The Annapolis Police Department has received a grant of $18,458 from the state vehicle theft prevention council to support a car theft prevention program called ALERT, Auto Larceny Education Reduces Theft, city police said.
The department will use the money to hire a community relations specialist to develop strong ties with government, business and citizen organizations to reduce vehicle thefts, vandalism and thefts from automobiles by 10 percent.
In 1994, 142 cars were reported stolen in Annapolis, and owners reported 793 cases of theft from cars. Thefts from automobiles and of auto parts accounted for 46 percent of all thefts in the city, police said.
Cars parked at mall, restaurant broken into
Six cars that were parked in lots at Marley Station mall and the Black Eyed Pea restaurant on the other side of Ritchie Highway were broken into Wednesday and Thursday, county police said.
Thieves either smashed windows or broke door locks to steal items ranging in value from an $800 compact disc car stereo system to floor mats worth $40.
Gunman holds up woman, steals purse
A man armed with a handgun robbed a Pasadena woman of her purse as she walked across the parking lot of a sandwich shop in the 5000 block of Ritchie Highway in Brooklyn Park shortly before midnight Thursday, county police said.
According to police, the woman was crossing the lot of Linda's Steak and Subs when she was approached by a man with a 9 mm handgun who demanded money.
When the woman refused to give him money, the man hit her on the head with the gun, grabbed her purse and fled.
Information sought in killing at phone store
Metro Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,000 reward for anyone providing information leading to the arrest of the man who shot and killed a Laurel woman in an apparent holdup attempt at a mobile phone store in the Maryland City Plaza just after noon Tuesday.
Police also are looking for a man they believe was a witness to the shooting in the Car Tel Phones store. A female witness told police a white man, 50 to 55 years old, about 6 feet 4 inches tall with graying hair, warned her about the time of the shootings, "Don't go around there. He has a gun."
Anyone with information on the incident should call Anne Arundel County Police Homicide Unit at 222-3456 or 222-3461, or the Metro Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 276-8888. Callers may remain anonymous.
2 charged in theft of support beams
County police arrested two Glen Burnie men on theft charges Wednesday after they confessed to stealing support beams for an awning and other property from a house in the 7100 block of Race Road in Hanover that is owned by the Maryland Aviation Administration.
Police said a witness told them about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday he had seen two men leave the area in a white pickup truck.
Another witness said he saw the men remove what appeared to be aluminum beams from the house, and load them into a truck. He also told police he saw the men at a scrap yard in the 5600 block of Furnace Ave. in Elkridge selling the beams.
Police say the suspects drove past the house while they were interviewing a witness. The witness identified the truck, and police ordered the driver to pull over.
Police arrested Mark John Harp, 24, of the 200 block of Woodhill Drive and Joseph Michael Korneluk, 27, of the 1800 block of Norfolk Road and charged them with theft, trespassing and burglary. They were taken to the Northern District police station where they confessed, police reported.