The county police department is nearly $47,000 richer after receiving a check from the Justice Department for helping the Drug Enforcement Administration in four different cases, authorities said Friday.
The check for $46,744 represents 18 percent of the cash and property seized by federal agents in the cases, said Officer Randy Bell, a spokesman for the department. The money will be used to help pay for department programs.
The largest forfeiture was $149,000 seized in the case of Steven Downey, a Linthicum drug kingpin arrested in October 1993. Daniel Linkey, who was arrested in May 1992 after federal agents found marijuana and a .32-caliber handgun in his trawler in Pasadena, lost the $65,000 boat in court proceedings. Both men pleaded guilty, police said.
Eric Tyler of Pasadena and Edwardo Tarver of Baltimore were arrested in November 1993 and lost $39,469 in forfeiture proceedings. They also pleaded guilty. The fourth case resulted in two small seizures that totaled $5,495, police said.
Man's personal checks cashed by 2 strangers
A Severna Park man told county police Thursday afternoon that two men he did not know cashed personal checks, which had been stolen from his checkbook, for more than $2,100.
Paul George Rudolph, 62, discovered a large amount of money missing from his checking account about 1 p.m. Thursday. He went to the NationsBank branch in the 400 block of Jumpers Hole Road, where a bank employee told him that eight of his checks had been cashed Feb. 1 and Feb. 2. Mr. Rudolph checked his bank book and nine checks were missing, police said.
Three of the checks were made out to a man who lives in the block of River Drive Road in Baltimore and the others were made out to a man who had two addresses -- one in the 1500 block of Cole St. and the other in the 1300 block of Sergeant St. in Baltimore. The men were identified from their driver's licenses, police said.
Man attacked after trying to help with disabled car
A Good Samaritan who stopped to help a man change a tire Thursday night in Crownsville had to use a crowbar to fend off a robbery attempt by the motorist, county police said.
Theodore C. Sparshott, 19, of Odenton stopped at the intersection of Generals Highway and Crownsville Road shortly before 8:30 p.m. when he saw a disabled car.
Mr. Sparshott agreed to help the man change his tire, but the man grabbed him and tried to take his wallet, police said.
Mr. Sparshott hit the man in the face with his elbow and then picked up a crowbar that was lying on the ground and hit the man a second time. The man drove off in the supposedly disabled car, a newer model Volkswagen Jetta with Maryland tags, police said.
Man charged in theft of VCR from store
An Annapolis man was arrested Thursday morning and HTC charged in the attempted theft of a $200 videocassette recorder from the Montgomery Ward store in Annapolis Mall, county police said.
Store employees told police the man walked into the store about 10:30 a.m. and went to the electronics section. He picked up the VCR and tried to walk out of the store with it, police said. When security officers confronted him, the man ran, police said.
Security officers caught the man outside a nearby Denny's restaurant and brought him back to the store, where a Southern District officer arrested him, police said.
David Keith Alton Jr., 21, of the 1600 block of Forest Drive was charged with misdemeanor theft, police said.
Bomb threat made at Wendy's restaurant
The county police bomb-sniffing dog was called to search a Crofton restaurant Thursday afternoon after an unidentified caller telephoned an employee with a warning, authorities said.
The bomb threat was made about 2 p.m. to a worker at the Wendy's in the 1600 block of Crofton Blvd.
The caller told the employee that a bomb in the men's room would go off if a "white thing" on it was lifted. The caller hung up when the employee tried to get more information.
The dog searched the men's room but found no bomb. The restaurant was declared safe shortly after 3 p.m., police said. A spokesman for Wendy's said the building was not evacuated.