Minors

A former U.S. Naval Academy mechanic who attempted to meet and engage in sex with a police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl pleaded guilty to child pornography in Baltimore federal court yesterday. Authorities said that Steven Diles, 42, of Annapolis, contacted an undercover New York City police officer almost three years ago through an America Online chat room called "I love older men." Diles, prosecutors said, believed the officer was a 14-year-old girl. After chatting, Diles traveled to Queens to try to meet the agent, and he was arrested Oct. 15, 2004, by local authorities, court papers show.

A New York City computer programmer who used the Internet to solicit sex from what he thought was a Columbia teen-ager pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to charges of child pornography and sex solicitation with a minor.Michael Perry, 47, of Manhattan was arrested in September after an FBI agent -- posing as a 14-year-old named "Amy" with the screen name "Ami13f" -- tracked him for several weeks on the Internet service provider America Online.In several conversations, Perry was sexually explicit, e-mailed pictures of children having sex and tried to meet the girl in Columbia, evidence showed.

BOWIE -- Someone asked Matt Riley when he expected a promotion to the Orioles. He responded with a high, hard fastball."I'd like to be up in the next couple of months," he said, "if things keep going well. If not, September."It's a temptation, for sure. The Orioles are desperate for a left-handed starter, and Riley is their best pitching prospect since Mike Mussina.But it's a temptation the Orioles should resist -- if they want another Mussina, that is, instead of another Rocky Coppinger.

PRINCESS ANNE -- Four Somerset County teen-agers have been charged in a home invasion in which two University of Maryland Eastern Shore students were dragged from their beds at gunpoint, terrorized and sexually assaulted at their off-campus apartment early Monday.The teen-agers, from Princess Anne, are being held on $500,000 bond each at Somerset County Detention Center. Charges include first-degree sexual assault and burglary.The charges could bring prison terms of 20 years to life. Deandre Cotton, 16, Timothy Holbrook and Tremaine Waters, both 17, and DeShawn Burke, 18, await a preliminary hearing Dec. 28. All four -- including the three minors -- will be tried as adults.

Three local liquor purveyors charged with selling alcohol to minors could have their licenses suspended if the Anne Arundel County Liquor Board finds them guilty.The board has scheduled a hearing at 6: 30 p.m. tomorrow in the Arundel Center on charges that Odenton Liquors, Whitey's Supermarket in Linthicum and Corridor Wine and Spirits in Laurel sold liquor to minors during county police sting operations in September and October.The alleged violations were the first for each store, said Richard Bittner, liquor board chairman.

A Westminster dump truck driver was arrested late Wednesday on child pornography charges after he was accused of offering to pay two teen-age boys for sexually explicit pictures he planned to use to start a porn Web site, authorities said.William R. Williams, 45, of the first block of George St. was taken into custody when he returned to his home while officers were carrying out a court-ordered search.Williams was charged on two counts each of soliciting minors for pornographic purposes, permitting minors to engage in pornographic activity and filming minors in sexual activity.

Changing state law so that Howard County can suspend or revoke the sales licenses of merchants caught selling cigarettes to minors might sound like a simple idea, but getting it enacted by the General Assembly may be anything but.State Senate Minority Leader Martin G. Madden, a Howard Republican, has proposed the change based on the suggestion of Peg Browning, chairwoman of the Coalition for Smoke Free Howard County. He is promoting the idea as a pilot program affecting only Howard as a way of avoiding another statewide battle over smoking.

ORDERING a boutique wine, a bottle of scotch or a case of beer for delivery to your door is as easy as getting on the Internet. Or making a toll-free phone call or mailing in a catalog order.Trouble is, it's illegal. Increasing numbers of minors are buying prohibited alcohol from out-of-state suppliers. And states are losing perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in sales/excise taxes.Legislation in both Maryland's General Assembly and in Congress aim to tighten enforcement of state alcohol beverage laws, and to crack down on access of minors to the controlled product.

Changing state law so that Howard County can suspend or revoke the sales licenses of merchants caught selling cigarettes to minors might sound like a simple idea, but getting it enacted by the General Assembly may be anything but.State Senate Minority Leader Martin G. Madden, a Howard Republican, has proposed the change based on the suggestion of Peg Browning, chairwoman of the Coalition for Smoke Free Howard County. He is promoting the idea as a pilot program affecting only Howard as a way of avoiding another statewide battle over smoking.

