Unlicensed

Several Tennessee companies and people unlicensed to sell heath insurance in Maryland have been ordered to stop selling policies to state residents, the state Insurance Commission announced Monday. About 700 Maryland residents are believed to have been scammed by companies including American Trade Association, Real Benefits Association, Smart Data Solutions and Serve America Assurance, Ltd. These companies were not licensed by Maryland and therefore had not demonstrated that they had the financial resources to pay claims, according to the insurance commission.

The Internet could eventually be as ubiquitous as the air we breathe if the Federal Communications Commission moves forward with a plan to allow free access to an unused portion of the broadcast spectrum. The WiFi networks that would flourish on that bandwidth could powerfully transform our lives and spur massive innovation in the economy - if the idea can get past the multi-billion dollar interests standing in its way. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is spearheading the public WiFi effort on the grounds that it could lead to whole new industries of products and services, but the idea would also serve the agency's mission to reduce the digital divide by expanding the availability of high-speed Internet access and reducing its cost.

In a case reminiscent of a series of abductions earlier this year, an unlicensed cab driver was released unharmed early yesterday after he was forced into the trunk of his car by two men seeking a ride near Mondawmin Mall, Baltimore police said.Calvin Vaughn, 40, of the 2700 block of W. North Ave., told police that he picked up the two men in the 2500 block of Reisterstown Road about 8:30 p.m. Saturday after they asked for a ride to Palmer Court, near Pimlico Race Track.While en route, one of the men pulled a handgun and told Mr. Vaughn to stop the car. The men forced him into the trunk and then drove around for an undetermined amount of time, police said.

City school officials offered few answers to Hazelwood Elementary/Middle parents during a contentious meeting Thursday about an employee accused of impregnating a 15-year-old and misrepresenting himself as a child therapist. Separately, the city school board chairman said in an interview that members would scrutinize the system's process for verifying potential employees' credentials. The incident marks the third time under city schools CEO Andrés Alonso's administration that employees have apparently misrepresented their credentials.

State police have arrested and charged two men in connection with an alleged unlicensed home improvement business that was operating in Sykesville.Troopers said they received a call about two men who were paving a driveway in the 400 block of Ronsdale Road in Sykesville. When police questioned the workers yesterday, they were told that the men were picked up each morning at their homes, taken to the daily job site, paid in cash and knew little about their employers.Investigators set up a surveillance near the house.

A Glen Burnie contractor who used unlicensed workers to install an air-conditioning system has had his license suspended for six months for violating county code.The county's Department of Inspections and Permits suspended the professional license of John W. Mavis Sr. for six months for each of two violations. The two six-month suspensions will run concurrently, said Robert J. Brown, Quality Care Administrator for the department.Mr. Brown said a six-month suspension was "a stiff penalty" for a first offense.

City homicide detectives are investigating possible links between the recent deaths of two men believed to be unlicensed taxi cab drivers, sources said. The shootings took place over the course of four days last week and within about a half-mile in East Baltimore. Police believe the victims - ages 63 and 78 - were "hacks," or unlicensed cab drivers, though it is unclear whether they were transporting or seeking passengers at the time they were killed, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. The latest occurred Saturday, when Calvin Hayes, 78, was found about 6:50 a.m. sitting inside a blue Cadillac suffering from gunshot wounds to the upper torso.

An unlicensed taxi driver who was shot Monday night during a robbery attempt in North Baltimore died yesterday. The victim was identified as a 50-year-old former Martinsburg, W.Va., resident whose local address was unknown and whose relatives had not been located. Police said that shortly after the driver stopped in the 2700 block of Greenmount Ave. about 10:30 p.m., a gunman approached his Honda Accord and announced a holdup. Before the driver could give up money or valuables, he was shot several times.

The unlicensed crab pickers on Smith Island have won a three-month reprieve from a state crackdown on their illicit cottage industry, which they feared would require them to leave the traditional Chesapeake Bay watermen's community.At the request of Gov. William Donald Schaefer, state Health Secretary Nelson J. Sabatini agreed yesterday to give a group of women on the marshy island in the lower bay another 90 days to comply with strict, costly rules for commercial food preparation.The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene began issuing letters last week warning about two dozen watermen's wives and widows on the island to stop picking crabs for sale in their backyard sheds, which the state considers a food-poisoning hazard.

