A former security guard at The Mall in Columbia has been arrested on charges that he stole a cellular telephone this month and numerous other items from the mall since June, Howard County police said yesterday.

Donald Ray McNeil, 37, of the 4100 block of Boarman Ave. in Baltimore was arrested Nov. 10 and charged with assault, reckless endangerment, 11 counts of burglary, five counts of theft and two counts of destruction of property.

Police said a man was acting suspiciously near a cell-phone kiosk in the mall Nov. 10 when he was approached by a mall security guard.

The man fled and tried to drive away in a black Ford Explorer, striking a mall security guard's car.

But security guards wrote down the license plate number of the Explorer and saw McNeill wearing a "Security" T-shirt and carrying a police-style radio, which matched the description of a man who had robbed the mall twice before.

During their investigation, police said they learned that McNeil had worked at the mall last year and still had his mall-issued security radio.

McNeil posted $20,000 bond and was released from custody Sunday, an official from the Howard County Detention Center said yesterday.