Dundalk

Dundalk teen guilty in killing

A 17-year-old Dundalk boy pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a teenager whom he and his friends picked at random to beat up in January.

Court overturns driver's manslaughter conviction

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has reversed the conviction of a Dundalk dump truck driver who had been convicted of manslaughter in the death of a 7-year-old boy. According to court documents filed yesterday, Kevin G. DiGennaro, 49, of Dundalk accidentally released a ton and a half of gravel onto state Route 136 near Churchville in Harford County on March 21, 2005. Soon after, 7-year-old Devon Sandmeier was killed when the vehicle in which he was a passenger skidded on the gravel and flipped. Police arrested DiGennaro under a Maryland law that requires drivers to remove spills and mark hazards they have caused. DiGennaro was convicted of vehicular manslaughter last year and sentenced to seven years in prison. The appeals court ruling hinged on the definition of the word "operate." The Harford County Circuit Court judge had decided that DiGennaro was "grossly negligent" in the "operation" of his vehicle. The appeals court, however, decided that leaving the gravel on the road did not constitute operating a vehicle in the legal definition of the term. While the court agreed that the truck driver had an obligation to remove the gravel, he was not guilty of vehicular manslaughter. Neither the appeals lawyer nor the state's lawyer was available for comment.

Man, 50, pleads guilty in thwarted attack on boy, 9

All Brian Jarrell initially saw were the hands.

Justices reject LNG appeal

A proposed natural gas terminal at Sparrows Point overcame a crucial hurdle yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not consider an appeal by Baltimore County that sought to stop the project.

Gang member sentenced to life in prison in killing

A man with ties to the violent Salvadoran street gang known as MS-13 was sentenced yesterday to life in prison in the fatal shooting of a Dundalk woman over an alleged drug debt. Abraham Urquilla "Tigre" Rauda, 23, of Rosedale was convicted in July of first-degree murder, burglary and handgun charges. He was arrested in New York in September 2007, 11 days after witnesses said he was one of three or four men who broke into Lymaris Mejias' house in Dundalk and shot her in the head while she slept. Witnesses told authorities that a Baltimore drug dealer with ties to MS-13 had threatened the woman's life over a debt, according to court documents. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Vicki Ballou-Watts sentenced Rauda to life in prison for the fatal shooting and concurrent sentences of 10 years and 20 years, respectively, for the handgun and burglary convictions, said Baltimore County prosecutor John Magee.

Dundalk man, 38, charged in standoff in Overlea

A 38-year-old Dundalk man faced multiple charges Friday after a 14-hour standoff at an Overlea house Thursday that ended when he surrendered several hours after releasing three unharmed hostages, Baltimore County police said. Charges against Roger Lee Shifflett of the 200 block of Riverview Ave. include three counts of false imprisonment, three counts of first-degree assault, first-degree burglary and use of a firearm with the intent to cause injury, police said. Bail was set at $250,000, and Shifflett was taken to Franklin Square Hospital Center for a psychiatric evaluation, said Bill Toohey, a police spokesman. Shifflett went to the house in the first block of Walnut Ave. about 4 a.m. Thursday looking for a girlfriend, Melissa Ann Thompson, 41, who slipped out of the house before he could find her, Toohey said. Three other occupants of the house were held at gunpoint before being released later Thursday morning. The standoff ended when police used tear gas to force Shifflett out of the house about 6:30 p.m., Toohey said. The incident caused police to shut down Belair Road between Taylor Avenue and East Northern Parkway.

James Horan

James Horan, a Jesuit brother who worked with the Apostleship of the Sea, a Roman Catholic mariners' ministry that operates the Stella Maris International Seafarers' Center in Dundalk, died of melanoma Aug. 29 at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 76.

Authorities have Tillman in their sights again

For two decades, Milton N. Tillman Jr. has sold himself as a successful Baltimore businessman wrongly and repeatedly targeted by the law.

Baltimore Crime Beat

Arrest revives memory of forgotten man

Not too many people remember Charlie Neeper anymore.

A son looks to the future

Matthew Haarhoff left jail in Anne Arundel County and headed straight for a playground in Dundalk, where he executed a perfect back-flip dismount from a swing and chased his 10-year-old nephew around the jungle gym.

Sam Sessa: Discovering the charms of Dundalk's pubs

Let's start with a confession: For years, I dodged Dundalk pubs.

Bill to exempt some sites from smoking ban fails

A bill that would have created an "outdoor" exemption for Baltimore County bars and restaurants to the state ban on smoking in public places died in a House committee yesterday, effectively ending an effort that some health advocates feared could unravel statewide support for the newly imposed law.

Shooting victims identified

The two people gunned down in a road rage confrontation that began in West Baltimore and ended about a mile later in Bolton Hill were identified yesterday by police as a 16-year-old Dundalk girl and a 32-year-old Harford County man.

Haunted house fan has a flair for scares

In a former hair salon in a strip mall in Dundalk, a woman is screaming.

Md. officials looking into grit from sky

Deborah Cicone won't let her young nieces and nephews swim in the backyard pool, fearing they will swallow the shiny grit that sporadically rains on eastern Baltimore County neighborhoods.

Baltimore County

Elementaries show modest, steady progress

Baltimore County's elementary school students overall scored slightly above state averages in this year's reading and math assessments and showed steady, if modest, gains countywide. But a significant gap remains between the county's lowest- and highest-performing schools, according to preliminary results of this year's statewide assessments released yesterday.