Police briefs

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Maryland State Police on covert duty at the Tiki Bar's opening weekend in Solomons report that they arranged a drug deal Saturday with a St. Mary's man and gave him a ride to a home, where he was arrested.

Dustin Richard Cushman, 22, of California was released the next day on $10,000 bond to await a court hearing on charges including the possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute the drug at the residence.

Cushman agreed during the Solomons event to sell one of the plainclothes troopers a quarter-ounce of marijuana, charging papers allege, and he rode with three of the law officers to where he lives with an aunt.

He led them inside and brought out a small plastic bag from a bedroom.

"Who has the money?" Cushman asked in the kitchen, court papers state, before an arrest team of troopers entered and took him into custody.

Child abuse alleged

Elizabeth Denise Blackwell, 43, of Great Mills was released Sunday on personal recognizance after her arrest on a charge of child abuse in court papers alleging she repeatedly punched a 10-year-old boy in the stomach and choked the child.

The suspect denied choking or hitting the child, according to a statement of probable cause from Saturday's investigation by St. Mary's sheriff's deputy Michael Licausi.

Jail inmate charged with drug offense

Ryan Thomas Woodford, a 25-year-old Hollywood man serving 18 months in jail on a guilty plea to second-degree child abuse, was charged Saturday with drug offenses after his return from his work-release job.

Correctional officers found four diazepam tablets in the sole of Woodford's shoe that night during a search of the inmate, the sheriff's office reports.

He was charged with a misdemeanor possession offense and violating a prescription labeling law.

Woodford was indicted last year on the child abuse charge after St. Mary's detectives investigated head injuries suffered by his 2-month-old son at their residence.

Woodford's sentence includes five years of supervised probation, and a suspended term of five years and six months in prison that could be imposed if a judge finds that a probation violation has occurred.

Man, 24, charged with burglary

Christopher B. Cox, 24, of Leonardtown was released on $15,000 bond after his arrest last week on theft and first-degree burglary charges in court papers alleging he stole items on Nov. 25 from a Mechanicsville home.

Property valued at $1,600 including electronic video game equipment was taken, court papers state, from David Shotwell's home, where Cox previously had done home-improvement work.

Cox received $40 last week at Gloria's pawn shop on Great Mills Road in exchange for a camcorder taken from the residence, and "the shop owner was familiar with defendant Cox from other pawned [and] sold items in the past," according to a charges application filed by St. Mary's detective David Alexander.

Other items taken last fall from Shotwell's home included DVD movies, court papers state, and home videos made after the births of his children.

Two men injured at trailer park

St. Mary's detectives are continuing their investigation of an attack early last Friday morning on two men who were walking through a Lexington Park neighborhood when they were repeatedly stabbed by an unknown assailant.

Both of the men fled from their attacker during the 2:30 a.m. incident at Suburban Trailer Park, and they later were driven to St. Mary's Hospital in Leonardtown, detectives report.

One man, 20, was treated for wounds to his back, arm and neck, and the other man, 19, was transferred to the Washington Hospital Center to be treated for injuries to his side an arm.

No arrests were reported in the incident.

jwharton@somdnews.com