Pasadena Woman

A 59-year-old Pasadena woman who spent some of the nearly $86,000 she stole from her employer on the Italian greyhounds she bred and trained was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison. Joan Elizabeth Krempa of the 8400 block of Miramar Road in Pasadena pleaded guilty in March to one count of theft from Parade Produce in Jessup. Howard County prosecutors say Krempa committed "102 acts of theft" over a nine-month period while working as a bookkeeper for the business. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Colleen McGuinn said Krempa forged her name on company checks, depositing 17 of them totaling about $60,500.

An argument over an unpaid pool maintenance bill led to the arrest of a Pasadena woman on drug charges Tuesday. Joan Della Lott, 52, was arrested at her Luke Drive home for cultivating marijuana, not for arguing about an unpaid bill. The pool man called police to the home about noon. While mediating the dispute, officers spotted marijuana plants growing in wooden planters on the property, which is near Mountain Road. Police said they seized four plants, nearly 20 feet in length, with an estimated street value of $3,300.

A burglar ran from the home of a woman when she threatened to call police Friday, Anne Arundel County police said. Police said the woman told them she was awakened shortly before 11 p.m. Friday in the bedroom of her home in the 7900 block of Liberty Circle, Pasadena. The woman told police she was assaulted but broke free from the assailant. When she told her attacker that she would call police, he fled, police said. Police said there was no obvious sign of a break-in and the woman was not seriously hurt.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating the domestic slaying of a woman at a Pasadena home Wednesday morning, police said. Police said they arrived at a home in the 7700 block of Jones Drive around 5 a.m. and found 38-year-old Jill Ann Salb suffering from cuts to her upper body. She was later pronounced dead at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center. Police said the victim's daughter was also cut, and was being treated at the same hospital. Charges have been filed against the victim's husband, Stephen Richard Salb, 56, who was taken into custody at the house, police said.

Police in Anne Arundel county believe a 19-year-old Pasadena woman killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve was text-messaging and speeding when she crashed her car into a tree. Alyssa Anne Bennett was driving her 2002 Acura RSX north on Tick Neck Road near Bristol Channel Court in Pasadena at 2 a.m. on Dec. 24, police said, when she apparently lost control of the car and drove it off the road and into a tree. The accident occurred less than a mile from her home on Turf Valley Drive.

Anne Arundel County police have arrested and charged a second person in the fatal stabbing of a 52-year-old woman in a Pasadena parking lot last month. Danielle Swain, 22, of the 500 block of East Drive in Severna Park was charged with first-degree murder and other charges relating to the May 29 stabbing of Debra Lynn Gill. Police have already charged her boyfriend, Francis Eugene Adams, of Severna Park, in Gill's death. Police said the couple attacked Gill and a male companion in a parking lot at 8000 Corkberry Lane in what police say appeared to be a robbery, taking $111 from the man's wallet and a cell phone.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating the domestic slaying of a woman at a Pasadena home Wednesday morning, police said. Police said they arrived at a home in the 7700 block of Jones Drive around 5 a.m. and found 38-year-old Jill Ann Salb suffering from cuts to her upper body. She was later pronounced dead at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center. Police said the victim's daughter was also cut, and was being treated at the same hospital. Charges have been filed against the victim's husband, Stephen Richard Salb, 56, who was taken into custody at the house, police said.

A 59-year-old Pasadena woman who police said stole more than $86,000 from a Howard County produce company where she worked as a bookkeeper pleaded guilty to theft on Monday in Howard County Circuit Court. Joan Elizabeth Krempa of the 8400 block of Miramar Road forged the signature of the owner of Parade Produce in Jessup between February and November of 2008. According to police, she wrote checks amounting to $60,501 and deposited the money into her personal account. She also ordered a check card that gave her access to the company's checking account and stole another $25,600, some of which she used to pay for bail in an unrelated criminal case in Anne Arundel County.

A 28-year-old Pasadena woman told police she was raped early Friday morning by a man who said he would give her a ride home, police said.According to the police report, the woman was at the Brass Rail Bar on Hog Neck Road and asked a man she knew from her Alcoholics Anonymous meeting to drive her home.Instead of driving her home, she said, he drove her to a desertedstreet and raped her.The woman said she knew the man's first name, but not his last. He was described as about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds.

Police arrested a Pasadena woman Tuesday and charged her with stealing $50 in coins from a Dunkin Donuts where she used to work.Melissa Lynn Dize, 19, of the 2900 block of Dungate Road was charged with theft.Margaret Ann McIntire, an employee of the store in the 8000 block of Ritchie Highway, told police a woman was in the store with two friends about 5: 30 p.m. when she went to the rest room and returned to ask Ms. McIntire to get a mop because the bathroom was flooded, police said.Ms. McIntire went to get the mop, but when she returned, she saw the woman running from behind the cash register holding something under her coat, police said.

