Natural Resources Police

Maryland Natural Resources Police are investigating a boating accident that claimed the life of a 19-year-old Rising Sun man Sunday evening. Robert Lee Ambrose and two other adults were riding in a 14- foot jon boat, an open, flat-bottomed craft with a 20-horsepower outboard engine, near Garrett Island in the Susquehanna River. None of the three was wearing a life jacket when they were thrown from the boat shortly after 7 p.m., police said. With its motor still running, the unmanned boat circled the area.

State and federal authorities completed a four-year undercover investigation of a Dorchester County hunt club over the weekend, arresting or issuing citations to almost two dozen guides, fishermen and hunters charged with about 400 violations of game and fishing laws.Maryland Natural Resources Police say they began documenting illegal hunting and fishing at the 2,000-acre Golden Hills Farm in February 1995, booking hunting trips through the farm's guide service. They continued their investigation when the farm became a shooting club and began charging members annual dues in 1996.

Maryland Natural Resources Police are seeking the identity of a woman whose body was found at the mouth of Weems Creek in Annapolis.The woman's body, which apparently was in the water for a few months, was found about 6 p.m. Saturday near Wardour Drive, said DNR spokesman John Surrick.The cause of death appeared to be drowning, he said.Police say the woman was African-American, between ages 35 and 55, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and 140 pounds, Surrick said.Anyone with information is asked to call the Natural Resources Police at 410-260-8888.

State Natural Resources Police have identified the body of a woman found Saturday at the mouth of Weems Creek near Annapolis as Annie Mae Bracey West, 58, of the 1300 block of Gorsuch Ave. in Baltimore.Richard McIntire, Natural Resources Police spokesman, said an autopsy determined that West, who was reported missing by her son Jan. 14, drowned. She had been dead nearly two months, and there were no signs of foul play.Authorities are trying to determine why West -- who has no known family or friends in the Annapolis area -- would have traveled there from Baltimore.

A 3-year-old boy drowned yesterday in a pool at his home in Dundalk while friends and relatives were having a party, Baltimore County police said.Austin Mullins, who lived on the 8000 block of N. Boundary Road, was pronounced dead at the scene.Police said a group had gathered at the house, and that the child wandered away and climbed into an above-ground pool in the back yard.Police said no charges have been filed and that their investigation is continuing.In other water-related incidents yesterday, a woman was killed in a personal-watercraft accident in Ocean City, and a 20-year-old man was injured in a motorboat accident in Anne Arundel County.

Critter collectors beware: That elegantly spotted leopard frog or cute little turtle in the pet shop might not be legal to sell.After a six-month, 11-county shopping spree in 45 Maryland pet stores that sell reptiles and frogs, state Natural Resources Police have cited 25 shops for improperly selling certain cold-blooded pets.All but four of the shops were charged with violating licensing regulations designed to prevent profit-seeking collectors from capturing too many of the state's native creatures.

A Delaware man whose body was found Monday on a satellite parking lot at Baltimore-Washington International Airport died of heart disease, the state medical examiner's office said yesterday.The driver of an airport shuttle bus found the body of Robert Lee Turner, 67, of Millsboro, Del., about 9 p.m. on the blue satellite parking lot, said a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation ,, Authority Police.Dr. David Fowler of the medical examiner's office said yesterday Turner had been dead a short time before his body was discovered.

County police arrested a Dunkirk man early Sunday on charges of stealing four cars, credit cards and almost $800. One of the cars was damaged, police said.William Russell Green Jr., of the 11000 block of Oakwood Drive was charged with two counts of felony theft and first- and third-degree burglary. Green is being held on $15,000 bond.Police were called to the 1100 block of Cumberstone Road in Harwood about 1: 30 a.m., where owners James and Donna Olfson reported their 1992 Mercedes Benz sedan, cash and credit cards stolen.

Call them poachers, not hunters: the guys who blast out of their pickup windows when they see a deer by the side of the road.To curb this hazardous and illegal practice, Maryland Natural Resources Police are willing to sit in the cold for hours at a potential hot spot -- assisted by a remote-controlled stuffed buck.They don't call their decoy Rudolph or any other cute name. The battery-packing buck can spin its head around like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist," although the officers go for more subtle movements.

A Mount Airy man was arrested Thursday night by state Natural Resources Police on charges of jacklighting deer, a police spokesman said.Jacklighting -- shining a light on wildlife at night while carrying a weapon -- carries a maximum penalty of a $2,000 fine and six months in jail, John Surrick, the spokesman, said.Arrested at a farm field in the Mount Airy area about 7: 15 p.m. was Neal G. Eitel, 48, of the 3800 block of W. Watersville Road.Natural Resources Police reported seeing grazing deer and said Eitel had a .270-caliber rifle with him when he shone his vehicle headlights at the animals.

