Natural Resources Police

Maryland State Police homicide detectives investigating the death of a missing 10-year-old Cecil County girl, whose body was found in a Port Deposit field Monday evening, said they have a person of interest in custody. Elena Russo, a State Police spokesperson on the scene, said Tuesday afternoon the person in custody is one of several people they've been questioning. The victim has been identified as Kami Ring, of the 600 block of Bladen Street in Charlestown, according to a State Police news release.

Emergency responders on Sunday recovered the body of a 26-year-old kayaker who had been reported missing a day earlier. The body of Daniel Travis Deamond of Parkville was pulled from the Gunpowder Falls near Belair Road in Kingsville at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, said Sgt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Police. Deamond and a friend had been kayaking Saturday when Deamond ran into trouble at the bridge, Albert said. The river flows through four archways under the road.

You could have put every Natural Resources Police field officer in the state into the Annapolis hearing room Saturday - two times over - and still had room for the coffee urn, doughnut tray and a small dance band. That was the sobering reality hanging over the Conservation Law Enforcement Summit, which attracted recreational and commercial fishermen, hunters, fish and game cops and state lawmakers - all looking for a way to boost the police agency during the next session of the General Assembly.

Maryland State Police homicide detectives investigating the death of a missing 10-year-old Cecil County girl, whose body was found in a Port Deposit field Monday evening, said they have a person of interest in custody. Elena Russo, a State Police spokesperson on the scene, said Tuesday afternoon the person in custody is one of several people they've been questioning. The victim has been identified as Kami Ring, of the 600 block of Bladen Street in Charlestown, according to a State Police news release.

Maryland Natural Resources Police have recovered the body of a man who was reported missing after his boat capsized Saturday near the Bay Bridge. James Thomas, 44, of the 5600 block of Whitby Road in Baltimore was boating with four family members in a 16-foot runabout when the vessel began sinking late Saturday. The others aboard -- including three children ages 8, 11 and 12 -- made it to shore safely early Sunday, police said. Early yesterday, an angler spotted a body in the Chesapeake Bay, west of Love Point.

John W. Rhoads Sr. will take over as superintendent of the Maryland Natural Resources Police July 5, Department of Natural Resources Secretary Torrey C. Brown said yesterday.Mr. Rhoads, 58, is chairman of the Prince George's County Planning Board and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The Bowie resident was Prince George's County police chief from 1975 to 1979 and has had 22 years of law enforcement experience.He will replace Col. Franklin I. Wood, who announced his retirement May 25 amid complaints of racial bias and sexual harassment on the 223-member force.

A Rock Hall waterman with numerous poaching convictions was charged with stealing oysters twice in one week and has had his license suspended for the rest of the season - the first time the Department of Natural Resources has used that penalty. The action comes as Natural Resources Police up and down the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are cracking down on oyster violations and employing new tools, such as a network of radar installations and infrared cameras, to monitor commercial activities.

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.

The chief of the Maryland Natural Resources Police resigned yesterday, as a judge dismissed a complaint alleging he had threatened violence and harassed and stalked another state employee. Col. Scott A. Sewell, 53, of Baltimore County left his state job to "pursue other career opportunities," according to a news release issued by the Department of Natural Resources. No further details were given. Shareese DeLeaver, a spokeswoman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said the administration would not comment about Sewell's departure because it is a personnel matter.

Emergency responders on Sunday recovered the body of a 26-year-old kayaker who had been reported missing a day earlier. The body of Daniel Travis Deamond of Parkville was pulled from the Gunpowder Falls near Belair Road in Kingsville at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, said Sgt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Police. Deamond and a friend had been kayaking Saturday when Deamond ran into trouble at the bridge, Albert said. The river flows through four archways under the road.

A man's body was pulled from the water near Holiday Hill Marina in Anne Arundel County on Wednesday night, fire officials said, though a cause of death has not been announced. The fire department was called about a man in the water near the marina, in the 3900 block of Callawasse Road in Mayo, about 8:10 p.m. Upon arrival, firefighters went to pier 6, where they found and removed the body of an unidentified male from the creek. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, a county fire spokesman said.

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating whether the body of a man that washed up against a homeowner's pier in southern Anne Arundel County on Thursday is that of a crew member who went missing from a commercial container ship late last year. Officials with the state's Department of Natural Resources Police alerted the Coast Guard of the body, which was found in Deale, about 7:40 p.m. Thursday, said Lt. Peter Francisco, a Coast Guard marine investigator. "Whenever there is a body recovered, that's cross-referenced against all missing people that the Coast Guard has searches for," Francisco said.

Two people died and four were rescued in a boating accident on the Chesapeake Bay Saturday when their 25-foot boat capsized two miles south of Point Lookout State Park in St. Mary's County, according to Department of Natural Resources Police. Sgt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for the DNR police, said authorities were still on the scene and were trying to recover the boat. The victims were identified as two Lexington Park, Md., men - David Chase, 55, and David Fletcher, 43. "We think that the accident was due to rough seas, but we're not positive," Albert said.

Maryland State Police and sheriff's deputies in Queen Anne's County are investigating what they call the "suspicious disappearance" of a woman who they say has been missing for two days, and a dive team will search part of the Chesapeake Bay today. The woman is identified as Robin L. Pope, 51, of Stevensville. She is described as a white female, 5'4", 105 pounds, with brown hair. Police said that until December 2012, Pope had been residing with her husband, Wayne A. Pope Jr., in Stevensville.

The first week of the state's two-week firearm season for hunting deers has produced fewer deer taken and at least one hunter seriously injured. According to Brian Eyler, Deer Project Leader for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, colder than normal temperatures and windy conditions, as well an abundance of acorns, led to a 10 percent drop in the number of deer taken compared to last year. There were 15,829 whitetails taken compared to 17,613 last year. Of the whitetails taken, 6,759 were antlered and 9,070 were without antlers.

With an increase in the number of permits given out and a record number of bears killed during last month's five-day Maryland black bear hunt came another high mark - arrests made for illegal baiting and other violations. According to the Natural Resources Police, 22 hunters were arrested. While it represented more than five times the number of hunters arrested last year (four) and double the number from 2010, it is only 2.5 percent of the number of hunters who were either issued permits or had sub-permits.

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.

The eve of the next General Assembly session will arrive before authorities complete an investigation into Del. Don Dwyer, who admitted he was drunk while piloting a speed boat in a collision that seriously injured six people this past summer. Authorities said Tuesday that witness interviews and toxicology screens are still incomplete as investigators probe the two-vessel crash that sent four children, Dwyer and another adult to the hospital after an Aug. 22 accident on the Magothy River.

A second month will pass before authorities complete the inquiry into the boat collision involving an admittedly drunken state delegate and a vessel carrying children. "Charges will definitely be filed," Sgt. Brian Albert, spokesman for Natural Resources Police, said Tuesday. "First, we have to determine who was the at-fault vessel. " Del. Donald H. Dwyer admitted the day after the Aug. 22 crash that he had a blood alcohol level of 0.2 percent after his boat, The Legislator, collided with another boat carrying two adults and five children on the Magothy River.