Police in Anne Arundel county believe a 19-year-old Pasadena woman killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve was text-messaging and speeding when she crashed her car into a tree. Alyssa Anne Bennett was driving her 2002 Acura RSX north on Tick Neck Road near Bristol Channel Court in Pasadena at 2 a.m. on Dec. 24, police said, when she apparently lost control of the car and drove it off the road and into a tree. The accident occurred less than a mile from her home on Turf Valley Drive.

A Pasadena woman accused of setting fire to her SUV — for which she was behind in payments — was sentenced to six months in jail Wednesday. Around 11:30 p.m. Feb. 24, 2009, Edwina V. Spence's 2003 Chevrolet Blazer was found burning on a dark road in an industrial area of Glen Burnie. The fire was set from inside, barely a half-hour before she reported it stolen to Baltimore police, said Assistant State's Attorney Warren Davis III. Spence was two months behind in payments, and the vehicle was in need of engine work.

A burglar ran from the home of a woman when she threatened to call police Friday, Anne Arundel County police said. Police said the woman told them she was awakened shortly before 11 p.m. Friday in the bedroom of her home in the 7900 block of Liberty Circle, Pasadena. The woman told police she was assaulted but broke free from the assailant. When she told her attacker that she would call police, he fled, police said. Police said there was no obvious sign of a break-in and the woman was not seriously hurt.

Anne Arundel County police have arrested and charged a second person in the fatal stabbing of a 52-year-old woman in a Pasadena parking lot last month. Danielle Swain, 22, of the 500 block of East Drive in Severna Park was charged with first-degree murder and other charges relating to the May 29 stabbing of Debra Lynn Gill. Police have already charged her boyfriend, Francis Eugene Adams, of Severna Park, in Gill's death. Police said the couple attacked Gill and a male companion in a parking lot at 8000 Corkberry Lane in what police say appeared to be a robbery, taking $111 from the man's wallet and a cell phone.

A judge set bail at $1 million Tuesday for a jockey charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of a woman and wounding of her boyfriend Saturday in the parking lot outside her Pasadena apartment. Francis Eugene Adams, 22, of Severna Park had been held without bail when arrested Sunday on charges of murder, armed robbery and related counts. Adams works at the Bowie Training Center, according to information in the court file. Annapolis District Judge Jonas D. Legum set bail amount.

A 59-year-old Pasadena woman who spent some of the nearly $86,000 she stole from her employer on the Italian greyhounds she bred and trained was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison. Joan Elizabeth Krempa of the 8400 block of Miramar Road in Pasadena pleaded guilty in March to one count of theft from Parade Produce in Jessup. Howard County prosecutors say Krempa committed "102 acts of theft" over a nine-month period while working as a bookkeeper for the business. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Colleen McGuinn said Krempa forged her name on company checks, depositing 17 of them totaling about $60,500.

County police say they are awaiting autopsy results to determine whether alcohol was a factor in a two-car collision on Mountain Road early Sunday that killed a Pasadena woman returning home with her husband from a Christmas party.Jean Ann Crouse, 29, of the 100 block of Second St. was pronounced dead at North Arundel Hospital in Glen Burnie an hour after the 1 a.m. crash. Her husband, Robert J. Elchin Jr., 29, was flown by helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was listed in critical condition.

A Pasadena woman died early Saturday from injuries sustained in a three-vehicle collision Friday night on Ritchie Highway in Arnold, Anne Arundel County police reported. Fatally injured in the accident was Aileen Sandra Klein, 70, of the 7700 block of Moonfall Court. She was pronounced dead at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said. The accident occurred about 8:30 p.m. Friday when a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban driven by 17-year-old Caitlin T. Ridgely of the 700 block of Rock Elm Court in Millersville was making a U-turn from southbound Ritchie Highway at a crossover near Arnold Road.

A 59-year-old Pasadena woman who police said stole more than $86,000 from a Howard County produce company where she worked as a bookkeeper pleaded guilty to theft on Monday in Howard County Circuit Court. Joan Elizabeth Krempa of the 8400 block of Miramar Road forged the signature of the owner of Parade Produce in Jessup between February and November of 2008. According to police, she wrote checks amounting to $60,501 and deposited the money into her personal account. She also ordered a check card that gave her access to the company's checking account and stole another $25,600, some of which she used to pay for bail in an unrelated criminal case in Anne Arundel County.

A Pasadena woman was jailed yesterday for her role in leaving a mentally disabled relative in a dark, dirt-floored, trash-strewn basement with two dogs, where paramedics found him with festering sores on his dehydrated body, too ill to walk. Mary Alice Caruso, 56, told Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Nancy Davis-Loomis that her estranged husband, Benjamin Caruso, moved 55-year-old Michael Ebert to the basement to place him closer to the house's only bathroom. Charging documents said Benjamin Caruso, who is scheduled for trial next month on abuse charges, told them Ebert had been urinating on the floor upstairs.