Police briefs

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

Burglary suspect charged with drug theft

Harrell Thomas Morgan, 33, of Mechanicsville was released Wednesday on $15,000 bond after his arrest on charging papers alleging he broke into his mother's Loveville Road home last September and stole money and prescription painkillers.

Morgan climbed through a bedroom window at Dorothy Miller's home on Sept. 16, charging papers allege, and his sister saw him climbing back out and resetting the window screen.

Miller later checked her bedroom and discovered that $200 in cash and 60 Oxycontin pills valued at $300 were missing from her purse, according to court papers filed by St. Mary's sheriff's Cpl. Daniel Snyder.

"She had locked the bedroom door and windows prior to the defendant visiting, because he has a drug problem and has stolen from her in the past," the deputy wrote in a charges application.

A court commissioner charged Morgan with first-degree burglary and a felony theft offense.

Woman jailed on assault charge

A judge has ordered that Ashley N. Young, 22, of California remain jailed in lieu of $3,500 bond on assault charges in court papers alleging she scraped her brother's arm with a meat cleaver last week at their home.

The suspect was charged with a second-degree assault on Joseph William Adams during the Nov. 10 dispute at the Greenview Knolls area home investigated by sheriff's deputy John J. Kirkner. A court commissioner found no probable cause to detain Young on a charge of first-degree assault from the incident.

Assault alleged in Mechanicsville

Jonathan Mark Wood, 24, of Mechanicsville has been charged through a summons with two offenses of first-degree assault in charging papers alleging he pointed a shotgun earlier this month at two people in a vehicle.

Charging papers allege that Wood earlier slapped Matthew Hatcher in the face during a Nov. 3 confrontation outside their homes off Mechanicsville Road, and that Hatcher was leaving the area the next day in the vehicle driven by Kimberly Eaton when Wood shouted at them and "racked the slide" on the weapon.

Eaton drove away, and no injuries were reported from the investigation by sheriff's deputy William Watters.

Reward offered in probe of assault

Law officers in St. Mary's are seeking the public's help through the county Crime Solvers program in their probe of a Nov. 14 predawn assault by unknown culprits on Melvin B. Thompson of Lexington Park in the parking lot of the International House of Pancakes restaurant off Three Notch Road.

Sheriff's deputy Cindy Allen said this week that no weapons were involved in the attack, but that investigators determined that the seriousness of Thompson's injuries were tantamount to a first-degree assault.

The St. Mary's Bureau of Criminal Investigations has requested that anyone with information about the assault call detectives at 301-475-4200, ext. 9058 or 9042.

Citizens with information about this case and other crimes in St. Mary's County also can collect a cash reward by calling Crime Solvers 24 hours a day at 301-475-3333. They can withhold their name and later collect their reward through a number-ID system.

St. Mary's County Crime Solvers is a nonprofit organization that assists law enforcement in solving open investigations that may not have been closed without the extra incentive of anonymity and an offer of a reward of up to $2,000, providing the information leads to an arrest or indictment.

The Crime Solvers board of directors meets for about one hour on the second Thursday of every other month at 7:30 p.m., in the conference room of the sheriff's office at 23150 Leonard Hall Drive in Leonardtown. To be considered for membership on the board, attend a meeting or call the sheriff's office at 301-475-8008. Contributions to the reward fund can be mailed to the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, Crime Solvers Division, P.O. Box 275, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622.

Police Tips Line open

Maryland State Police in Leonardtown operate a Tips Line at 301-475-2936, inviting anyone with information about a crime to anonymously report that information 24 hours a day to authorities.

jwharton@somdnews.com