Man guilty of threatening commissioners

Enters guilty plea for one charge, Alford plea to another

Friday, July 31, 2009

Curtis Litten, 46, was originally charged with stalking Commissioner Linda Kelley (R) and threatening a local official after sending Commissioner Jerry Clark (R) a package containing a vulture's head and feet along with a threatening note. The package was intercepted by workers at the Huntingtown Post Office before it reached Clark.

Both charges were eventually amended, and Litten entered an Alford plea to harassing Kelley and pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault in connection with the package, according to documents. An Alford plea is entered when the defendant denies the charge but admits there is sufficient evidence for a conviction.

Both incidents stem from a dispute between Litten and the county involving the former site of the Sunderland Post Office, which closed in 2007 and was located on property owned by Litten.

Following the office's closure, debris accumulated on the property to the point that the county sued Litten in an attempt to force a cleanup.

Beginning on March 7, 2008, Kelley began to find nails and trash in her driveway, according to charging documents.

‘‘These nails were far enough into her driveway that I would have to agree that someone had deliberately put them there," Det. Sgt. Michael Moore of the Calvert Investigation Team wrote in the complaint. ‘‘The nails were large, sharp roofing nails; if someone had walked on them or fell on them they would have caused serious injury to the person."

Trash was dumped in Kelley's driveway three more times before a letter addressed to Litten was discovered amongst the garbage in early May 2008, leading to an arrest warrant.

The garbage dumped in Kelley's driveway coincided with two other events.

A letter postmarked on March 7, the same day Kelley first reported seeing trash, to the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners contained a threatening letter and a newspaper clipping regarding a February 2008 killing spree during which a man killed two policemen, three city officials and himself at a Missouri city hall. Charging documents suggested a link between Litten and the letter, but he was never charged with sending it.

The package addressed to Clark, which also contained a threatening note, a drawing of a five-point star and a picture of the bloodied face of a white male, was intercepted later that month, documents state. Litten's fingerprints were found on the package.

Calvert County Circuit Court Judges Warren Krug and Marjorie Clagett recused themselves from the proceedings, so the case was heard by Prince George's County Judge Melaine Shaw Geter and prosecuted by Anne Arundel County Assistant State's Attorney Jay Creech at the Calvert County Circuit Court.

Geter ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and a mental evaluation for Litten, but no sentencing date was set. The charge of harassment, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

In a separate case, Litten has been charged with felony theft and destruction of property, with a trial set for Aug. 24, according to court documents.

jnewman@somdnews.com