Offender

A convicted sex offender who was cleared by a jury of rape charges in September has been linked through DNA to two other rapes, including a November attack on a woman in her Reservoir Hill home, court records show. Nelson Bernard Clifford of the 800 block of Brooks Lane was charged Dec. 6 with raping a woman at knifepoint after breaking into her home while she was sleeping about 9 p.m. Nov. 12, according to charging documents. Police say he blindfolded her, bound her hands and threatened to slash her face.

A grand jury in Carroll County has indicted a sex offender registered in Maryland and Pennsylvania on 20 counts of sexual offenses involving minors, according to a statement issued by the Maryland State's Attorney's Office. The grand jury registered the indictment against David Michael Blaker, a 31-year-old Taneytown resident currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania. The move is the culmination of a six-month investigation by the Carroll County Advocacy and Investigation Center, a division of the State's Attorney's Office.

A massive search continued Thursday evening for an 11-year-old Salisbury girl who police say was kidnapped by a registered sex offender Tuesday night. Authorities have arrested and charged Thomas James Leggs, 30, a registered sex offender in two states, with burglary and kidnapping in the disappearance of Sarah Haley Foxwell, who was taken from her bedroom, authorities say. Police said Leggs is a former boyfriend of Sarah's aunt, who is the guardian of the missing girl and her younger sister.

A former Annapolis man, a convicted sex offender who is serving a 15-year sentence for burglary, has been charged with first-degree rape and related counts after his DNA was linked to a 1993 sexual assault in Annapolis, officials said. An Anne Arundel County judge unsealed the indictment of James Albert Henson, 47, this week. Henson is charged in the rape of a 21-year-old woman who was attacked Oct. 21, 1993, in her apartment in the 200 block of Victor Parkway. - Andrea F. Siegel

A registered sex offender who was charged with second-degree rape of a 13-year-old girl last Thursday is now also accused of having sex with a 14-year-old friend of the first victim. Anne Arundel County police said they have issued a warrant for James Mason III, 28, of the 100 block of Simms Drive in Annapolis, accusing him of second-degree rape and other counts related to the 14-year-old. Mason has been jailed since last week in lieu of $500,000 bail to await trial on charges that he raped the 13-year-old.

A 56-year-old South Baltimore man was sentenced yesterday in federal court to two years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised probation after he pleaded guilty to not registering as a convicted sex offender in three states, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. Brian Lee Gould did not register with authorities in West Virginia, Pennsylvania or Maryland, federal prosecutors said. Gould was released from prison in 2002 in the District of Columbia after serving time for assault with intent to commit sodomy while armed, prosecutors said.

A Baltimore judge rejected a motion yesterday to release a convicted child sex offender from prison while he awaits a parole revocation hearing. Kenneth Earl Barnes Jr., 45, of the 7500 block of Park Heights Ave. is charged with violating his parole by being a danger to others. He is accused of eyeing children at local snowball stands, authorities said. Barnes' attorney had asked Circuit Judge Evelyn Omega Cannon to release Barnes because the parole-violation charge has no basis in law. Cannon did say that Barnes' revocation hearing should be held as soon as possible, and the attorneys scheduled it for next week.

A Wicomico grand jury has indicted convicted sex offender Thomas James Leggs Jr. in the murder and sexual assault of an 11-year-old Salisbury girl whose body was found Christmas Day, the county sheriff said Tuesday. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty in the case, which was criticized by some as too long in coming. "A lot of people were wondering 'Why hadn't he been charged? Was the case weak? Was there insufficient evidence to charge him?' " said Wicomico Sheriff Michael A. Lewis.

In the annals of great ripoffs in Baltimore City history, this one surely has earned its place -- first, for the facts surrounding the waste of taxpayer money, and now for its sheer absurdity.   My former Examiner co-worker, Stephen Janis (who now runs the investigative reporting website Investigative Voice and occasionally freelances for b , among other projects) broke this story in 2010:  The city government paid a Department of Public Works employee nearly $13,000 in sick pay while he was in jail serving an eight-month sentence after being convicted of a sex offense.  Yes, really.

A Baltimore police officer tracked down and helped arrest a registered sex offender Sunday evening who authorities said tried to abduct a 15-year-old girl on Washington Boulevard. Michael Leroy Thomas, 44, was arrested at his Baltimore County home on Dalton Drive in Gwynn Oak after Southwest District Officer Matt Dzambo followed him there and alerted county police. Thomas was charged with assault. Police said Dzambo was on patrol in the 2500 block of Washington Blvd. about 5:15 p.m. when a resident flagged him down and told him a man had just grabbed his daughter, who managed to get away.