With boating deaths at a seven-year high, the Department of Natural Resources will be asking the General Assembly to enact tougher laws, requiring more children to wear life jackets and placing age restrictions on who may supervise an uncertified boater. Fifteen people have died on Maryland waterways this year despite stepped-up enforcement and high-visibility safety campaigns by Natural Resources Police. Under a proposal endorsed by the O'Malley administration, all children under the age of 13 would be required to wear a personal flotation device, beginning July 10. The current age threshold is 7. Maryland, which pioneered mandatory boating safety classes in the 1980s and minimum ages for wearing a life jacket, fell behind other states in enacting tougher standards.

Man with gun arrested at Arundel Mills mall after spray-painting car Anne Arundel County police arrested a 21-year-old Virginia man Saturday at Arundel Mills mall after discovering he was carrying a loaded pistol and marijuana in his backpack and had a loaded shotgun in his car. Timothy John Barnes, of Wake, Va., was charged with possession of a handgun, possession of a concealed deadly weapon, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, police...

Frederick Co. woman killed in head-on crash 1 A 51-year-old Frederick County woman was killed in a head-on collision Saturday afternoon on Route 26 at Old Liberty Road, state police said. Police said Patricia Marie Ryan was killed when the car she was driving east on Route 26 crossed the center line and collided with a pickup truck, causing the truck to overturn. Ryan was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the truck, Alfonso Contreras Balderas, 32, of Frederick County and two passengers were taken to Washington County Hospital, where they were treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said.

Police investigate death of woman, 83, found in freezer 2 Anne Arundel County police are investigating the death of an 83-year-old woman whose body they found Friday evening in a home freezer in Glen Burnie. Doris Lea Cooke had several medical conditions and had been bedridden for years, family members and witnesses told detectives. When she died several weeks ago, relatives allegedly placed her body in a freezer in the 7400 block of Furnace Branch Road. An autopsy will determine the cause of Cooke's death.

An Ellicott City man whose stray bullet shattered the front window of a Howard County day care center last week has been charged with negligent hunting by Maryland Natural Resources Police. Investigators said yesterday that Richard Vernon Hoenes Jr., 41, fired his shotgun several times Dec. 10 at a deer that was between him and Kids Time Out in Clarksville. One of the slugs traveled about 277 yards through a farm field and woods, and hit the window. The slug was found on the windowsill.

At first glance, the O'Malley administration's proposed cuts at the Department of Natural Resources for the remainder of the fiscal year seem rather mild. Eliminate the helicopter and its crew, and remove 23 vacant slots at Natural Resources Police for a total savings of $1.9 million. On first glance, it's a quick fix and fairly bloodless, unless, of course, you're the whirlybird guys. But it's not quite that simple. It never is. And it's up to you to stop it. Simply put, Natural Resources Police is a shell of its former self.

Divers searching the waters of Bear Creek in Baltimore County yesterday for the missing occupant of a 16-foot aluminum motorboat, which was spotted circling in the water with no one on board shortly before 1 p.m. yesterday, will continue their search today, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources police officer said. "If we do not locate him or his body by dark, we will stop the search and start back up tomorrow morning," Sgt. Ken Turner, the DNR police spokesman, said last night. Natural resources police, Baltimore County fire and rescue personnel and the U.S. Coast Guard all responded to the site near Anchor Bay yesterday to find the unmanned boat, which was no longer circling in the open water but was lodged beneath a pier, Turner said.

City man charged in robbery, break-in A Baltimore man was arrested and charged with robbing a Brooklyn Park convenience store at knifepoint, then trying to break into a house and steal a car from a woman while fleeing from police, county police said. Ike Elijah Brown, 37, of the 3000 block of Mardel Ave. is accused of going into a 7-Eleven at 9:25 p.m. Monday, walking behind the counter, showing a kitchen knife and ordering the clerk to open the cash register. He took the money and packs of cigarettes and lighters and fled, police said.

A body discovered by a boater near Kent Island last week has been identified as a 17-year-old Severna Park High School student, Maryland Transportation Authority Police said. Emily Rose LeClare had been missing since Dec. 18, when her vehicle was found abandoned on the Bay Bridge. The police "don't know how she got in the water," said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. The boater who found the body first contacted the Maryland Natural Resources Police, who then contacted the MdTA police, Green said.

Van escapee is convicted in his absence A man who escaped from a state prison van on the way to Baltimore Circuit Court was convicted of handgun charges in his absence last night, according to a prosecutor with the city state's attorney's office. On Tuesday, Marcus Anderson, who was unrestrained, leaped out of a road crew van when it stopped at a red light at Baltimore and South streets. Because of a missed connection in Jessup, Anderson, 22, was being driven to court by a corrections officer who normally doesn't transport prisoners, according to testimony.