Unsecured Bond

An Iranian national accused of abducting his two children from Westminster in 1990 and taking them to Iran will continue to await trial free on unsecured bond, a Carroll County District judge ruled yesterday.At a hearing to give the man a chance to show why his bond shouldn't be revoked, Judge JoAnn Ellinghaus-Jones ordered Hossein Nasri Ghajari to keep away from his ex-wife and the couple's children.Mr. Ghajari, 52, accused of abducting the children in March 1990 after a bitter divorce, was served yesterday with two felony kidnapping charges.

A 20-year-old Westminster man, who had been released on $25,000 unsecured bond Wednesday on breaking and entering and conspiracy charges, was rearrested Sunday on drug charges.Keith Michael Welsh of Rolling Ridge Road was held in lieu of posting $25,000 bond after cocaine and paraphernalia were found in the pickup truck he was driving, according to Westminster police.Cpl. Rick May, spokesman for the department, said police received information that a drug transaction was to be conducted on the parking lot of a restaurant at Route 140 and Sullivan Avenue about 5:30 p.m.Police staking out the parking lot saw a GMC pickup truck containing three men pull into the lot and saw a woman walk up to the vehicle, get inside, then quickly leave the truck as it pulled away.

When Carroll County residents heard that Charles Bernard Thomas Jr. had been arrested for the savage stabbing of his girlfriend last Tuesday, a week after being released from the detention center on an unsecured bond on earlier assault charges, they immediately blamed District Court Judge Donald M. Smith. This was another example of a lenient judiciary "coddling" criminals, they said.They were wrong.As reported by The Sun's Darren Allen last week, court transcripts show that at the March 20 bail review, prosecutors failed to inform Judge Smith of Mr. Thomas' 30-year criminal record -- which included convictions for manslaughter, burglary and grand theft.

Man charged with taking youths is arrestedA 52-year-old Iranian national, accused of abducting his two children from Westminster in March 1990 and taking them to Iran, was arrested Monday by the FBI when he arrived at JFK Airport in New York.A court commissioner released him on unsecured bond, but police sought revocation of bond and his rearrest when he reportedly went looking for his ex-wife.Action is expected on the request today.On Tuesday, Hossein Nasri Ghajari waived extradition in New York and was taken to Carroll County by Westminster Police Lt. Dean Brewer and Sgt. Wayne Mann on charges of abduction.

A 52-year-old Iranian national, accused of abducting his two children from Westminster in March 1990 and taking them to Iran, was arrested Monday by the FBI when he arrived at JFK Airport in New York.A court commissioner released him on unsecured bond, but police sought revocation of bond and his rearrest when he reportedly went looking for his ex-wife.Action is expected on the request today.On Tuesday, Hossein Nasri Ghajari waived extradition in New York and was taken to Carroll County by Westminster Police Lt. Dean Brewer and Sgt. Wayne Mann on charges of abduction.

A 51-year-old Sykesville man has been charged with second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in an April 21 accident on U.S. 29 in Ellicott City. Robert Archie Pitcher of the 5900 block of Grace Lee Ave. was taken before a Howard County court commissioner yesterday and formally charged and released on an unsecured bond. Howard County police said a man was driving in the center lane of southbound U.S. 29 near U.S. 40 when a car tried to pass on the left. The driver of the first car "intentionally moved to the left to prevent [the second car]

Two Westminster men were arrested yesterday on assault charges after being accused of chasing a man through the city late Sunday, court records show.Jonathan T. Jarbo of Westminster said two men armed with large knives chased him from Manchester Avenue to the rear of the 200 block of E. Main St. while yelling that they were going to kill him, records show.Jarbo provided descriptions, and police said two suspects were arrested in the vicinity of the 200 block of E. Main St.Michael J. Bryant, 25, of the 300 block of W. Main St. and Michael J. Peery, 19, of the first block of S. Church St. each were charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment, according to court records.

A 49-year-old Westminster man sought by authorities for nearly a year was arrested Friday morning at his mother's home in Harrisburg, Pa., after FBI agents followed up on an anonymous tip.Charles Bernard Thomas Jr. of Center Street -- also known as "Slick Duck" -- was being held in the Dauphin County Prison on $500,000 bail while awaiting an extradition hearing.Police said the hearing is expected to take place tomorrow or Tuesday.Police said Mr Thomas faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, maiming, malicious injury, carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure, stalking, theft and battery upon his return to Westminster.

Carroll prosecutors are seeking to revoke the unsecured bond of a Westminster man -- who last month was accused of attacking a woman less than a week after a Carroll judge allowed him out of jail -- until he can be tried on charges that he tried to rape and kidnapped the same woman in January.The bond revocation motion, filed late Tuesday, is moot at the moment, however, because the suspect -- Charles Bernard Thomas Jr. -- has been missing since March 28."We are actively investigating his whereabouts, but, at this time, we haven't found him," said Deputy State's Attorney Marcie S. Wogan.

The Carroll County Drug Strike Force arrested four people at three locations Wednesday and seized 46 quarter-sticks of explosives, Sheriff John E. Brown said yesterday.The amount of explosive material was thought to be so potent it should not be kept as evidence at the sheriff's office in the basement of the Carroll County Detention Center, Brown said."We called the state fire marshal for a bomb technician to get it out of here. If anything went wrong, we may have had some badly injured, even dead inmates on our hands," Brown said.