DWI HIT PARADE: WILD AND WOUNDED TURKEY – DWI & Loaded Driver Charles McElhaney Fled Crash Scene; Nabbed by Deputy

DWI HIT PARADE: WILD AND WOUNDED TURKEY – DWI & Loaded Driver Charles McElhaney Fled Crash Scene; Nabbed by Deputy

Driving record littered with plea deals and dropped charges by States Attorney Richard Fritz

CALLAWAY, MD. — Fleeing like a yellow coward, according to St. Mary’s Sheriff Tim Cameron, a Piney Point motorist decided the better part of valor when involved in a crash was not to stick around, exchange insurance information, and assure that anyone injured was getting medical attention. Instead, this skunk took off like a bat out of hell, but, due to mechanical problems incurred in the wreck, he didn’t get too far, and a St. Mary’s Deputy caught up with him.

Police say that on January 18, 2018, Dep. Molitor responded to a motor vehicle accident in the 20000 block of Pt. Lookout Road, in Callaway; the reported at-fault vehicle in the accident was in the process of fleeing the scene.  Upon arrival, St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Dep. Molitor located the at-fault vehicle disabled a short distance away from the scene. 

Contact was made with the operator of the vehicle, Charles Ray McElhaney, 62, of 17814 Piney Point Road, Tall Timbers, Md. 

McElhaney was ultimately arrested for DUI and DWI.

Deputy Molitor rooted around McElhaney’s vehicle prior to it being towed from the scene; and police report that a handgun was located under the passenger seat of the vehicle.

In addition, ammunition was located inside the vehicle, and an open bottle of whiskey was also found in the vehicle.

In addition, ammunition was located inside the vehicle, and an open bottle of whiskey was also found in the vehicle.

McElhaney was additionally charged with carrying a handgun in a vehicle. A court date of March 6, 2018, has been set in St. Mary’s District Court.

• Charged with possession of drugs with the intent to distribute and possession of drugs other than marijuana, were placed against McElhaney by way of indictment by the St. Mary’s Circuit Court Grand Jury on Dec. 15, 2015 after he was arrested by St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Detectives Meyer, Whipkey, Pesante, Knott, and Fleenor.  McElhaney started off his defense with Leonardtown attorney Shane Mattingly representing him in the case and then two taxpayer-provided free attorneys, Eric Sullivan and Amber

Wetzel were assigned to the case by the public defender’s office.  In a plea deal with St. Mary’s States Attorney Richard Fritz, McElhaney entered a guilty plea on May 6, 2016, to possession of drugs. THE DEAL: Fritz dropped the drug dealing charge and McElhaney was sentenced on July 11, 2016, to four years in prison. As with most stringent sentences handed down to defendants in plea deals, all but six months of the sentence was suspended and probation for three years was ordered. In 2017, On Dec. 29^th, court records show that a violation of probation had occurred, and a bench warrant was issued.