Md. couple are convicted in immigration fraud case
A Maryland couple originally from Afghanistan were convicted of immigration fraud yesterday by a federal jury in Baltimore.
Nadia Naeem, 29, and Mohammad Amin Doudzai, 45, both of Brandywine, were found guilty of conspiring to obstruct proceedings before a United States agency, committing immigration fraud and providing false statements.
According to trial testimony, Nadia Naeem was admitted into the United States as a refugee July 26, 2000.
Witnesses testified that Naeem filed a petition in 2001 seeking to have Nabi Nabil from Kabul enter the country as a refugee, based upon the claim that Naeem and Nabil were married in Pakistan in 2000. But records showed she was really married to Doudzai, prosecutors allege. Nabil had pleaded guilty to related charges and was sentenced to serve almost two years in federal prison.
According to authorities, Doudzai became a civilian employee of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command in 1989, and was granted top secret/sensitive compartmented information security clearance in 2002.
U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis scheduled sentencing hearings for Doudzai and Naeem on April 18. They could receive up to 10 years in prison on the most serious count of their convictions, according to prosecutors.
Matthew Dolan
Baltimore
: Maritime academy
Former principal set to sue, letter says
The former principal of Maritime Industries Academy intends to sue the Baltimore school system, according to a letter his attorney sent yesterday to the city solicitor.
Marco Clark resigned in December after school system officials looked into allegations that he permitted a student to teach junior ROTC classes and to graduate without the necessary credits. He later said he resigned under pressure and asked to be reinstated.
The letter, sent by attorney Alan Silverberg to City Solicitor George Nilson, says that Clark "emphatically denies any wrongdoing or misconduct."
School system spokeswoman Edie House said the system has not been notified of the lawsuit, and it does not comment on either legal or personnel matters.
Silverberg said he expects the suit to be filed by early next week.
Sara Neufeld
Harford County
: Interstate 95
Walking in lanes, man is hit, killed
A Harford County man was killed Sunday night while walking in the travel portion of Interstate 95 near Aberdeen in Harford County, Maryland State Police at the John F. Kennedy Highway Barracks said.
Shortly before 10 p.m., a Harford County motorist, Robert George McCone of Havre de Grace, was driving a 2006 Honda Accord north on the interstate and was north of the Maryland House restaurant and truck stop when he struck Michael Scott Lincoln, 39, of Belcamp, who was walking in the middle of three lanes, police said.
Lincoln was pronounced dead at the scene and was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Baltimore for an autopsy.
Police said the driver of the car was not injured and that the accident was being investigated by the barracks' accident-reconstruction team.
Richard Irwin
Two-alarm blaze
Fire damages office, warehouse
A two-alarm fire early Sunday caused $500,000 in damage to a two-story office building and airplane-parts warehouse in an industrial park north of Bel Air, fire officials said yesterday.
A hangar, attached to the building, sustained minimal fire and smoke damage, and the fire did not reach any of the planes housed there.
About 100 volunteer firefighters from Bel Air, Jarrettsville, Fallston and Darlington responded to the 1:44 a.m. blaze at the Forest Hill Industrial Airpark Inc. on East Jarrettsville Road and brought the fire under control in about an hour. The cause remains under investigation.
A firefighter who fell on the icy road was treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Mary Gail Hare
Carroll County
: Circuit Court
Appeal filed in death of teen at school
Carroll County prosecutors filed an appeal in Circuit Court yesterday challenging the dismissal of the cases against five counselors at a school for juvenile offenders where a teen died.
Last week, Judge Michael M. Galloway dismissed the reckless endangerment charges against the five Bowling Brook Preparatory School counselors in the death of East Baltimore teen Isaiah Simmons in January last year.
The counselors were accused of waiting 41 minutes to call 911, although Simmons, 17, was unresponsive and needed medical attention after they had restrained him, Carroll prosecutors have said. The charge against one of six counselors originally indicted, Michael Paul Corradi, was dropped late last month.
Galloway ruled that a failure to call for help does not constitute reckless endangerment, as the statute has been "deliberately construed to punish affirmative actions rather than passive inactions."
"While we respectfully disagree with the judge's decision, we feel that Isaiah Simmons deserves that we follow every avenue we can," said David Daggett, deputy state's attorney.
The attorney general's office will handle the appeal, Daggett said.
Arin Gencer
Howard County
: Jessup
Pedestrian fatally injured on Route 175
A woman wearing dark clothing and walking along a dark section of Route 175 in Jessup yesterday evening was struck by a vehicle and died a short time later at Howard County General Hospital, county police said.
The woman's name was withheld pending notification of family members, police said.
Police said a GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle driven by Thomas William Ripple, 46, of the 700 block of Longview Drive in Catonsville was in the westbound lane of the road near Pocomoke Drive shortly before 7 p.m. when the vehicle struck the woman, who was knocked down a nearby embankment.
Police said the woman was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later and that the uninjured driver remained at the scene. An investigation is continuing.
Richard Irwin