, Michelle McNey, from whom he had been separated since November 2006, reported to police in December of that year that he threatened her with a shotgun and raped her. McNey faced a maximum penalty of life in prison.

A Columbia woman whose conviction in the 2005 strangulation of a fellow Loyola College doctoral student was overturned in September agreed to a plea deal yesterday in Howard County Circuit Court that freed her from prison. The state Court of Special Appeals had ruled that Melissa Burch Harton, 27, was entitled to a new trial after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter because Howard County detectives waited until she made incriminating statements to advise her of her Miranda rights.

An Anne Arundel County grand jury has indicted the son of an East Baltimore state delegate on charges that he stole from his mother's campaign finance account and violated election laws by managing her money without authorization. Robert "Skip" Harrison Jr. of the 1600 block of Northwick Road in Baltimore was also indicted on a charge of failing to file state income tax returns for three years, said the Office of the State Prosecutor. The state prosecutor began investigating Harrison, the son of Del. Hattie N. Harrison, after the State Board of Elections reported about a year ago that the delegate had not filed campaign finance reports.

The Durham County, N.C., district attorney dropped rape charges yesterday against three Duke University lacrosse players after their accuser expressed doubts about her earlier statements. But the prosecutor kept other charges intact, leaving the defendants still facing the possibility of a trial. The players, including Bethesda's David Evans, who graduated in May, face a first-degree sexual offense count carrying the same maximum penalty - nearly 25 years - as rape does. A kidnapping charge was also preserved and could add to their prison time if they are convicted.

A Joppa man accused of fondling an 11-year-old boy who was waiting while a family member took piano lessons from the man's wife pleaded guilty yesterday to a third-degree sex offense. Because it is the man's third conviction, prosecutors said, they would push for the maximum sentence of life in prison. David B. Mentzer, 51, entered the guilty plea yesterday morning as jury selection in his trial was to begin, said Diane Adkins-Tobin, an assistant state's attorney with the Harford County Child Advocacy Center.

Accountant convicted of embezzling $7,000 A 44-year old accountant who worked from her Columbia home was convicted yesterday of embezzling $7,000 over 16 months from the Virginia-based trade association for which she worked. Maria Collazo, of the 11000 block of Snowflake Court, admitted the theft in testimony before Circuit Judge Richard S. Bernhardt, according to a spokesman for the state's attorney's office. Collazo was treasurer for the Fredericksburg-based National Association of Accountants for Cooperatives, a nonprofit group.