Man arrested on charges of impersonating officer
A man posing as a city police officer was arrested Saturday afternoon at a South Baltimore flea market, police said. A sheriff's deputy was attending the flea market in the 1400 block of W. Patapsco Ave. in Brooklyn about 4 p.m. when he noticed a man walking around in a Baltimore "special police" T-shirt, with a silver badge and a silver handgun on his hip, said Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman. Guglielmi said the sheriff's deputy confronted the man, who was not able to produce any identification as a police officer. Officers determined that the man, Thomas A. Godley, 32, of the 200 block of E. Lafayette St., was a convicted felon who was not allowed to carry a handgun. They seized a black holster, the navy blue "police" shirt, a private security officer badge and a Walther P99S handgun, Guglielmi said. Godley faces two handgun charges and a charge of impersonating an officer, Guglielmi said. The gun was among 14 city police seized over the weekend.
- Justin Fenton
Case dropped against man in museum stabbing
Charges were dropped Friday against Jonathan Miller, who had been accused of participating in a deadly stabbing last month after a party at the Great Blacks in Wax Museum. "This kid was a victim. ... He didn't stab anyone," said Miller's defense attorney, Jack B. Rubin. Miller, 18, admitted to police that he was involved in a group fight at the Baltimore museum during which Joshua Hargrove, 20, was stabbed and killed. But Miller wasn't armed, his attorney said, and the teenager had also been stabbed that night. Police had arrested him on murder, assault and weapons charges, which were dropped last week. A preliminary hearing in Baltimore District Court had been scheduled for this morning. "There was no evidence to hold him," Rubin said. Margaret Burns, spokeswoman for the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office, said there was "probable cause" for the charges, but they were ultimately dropped after "investigative leads did not pan out."
- Tricia Bishop