A 22-year-old Northwest Baltimore man was charged yesterday with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an unlicensed taxi driver during a weekend carjacking, police said. Gerard Moore of the 2900 block of Parkwood Ave. was being held without bail yesterday at the city jail in the death of Hughey David Chisholm, 67, of West Baltimore. Police said Chisholm left his house in the 800 block of N. Woodington Road about 3 p.m. Sunday in his Buick Skylark and was found dead a half-hour later in the 2300 block of Orem Ave., shot in the chest.

Unlicensed home improvement contractors will undoubtedly be trying to take advantage “of distraught homeowners anxious to complete repairs as soon as possible,” Maryland's Labor and Licensing Department said the day after the storm called Sandy blew through the state. “Scam artists often follow damaging storms. Don't be fooled by an unlicensed contractor who offers to do a job at a lower price than a licensed contractor,” said Leonard Howie, secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, in a statement Wednesday.

An unlicensed motorcyclist died in an accident Wednesday night on Wilkens Avenue on the city's southwest side. Sean Peartree, 41, of the 4200 block of Granada Ave. in Liberty Heights, died at 10:51 p.m. at the scene, police said. He was wearing a helmet and speed was a factor in the accident, police said. He was driving a Honda westbound at a rapid speed in the 2800 block of Wilkens Ave. near Hurley Street at about 10:38 p.m., police said. He swerved around a pick-up truck and pulled into the intersection, where another car was making a left turn.

A Baltimore firefighter has been charged with running an online prostitution ring and unlicensed after-hours club in a Southwest Baltimore warehouse, less than two years after he received probation in Baltimore County in a similar sex trafficking case. The prior arrest didn't end the city employment of Jamar Marvin Simmons, 29, who continued to work as a firefighter/paramedic out of a firehouse in Roland Park. Fire officials said Simmons has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the most recent arrest.

A 28-year-old Baltimore man was convicted of rape, kidnapping and related offenses this week for assaulting a woman at "knife point in his hack taxi cab," the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office announced. Samuel Renard Queen, of the 3500 block of Elmley Ave., faces a maximum of life plus 73 years in prison at his sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. According to the prosecutors' office, the victim hailed an unlicensed taxi, known as a "hack," after work on the evening of Dec. 6, 2010.

Charges have largely been dropped against a Howard County man arrested last year for allegedly practicing as a certified public accountant without a license. Columbia resident George Oluwaboro, 51, was given probation before judgment for doing unlicensed work. Prosecutors declined to move forward on three other charges, including theft. The state's Board of Public Accountancy said it does not intend to pursue the matter further. jamie.smith.hopkins@baltsun.com twitter.

Ernest Kelly has a warning for fellow homeowners: Be wary of door-to-door solicitors offering to pave driveways. Kelly, 80, an Allegany County resident, said he was swindled out of more than $7,000 from unlicensed contractors who pressured him to pay for shoddy and incomplete work. He said the contractor followed him to his credit union to collect a check. "There was nothing I could do then. I thought I had to pay," Kelly said. "I should have called the law right there. " State officials are investigating an uptick in complaints by Maryland homeowners victimized by similar scams this year.

Almost one-third of the state's child-protection workers are barred from providing hearsay evidence in abuse cases, a city prosecutor has told lawmakers.But the Maryland Department of Human Resources wants to change that with a bill that would allow testimony from unlicensed social workers.While a 1988 law allows licensed psychologists, educators, doctors and social workers to testify about statements made by children under age 12, it does not extend to unlicensed social workers.Yet unlicensed workers make up almost one-third of the state's protective services staff -- 170 out of 550, according to DHR.Part of the problem is the budget, officials said, because agencies can't offer high enough salaries to maintain completely licensed staffs.

A 51-year-old Howard County man has been charged with felony theft and practicing as a certified public accountant without a license, the state said Tuesday. Though he didn't have the required credentials, George Oluwaboro — whose last known address was in Columbia — allegedly accepted money to perform an independent audit for a client, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said. The client complained to the agency after discovering he was not listed in the state database of licensed CPAs.

Several Tennessee companies and people unlicensed to sell heath insurance in Maryland have been ordered to stop selling policies to state residents, the state Insurance Commission announced Monday. About 700 Maryland residents are believed to have been scammed by companies including American Trade Association, Real Benefits Association, Smart Data Solutions and Serve America Assurance, Ltd. These companies were not licensed by Maryland and therefore had not demonstrated that they had the financial resources to pay claims, according to the insurance commission.