BaseballAngels: Placed IF Gary DiSarcina, IF Justin Baughman, P Jack McDowell and P Pep Harris on 15-day DL. Placed P Mike James on 60-day DL.Blue Jays: Optioned 1B-OF Kevin Witt, C Kevin Brown, OF Anthony Sanders to Triple-A Syracuse.Indians: Optioned P Jason Rakers, P Mike Matthews and IF John McDonald to Triple-A Buffalo.Mariners: Assigned former Orioles minor-league 3B Brad Seitzer, IF Francisco Matos, OF Earl Johnson, C Justin Towle, P Mike Bertotti and P Huck Flener to minors.Phillies: Released P Chris Eddy, P Greg Whiteman and C-3B James Fritz.

Frederick W. "Fred" Brocklander III, a former National League umpire who called balls and strikes in the majors and minors for nearly 30 years, died of complications from a stroke Aug. 13 at a daughter's Severn home. He was 69. Born in Baltimore, the son of a city liquor board inspector and a homemaker, he was raised in Highlandtown. He was a 1958 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School, where he was an outstanding baseball and soccer player. He attended the University of Baltimore.

As kids across the country get ready for that fall ritual of heading back to classes, swine flu isn't the only thing that school officials have to worry will go viral this academic year. The teen phenomenon of sexting - minors' texting or e-mailing sexually explicit photographs of themselves to each other - threatens to become even more widespread despite the severe, if not draconian, consequences. Some administrators hope to curb the behavior before it gets worse. When middle and high schoolers in Broward County, Fla., return to class this fall, they'll see a video about sexting and the felony charges that accompany the activity.

It's understandable that fans wanted to see catching phenom Matt Wieters in an Orioles uniform on Opening Day, but it just wasn't sensible. What would you rather have had? A couple weeks of Wieters now as a rookie or a whole year of him when he is in his prime? I thought so. If Wieters were on the Opening Day roster, his service-time clock would have begun ticking. Assuming he remained on the club's 25-man roster or disabled list, Wieters would have been eligible for free agency after the 2014 season.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -All Rick Kranitz needed to see were three pitches from Rich Hill before he picked up the bullpen phone to call Chicago Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild. "I saw a couple of pitches, and I said, 'Whoa.' I called down to the dugout and said, 'Hey, Larry, you might want to come down and see this, because this is unbelievable,' " said Kranitz, then the Cubs' Triple-A pitching coach. "After the game, Larry came over and watched him. And he was like, 'Oh my gosh, we don't have a guy that throws that kind of breaking ball on our team right now.' " Hill, a fourth-round draft pick out of the University of Michigan a couple of years earlier, had been summoned to the major league club that day to serve as an emergency backup for a spring training game.

This week on the What's the Deal travel blog (baltimoresun.com/travelblog), we're talking about kids flying solo. Airlines typically charge a fee to ensure these minors get where they're going. But what happens when the parent shows up at the gate but the child doesn't? Panic. That's what one Virginia family says occurred when their 10-year-old flew United Airlines from Boston to Dulles after a visit with her grandmother. Jeffrey and Judy Boyer of Reston were obviously upset at what happened to their daughter, Jenna.

Out of the major leagues since being released by the Orioles in March, Jay Gibbons is expected to sign a minor league deal this week with the Milwaukee Brewers. An announcement could come as early as today, according to baseball sources. Gibbons, who probably will start in either Double- or Triple-A, was unavailable for comment last night. Gibbons, a 31-year-old outfielder who hit 121 homers for the Orioles over seven injury-riddled seasons, has been playing with the independent Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks.

To lift a burden from the police, Baltimore County lawmakers authorized the Health Department last year to take over the task of imposing fines on store clerks who sell cigarettes to underage teenagers. But the county hasn't been doing that job - intentionally - because officials say they are opposed to using minors in sting operations. The county's approach is drawing criticism from some legal and health advocates who say it is not an effective deterrent. "You can shake your finger, but if there's no repercussions, what will make a person think twice about it?"

Orioles @Red Sox 7:05 p.m. [MASN] Orioles starter Garrett Olson, who is 5-1 since being called up from the minors in late April, has given up just four runs in his past 18 innings. Boston pitcher Bartolo Colon beat the Orioles, 9-4, on June 1.

A 42-year-old Western Maryland man convicted of child sexual abuse in 1986 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for videotaping himself having sex with three boys between the ages of 10 and 14, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. Larry Cordell of Frederick pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting minors for the purpose of producing child pornography. Prosecutors said they seized 10 videotapes showing the abuse and that Cordell enticed the victims with money. The victims identified themselves from the tapes, prosecutors said.

Nationals@Orioles 7 p.m. [MASN] Garrett Olson, who has had three solid starts for the Orioles since being called up from the minors in late April, will face Shawn Hill, who has no-decisions in five starts despite having a decent 3.56 ERA.