Two backyard farmers pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. They admitted using an insecticide that killed three bald eagles and a great horned owl, birds of prey that are protected by law.
Ernest J. Long, 70, a farmer in Campden-Wyoming, Del., and Angel Gomez, 36, of Goldsboro, on Maryland's Eastern Shore, were placed on a year's probation and ordered to pay fines and restitution of $8,000 and $3,000, according to a statement released by federal prosecutors.
According to court records, Gomez asked Long for advice in November 2006 when she learned that predators were killing chickens she raises on a farm owned by her grandfather in northern Caroline County. The Gomez and Long farms are 10 miles apart.
Long showed Gomez in December 2006 how to apply the chemical Furadan. Gomez spread the insecticide, and authorities found a dead owl and three dead eagles in a field adjacent to Gomez's farm. A dead fox and an injured eagle were found in the same area. according to a statement of facts in the case.
Chris Guy
Baltimore
: Drug case
Decades later, man gives up, is sentenced
A Baltimore man, who was convicted of marijuana possession and assault almost 23 years ago and then left town while appealing his case, turned himself in and yesterday began serving a one-year sentence in the drug case.
Britt D. Glenn, 42, was found guilty in 1985 of assault with intent to murder and marijuana possession, according to court records. Glenn appealed the assault conviction, and a court reduced the charge. When he never showed up for sentencing, a judge issued a warrant. Glenn has been missing ever since, most recently living in California.
Glenn is scheduled to be sentenced in the assault case March 17.
Melissa Harris
Health Department
Hopkins official is new agency deputy
The former director of a youth psychiatry program at Johns Hopkins Hospital has been named new deputy commissioner of youth and families for the Baltimore Heath Department, the city said yesterday.
Jacquelyn Duval-Harvey will oversee the department's divisions of school health, maternal and child health and youth-violence prevention.
Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein described Duval-Harvey as a "proven administrator, clinician and leader who has already contributed greatly to Baltimore."
Howard County
: Circuit Court
Guilty in officer death, man to seek appeal
Brandon T. Morris, 22, who was sentenced in Howard County Circuit Court last month to life without parole in the killing of correctional Officer Jeffery Wroten in 2006, plans to appeal his sentence, his attorney said yesterday. A notice was filed Tuesday, requesting that the Maryland Court of Special Appeals hear the case, attorney Arcangelo Tuminelli said yesterday.
Tyeesha Dixon
Region
: Education
Group to dispense data on college aid
The Delaware-District of Columbia-Maryland Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators will host its "College Goal Sunday" tomorrow at locations across the region, providing information about financial aid to students. The event will be held at multiple locations in the region. A list of specific times and places is available at www.go2goal.org.