Wallet

A Severn man was assaulted Wednesday in a Glen Burnie parking lot by a would-be thief who hit him on the head with a blunt object and left him lying on the ground, county police said yesterday.George W. Baublitz of the 7700 block of Telegraph Road in Severn told police he was walking to his car in the lot in the 7300 block of Ritchie Highway just after 7:30 p.m. when he was struck on the back of his head.Mr. Baublitz reported that when he fell to the ground, his assailant hit him on the left side and took his wallet.

Howard County police are investigating the robbery of a Jessup pharmacy Thursday in which a man stole money from a cash register, a store worker's wallet and a half-dozen kinds of narcotics.About 11: 30 a.m., a brown-haired man with a mustache and beard walked into Family Care Pharmacy in the 8600 block of Washington Blvd.Implying he had a handgun, he demanded money and several drugs that are used as painkillers. The pharmacist handed him money, his wallet and the drugs. The man fled on foot.

An armed masked man crept behind another man in a parking lot in Annapolis Junction and stole his wallet Thursday night, Howard County police said.The victim, Joseph Downing Ford III of Ellicott City, was not injured, police said.According to police, Mr. Ford left an office building in the 10900 block of Pumphouse Road about 6:30 p.m. and was walking to his car when a man wearing a dark ski mask approached, pointed a semiautomatic handgun at him and demanded cash.The man took Mr. Ford's wallet and then fled in a small dark vehicle, police said.

A 42-year-old Parkville man was robbed of his wallet outside a Glen Burnie Holiday Inn early yesterday, county police said.William Van Williams of the 8800 block of Baker Ave. was outside the hotel in the 6300 block of Ritchie Highway at 6:34 a.m. when a masked man walked up to him and demanded his wallet, police said.The assailant reached into Mr. Williams' pocket and took his wallet before running away, police said.Robbery foiled at ATM as withdrawal failsA man armed with a small handgun tried to rob a Glen Burnie woman at an automatic teller machine yesterday, but fled when the woman couldn't get any money from the machine.

A man snatched a purse from a Wilde Lake village woman at the Village Green last week, Howard County police reported.Police said Dorothy Rodbell, 58, of the 10500 Block of Catterskill Court had just parked her vehicle near the NationsBank Thursday afternoon when a man grabbed her purse from her right shoulder.He took out her wallet, threw the purse away and ran.The thief was described as black, 5 feet 7 inches tall, in his early 20s with a muscular build.He was wearing a black T-shirt with a brightly colored emblem, dark shorts and a cap.POLICE LOG* Town Center: The Mall in Columbia parking lot: A red 1987 Chevrolet Iroc Camaro with Maryland license plates RGW-279 was stolen between 1 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. Thursday.

PRINCE FREDERICK -- Calvert County prosecutors eased yesterday their tough stance on a 56-year-old alcoholic charged with stealing a wallet and 45 cents from a purse he found on a bench next to a Huntingtown grocery store.They suspended the charges and offered to drop them if Joseph Chase, who lives in a trailer near the store, seeks counseling and stays out of trouble for a year."After conversations with the defense counsel and other consultations, it was decided that it was in the best interests of all parties concerned," Michael K. Manning, deputy state's attorney, explained after the brief session in District Court here.

When Werner Ferrone received a call Feb. 16 that his father's wallet had been found, he was more than a little skeptical.After all, the wallet had been missing since the late 1930s, and Ferrone's father, Benjamin, died in 1982. But the next day, the younger Ferrone, who lives in Abingdon, flew to New York to retrieve the wallet and shake the hand of the man who found it."I thanked him because at first I didn't believe him," said Ferrone, 52. "My wife said I was a bit of a jerk to him."The story began more than 60 years ago when Benjamin J. Ferrone, then 22 and living in New York, visited the Paramount Theater in Peekskill, N.Y. His son said he believes his father's wallet was stolen and the thief stripped it of cash and dumped it."

A 45-year-old man stopped at an Arnold intersection Friday afternoon was robbed of his wallet and two diamond rings by a man armed with a knife, county police said.Leonard Barbarino, of Arnold, was driving a 1986 Toyota and had stopped at the intersection of Church and Jones Station roads about 3:10 p.m. when the man ran up to his car and opened the door, police said.The armed man threatened Mr. Barbarino with a 6-inch folding knife and took his wallet and a ski jacket containing two diamond rings.

Howard County police are searching for a thief who surprised a man in his car at a Columbia drive-through automated bank teller machine and fought him for his money.The victim, Basil Deming, 56, was not injured, police said.Police said Deming had withdrawn cash about 8: 30 p.m. from the Signet Bank automated teller machine at the Long Reach Village Center in the 8700 block of Cloudleap Court.A man crept beside his car, reached in and grabbed Deming's wallet. The two struggled for the wallet, but the thief broke free and fled with Deming's cash and bank machine card, police said.

Two men, one with a gun, attacked and robbed a Laurel man Saturday as he walked through his apartment complex, county police said.Andre Carlos Littlejohn, 34, of the 3400 block of Andrews Court told police he was was walking in the 200 block of Red Clay Road just after 7 p.m. when two men approached him and demanded money.Littlejohn said he told them he had no money and that one of the men pulled a blue snub-nosed revolver from his waistband, ordered him to the side of an apartment building and threatened to shoot him if he did not empty his pockets, police said.