QA Press Releases 2/17

PRESS RELEASE

INCIDENT:           Theft

DATE / TIME:      02/21/2012 @ 1506 Hours

LOCATION:         200 Kent Landing Shopping Center

VICTIM:                K-Mart

ARREST:               Sissie Catherine Reed (46) of Seymour Tennessee

CHARGE:              Theft under $300

 

NARRATIVE:       Store Security notified the Sheriff’s Office of a shoplifter being detained at the store.  Security advised that a female had been observed removing a Sleek Finish curling iron from its box and placing the item into her purse. She was also seen placing a bottle of Biosilk hair therapy in her purse just prior to her leaving the store without paying for either item. She was detained by security outside the store until Deputy Matthews arrived. She was identified as Sissie Catherine Reed by her Tennessee Driver’s License.  The items were valued at $66.98 and were recovered. Ms. Reed was charged with theft and later released on a $3500 bail posted by a bondsman.

 

DEPUTY:               Deputy Steve Matthews

CASE:                    12-4101

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

INCIDENT:           Domestic

DATE / TIME:      02/12/2012 @ 2005 Hours

LOCATION:         Main Street, Queen Anne

 

NARRATIVE:       Deputies responded to location for a reported assault. Investigation indicated that there were issues involving the family members, however there was no evidence of an assault taking place. One family member left the residence on her own accord. On 2/13 Deputies returned to the residence for a domestic standby so one member of the family could retrieve their belongings. During the standby, one family member advised the desire to harm herself. She was transported to Anne Arundel Medical Center for treatment.

 

DEPUTY:               Dfc. Seth Ambrose

ASSIST:                 Dfc. Jessica Kellogg

CASE:                    12-04112 & 12-04169

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

INCIDENT:           Death Investigation       

DATE / TIME:      02/14/2012 @ 0801 Hours

LOCATION:         Mallard Drive, Stevensville

VICTIM:                Jean G. Smith (85) of Stevensville

 

NARRATIVE:       Deputies responded to the residence after the victim was found unresponsive. There were no signs of questionable death as it appeared the victim died in her sleep.

 

DEPUTY                Dfc. Jessica Kellogg

CASE:                    12-04242

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

INCIDENT:         Sex Texting

DATE / TIME:  February 2012

LOCATION:        Queen Anne’s County

VICTIM:               Female (13)

SUSPECT:           Male (14)

 

NARRATIVE:     After being notified by school officials, detectives of the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Unit investigated an incident in which a male juvenile gave a female juvenile a cell phone to use and then communicated with her via text messaging and included several obscene photos of himself. The parent of the female discovered the phone and reviewed the messages and then reported it to officials. With the assistance of the State’s Attorney’s Office this incident was resolved with no charges at this time.

 

Sheriff Hofmann recalls an incident in 2009 where potentially hundreds of middle and high school students in Queen Anne’s County could have been criminally prosecuted for possessing and sending naked or semi-naked pictures via cell phones of underage persons, wants parents and students to know that the law in Maryland defines Child Pornography as “photographing or filming a minor engaging in an obscene act, sadomasochistic abuse or sexual conduct.”  Any person who creates pictures or forwards such an image via a cell phone to another, is liable for criminal prosecution and that it is a felony in Maryland and subject to imprisonment and a fine or both for a first offense. 

The goal is to educate the community about the potential legal ramifications of this trend and hopefully send out the message that the school system, State’s Attorney’s Office  and law enforcement will not tolerate this problem. Simply possessing a film, videotape, photograph or other visual representation, including an image on a cell phone, media card or computer of an individual under the age of 16 years engaged in sexual conduct or a state of sexual excitement is guilty of a crime and can be prosecuted, fined and imprisoned.

Officials do not want to prosecute children within the community, however, the ramifications of sending nude pictures via cell phones can have severe consequences. There have been cases in the past where a child committed suicide as a result of the ridicule she received after her naked picture was forwarded throughout the community.  Another teen in Florida has been required to register as a sex offender after forwarding a photo of his 16 year old naked girlfriend to some of his friends following an argument he had with her.   

If law enforcement conducts a criminal investigation of your child for this type of conduct you may unfortunately face the prospect of a search and seizure warrant being executed on your home to obtain computers, cell phones and related contraband.  Potentially the federal authorities could get involved as well with federal criminal prosecution because forwarding these images often involves interstate communication.  Video and picture images of children often eventually end up on the internet, in the hands of child predators and pedophiles who may also attempt to make contact with the child depicted in the photo.            

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact the State’s Attorney Lance Richardson via email at lrichardson@qac.org or telephone at 410-758-2264 or Sheriff Gary Hofmann at his email sheriff@qac.org or his office at (410) 758-0770. 

 

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

INCIDENT:           Burglary

DATE / TIME:      02/14/2012 @ 1755 Hours (Reported)

LOCATION:         100 Block of Creek Road, Centreville

VICTIM:                Robert Taylor of Centreville

 

NARRATIVE:       Victim reported finding his garage had been broken into sometime between since 2/13 and that a Remington 597 VTR .22 caliber Rifle with a Vortex scope attached (looks similar to an AR-15 military rifle) was stolen, along with 24 Dakota goose decoys and 48 duck decoys. The items were valued at over $1700.

 

DEPUTY                Dfc. Jessica Kellogg

CASE:                    12-04311

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

INCIDENT:           Theft

DATE / TIME:      02/14/2012 @ 0845 Hours (Reported)

LOCATION:         125 Ruthsburg Road – QA County High School

VICTIM:                Male Student

 

NARRATIVE:       Victim reported that on the previous day he had left his IPod on his desk while cleaning up in the shop. Upon returning the IPod, valued at $250 was missing.

 

DEPUTY                Dfc. Chris Parkinson

CASE:                    12-04349

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

INCIDENT:           Disturbance of School Operations

DATE / TIME:      02/15/2012 @ 1340 Hours

LOCATION:         125 Ruthsburg Road – QA County High School

VICTIM:                QA County High School

ARREST:               Female (14) of Centreville

CHARGE:

 

NARRATIVE:       Dfc. Chris Parkinson assigned as the School Resource Deputy at QACHS was notified of a female student attempting to fight another female student in a rear hallway of the school.  Further investigation showed that the girl had also posted comments about assaulting the other girl on Facebook. As a result she was referred to Juvenile Justice.

 

DEPUTY                Dfc. Chris Parkinson

ASSIST:                 School Officials

CASE:                    12-04388

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

INCIDENT:           ASSIST OTHER LE AGENCY (Possible Pipe Bomb)

DATE / TIME:      02 16/2012 @ 0854 Hours

LOCATION:         Grollman Road at Old Love Point Road, Stevensville

 

NARRATIVE:       Worker from Queen Anne’s County Roads Department working in the area located a possible Pipe Bomb next to a utility pole on Grollman Road. The item was described as a 8-10” galvanized pipe with screw caps on each end. Traffic on Old Love Point Road and Grollman road was diverted until units from the State Fire Marshalls could respond. A bomb squad robot responded from BWI Airport and the item was neutralized by two shots from its high pressure water cannon. The pipe pieces were collected by the Fire Marshall and the investigation will be handled by that office. The area was re-opened to traffic just before 1200 hours.

               

DEPUTY:               Cpl. Shane Russell

ASSIST:                 Dfc. Ambrose, MSP and State Fire Marshall

CASE:                    12-04446

**************************************************************************************************************************************************