All Crime, All The Time – News and Commentary on the Criminal Class
TANGIER SOUND, MD. — Natural Resources Police report that eight men in Somerset, Allegany and Queen Anne’s County were charged this week by Maryland Natural Resources Police officers with oyster poaching and hunting violations.
In Somerset County, five watermen were cited Thursday morning for illegally harvesting oysters from protected state waters.
Virginia Police Beat: Officer trying to kill dog, shoots another officer – ISLE OF WIGHT, VA. — A police officer was shot in the foot by another officer who was attempting to kill an attacking dog during a raid on a residence in Isle of Wight, Va.
The suspect is identified as Norman C. Hilbert Sr., 47, of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. An arrest warrant has been obtained by Maryland State Police criminal investigators charging him with armed robbery, robbery, first and second degree assault, and theft between $1,000 and $10,000. He is currently being held on criminal charges in West Virginia, awaiting extradition to Maryland.
To support ASMFC’s conservation efforts, NRP officers continued stepped up enforcement in January even though the number of fish and temperatures plummeted. During the first three weeks, officers checked more than 56 recreational anglers (vs. 34 in all of January 2014), 16 watermen (vs. 25) and 59 charter fishermen (vs. 0). They also conducted inspections of eight seafood markets and distributors. Officers logged more than 70 vessel and 100 dockside foot patrol hours.
Pirate Poachers of the Bay
Over the past year, THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY has been highlighting the arrests of outlaw watermen in the Maryland and Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
Readers who have been following these violations and the tracking of the court appearances have been learning that, for most cases, the legal repercussions of these infractions have been very minor or non-existent.
A visit to the City of Arab, Alabama was inspired by a comedian doing a show which was broadcast on Sirius Radio’s Blue Collar Comedy, …
During the hunts, Harding and Harward placed apples to bait the black bears, then led the hunters to those locations. For example, on October 25, 2009, Harding directed the undercover officers to the Raven Rock area near Friendsville, showing them where the bears would likely show up the next day. The following day, two hunters – one of them an undercover officer – taking part in a guided hunt led by Harding and Harward each killed a black bear over bait. The undercover officer shot his bear from a spot suggested by Harding, overlooking a pile of illegal bait. Harward also violated the terms of his hunting permit by remaining out of visual contact when the other hunter shot his bear. The bears killed by the hunter and the undercover officer were subsequently taken to a cooler located in the building where Harding conducted his business. Harding took photographs of the bears and the hunters, while Harward was recording the event with a video camera. Inside the cooler where the bear carcasses and skins were placed, the undercover officers saw five 25-gallon plastic garbage cans full of apple skins and cores, consistent with the apple pieces in the bait pile seen by the undercover officers.
DOVER, DEL. — According to Dover Police Cpl. Mark Hoffman, an alleged drug dealer was nabbed with a good day’s supply of cocaine and a pocket full of moola.
Officers from the Dover Police Department’s Drugs, Vice, and Organized Crime Unit and Safe Streets Unit reportedly arrested a Dover man in possession of 13.5 grams of crack cocaine. Officers contacted Ronald L. Parker, 56, in his vehicle in the area of Minima Street and West North Street in Dover.
Rescue personnel spotted the stranded kayaker submerged to his waist and clinging to a rock to avoid being swept downstream in the swift moving water. The 54-year-old male victim was about 75 yards off the Maryland shore. Due to the 35 degree water and 25 degree air temperatures, fire department rescuers on the ground coordinated with the crew of Trooper 3 to hoist the victim from overhead to safety as quickly as possible.
OCEAN CITY, MD. – On January 26, 2015, Ocean City detectives served an arrest warrant on Sean F. Dempsey, 24, of Ocean City, MD, concluding several months of investigation. Dempsey was indicted by a Worcester County Grand Jury on multiple charges stemming from eight separate incidents that took place between May and November of 2014.
Dempsey has been charged with thirty-one separate charges including one charge of second degree burglary and multiple theft, fraud and heroin possession charges.