Teenager held in carjacking attempt in Lexington Park

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

A court commissioner ordered that Joseph Lee Woolfolk, 18, be held in lieu of $30,000 bond from the alleged attack on Mathew David Decker outside the library in Lexington Park.

‘‘The victim stated he was choked so hard that he almost passed out,” St. Mary’s sheriff’s deputy John J. Kirkner wrote in a statement of probable cause. ‘‘As a result of [witnesses] yelling, the defendant let the victim go.”

Sheriff’s deputies found Woolfolk at the nearby Colony Square neighborhood, court papers state, and he was taken to the county jail.

Two charged with assaults in burglary

Joshua E. Shafer, 30, of Compton and Charles E. Castle II, 38, of Leonardtown were jailed to await a bond-review hearing Tuesday on charges of breaking into a home the day before and assaulting its occupants.

John William Bernd answered a knock on the door at the Cedar Street residence in Leonardtown shortly after midnight Monday morning, and charging papers allege that Shafer and Castle forced their way in and started punching him.

Shafer’s punches knocked out one of Bernd’s teeth and left him with a broken jaw, charging papers allege, and Shafer also repeatedly punched Christopher David Cole of Hollywood, injuring his left eye.

Shafer also bit Bernd’s father, John Donald Bernd, numerous times on an arm, charging papers allege, as he tried to protect his son.

The home’s residents including Matthew Fletcher Bernd, 20, eventually left the residence, followed by the suspects. Charging papers allege that Matthew Bernd went to his grandparent’s nearby home and got a .38-caliber revolver, firing it into the air during a confrontation with Castle.

Matthew Bernd was released on 10 percent of $3,500 bond on a charge of reckless endangerment filed from the investigation by sheriff’s deputy Deborah Milam.

JOHN WHARTON