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Criminal justice

    James Weems Jr., 59, of Towson, was found guilty in 2024 in Baltimore County Circuit Court of sexual abuse of a minor, rape and displaying obscene matter to a child. He worked as the van driver at his wife's business, Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center, in Owings Mills.
    Man sentenced to life for sexually abusing 10-year-old girl at wife’s day care in Owings Mills
    James Weems Jr., 59, of Towson, was found guilty in 2024 in Baltimore County Circuit Court of sexual abuse of a minor, rape and displaying obscene matter to a child.
    Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced the guilty plea on Monday, saying the investigation into the matter is ongoing.
    Baltimore County man pleads guilty to paying thousands in bribes to former state official
    A Randallstown man pleaded guilty to paying about $20,000 in bribes to steer state contracts to his company.
    HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 13: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks during a press conference outside of the Governor's Mansion after a portion of the property was damaged in an arson fire on April 13, 2025 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Shapiro and his family escaped unharmed and police have a suspect, Cody Balmer, in custody. (Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
    What to know about alleged arson at Pennsylvania governor’s official residence
    The suspect, identified as Cody Balmer, 38, was arrested nearby later in the day, police said.
    6/16/22—A Baltimore County police car sits outside of the Public Safety Building and Police Department in Towson.
    16-year-old boy killed in Baltimore County shooting
    A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot in Arbutus on Sunday, Baltimore County Police said.
    From left: Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal E. Awad, William J. DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, FBI Special Agent Jonathan D. Shaffer and homicide detective Vincent Carbonaro. Law enforcement officials gathered Friday to discuss the 10-year search for the suspect in Palak Patel's killing in Hanover.
    10 years after Palak Patel’s killing, her husband remains on FBI’s Most Wanted List
    Anne Arundel Police and FBI officials asked for the public's help in locating Bhadreshkumar Patel, charged with fatally stabbing his wife, Palak Patel, at the Dunkin' Donuts in Hanover where they worked in 2015.
    From left, officers Rashad Hamond, Terrell Taylor, and Steve Tandy on a "community walk" with community members in the Forest Park neighborhood.
    A decade after Freddie Gray’s death, Baltimore police still work to gain trust
    In the decade since Gray’s arrest, Baltimore insists there has been a transformation in policing, but some residents aren’t so sure.
    Law enforcement agents escort Victor Martinez Hernadez from an airplane at Martin State Airport after his extradition from Oklahoma, June 20, 2024.
    Man accused of killing Rachel Morin left his DNA on her body, expert testifies
    The prosecution rested its case against Victor Martinez-Hernandez who’s standing trial on charges of first-degree murder and related offenses in the killing of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, on Aug. 5, 2023.
    The Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, Md. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024.
    State’s maximum-security psychiatric hospital gets failure warning
    Clifton T. Perkins, the state-run maximum security hospital for those charged with crimes, was warned to improve or risk losing its accreditation.
    Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott speaks with Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association/Black Press of America, during The Baltimore Uprising: 10 Years Later panel on Friday at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.
    Baltimore mayor sees a changed city 10 years after death of Freddie Gray
    Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott recalls the tragic, police-involved death of Freddie Gray nearly 10 years ago.
    COMMENTARY: I left Baltimore after Freddie Gray. This is why I still have hope for the city.
    We owe Freddie Gray more than memorials. We owe him progress, Kwame Rose writes.
    Commentary: Freddie Gray’s tragic death exposed inequities, sparked change
    The senior center at Pastor Donté Hickman's church was set ablaze after Freddie Gray’s death, but he says the young man's lost life became a seed that started to germinate into a harvest.
    Man charged in 2020 cold case killing of pregnant woman and her baby in Columbia
    Nearly five years after Rabiah Ahmad was shot and killed in Howard County, police have arrested a suspect.
    Law enforcement agents escort Victor Martinez-Hernandez into a Harford County Police car at Martin State Airport after his extradition from Oklahoma on June 20, 2024.
    How family members helped detectives capture man charged in Rachel Morin’s death
    Jose and Tania Hernandez, Victor Martinez-Hernandez’s cousins, testified against him as he continues to stand trial on charges, including first-degree murder in the killing of Rachel Morin, 37, a mother of five, on Aug. 5, 2023, on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air.
    The loved ones of Rachel Morin taped photos of her to trees and laid flowers on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail where she was found dead.
    From Wawa to the woods: Rachel Morin’s final hour traced through technology and witnesses
    Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was killed on Aug. 5, 2023.
    A video captures Westminster woman arrested by ICE agents on her way to work.
    Rejected at her door, ICE nabs a Maryland woman in her car after smashing her window
    Video shows a U.S. ICE agents breaking the window of a Maryland woman, Elsy Noemi Berrios, after failing to detain her at home.
    “Father Bill” is alleged to have abused a boy while he was in grades two through four in the early ’90s.
    Ex-priest accused of sex abuse in Baltimore County indicted on 15 charges
    William Mannion Jr., known as “Father Bill,” now faces 15 felony counts.
    CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND - JUNE 29: Law enforcement officers stand guard as abortion rights activists with Our Rights DC march in front of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's house on June 29, 2022 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Over the last couple months, abortion rights activists have staged protests against the five conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health case overturned the 50-year-old Roe v Wade case and erased federal protection to abortion. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
    Man who brought gun to Justice Kavanaugh’s Maryland home pleads guilty to attempted murder
    A California man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to trying to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in a suburb of Washington, D.C., nearly three years ago.
    Albert William Rice Jr., a Laurel resident, has been charged with assaulting two students when he was a bus aide for the Linwood Center.
    Howard County bus aide hit two nonverbal students, police say
    Albert William Rice Jr. was arrested and charged last week with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree sex offense.
    Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was killed on Aug. 5, 2023, while exercising on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air.
    Witnesses testify at murder trial about discovering Rachel Morin’s body: ‘She’s in the tunnel’
    Prosecutors continued presenting their case against Victor Martinez-Hernandez, who’s standing trial on charges of first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, third-degree sex offense, and kidnapping.
    Former student sues Baltimore Talmudical Academy, alleging rabbi sexually abused him
    A man who attended the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore is suing the school, alleging that he was sexually molested in the 1970s by a rabbi.
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