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Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, hosted an Opioid Abuse Awareness fundraising event at the Southern Maryland Blue Crab’s game Sept. 16. As part of the event, the State’s Attorney’s Office, in partnership with Charles County Emergency Medical Services, had an opioid drop-off center for community members to drop off their unwanted and unneeded prescription medications, as well as receive educational resources to combat opioid abuse.

Over 200 students attending the event received a free Under Armour book bag from the State’s Attorney’s Office. Students also received Chick-fil-A La Plata cards for free meals. Both adults and youth received wristbands to raise awareness about opioid abuse, as well as brochures with more information about opioid abuse, prevention and treatment. During the event, over 75 students signed a pledge to make good decisions and stay away from drugs and alcohol. Nine of the children walked the field with State’s Attorney Covington as he addressed the Regency Furniture Stadium crowd about opioid abuse.

Proceeds from the tickets purchased through the fundraiser will be donated to a drug addictions treatment program.

“This was a great event for our community,” Covington said in a news release. “We were able to reach a number of people – especially kids – and let them know this opioid abuse really is an epidemic. Thousands are dying. That isn’t exaggerated hype – it is real. I hope parents understand the need to educate their kids that painkillers, even though prescribed by a doctor, are still dangerous and can lead to deadly consequences. Also, I can’t say enough about G.S. Proctor and Associates, Terrence Byrd of Under Armour, Chick-fil-A La Plata, Charles County Emergency Medical Services and, of course, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs for their great support of this important community awareness event.”

Originally posted on The Maryland Independent:

http://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/covington-hosts-opioid-abuse-awareness-event/article_92ab75f3-861c-54e1-ac66-8269d220bb19.html

Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington (D) announced more than 100 additional charges for a former Charles County Public Schools instructional assistant and track coach, and raising the number of suspected child victims from 10 to 24.

On June 30, Carlos Deangelo Bell, 30, of Waldorf was arrested and charged with second-degree assault of a minor and production of child pornography, after police investigators allegedly found images of Bell sexually assaulting students at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School, where he had worked since 2015.

Monday afternoon, Covington held a press conference in front of the Charles County Courthouse to announce the unsealing of a grand jury indictment against Bell, including 119 additional counts, and covers a time frame from May 2015 until June 2017.

Covington said the charges include 12 counts of child sex abuse, 48 counts of second-degree sex offense, two counts of third-degree sex offense, two counts of second-degree assault, 44 counts of filming child pornography, two counts of solicitation of a minor, five counts of displaying obscene matter to a minor, three counts of transmitting or attempting to transmit the HIV virus to another, in addition to other charges.

Covington also said the number of suspected victims is now believed to be 24, 11 of whom have yet to be identified.

Covington said the investigation is still ongoing, and urged any member of the public with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

“This indictment does not signal the end of this investigation. It is continuing as we speak,” Covington said.

Covington said Bell, like any other accused individual, is entitled to the presumption of innocence until found guilty by a court or jury.

“An indictment is simply allegations. Everybody, no matter the gravity of the charges, from murder down to theft, is entitled to be presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Covington said.

Covington declined to answer any further questions and left immediately after the announcement.

Following the announcement, CCPS sent out a press release stating that Stoddert Principal Kenneth Schroek has been reassigned to the Office of Supporting Services. The transfer is due to the ongoing investigation, said Kimberly Hill, CCPS superintendent.

The investigation into Bell began in November 2016 after the parent of a student at La Plata High School, where Bell worked as an indoor track coach, noted inappropriate text messages on the student’s phone, which were determined to have come from Bell.

Police found no further evidence at the time but submitted Bell’s electronic devices to the Maryland State Police Crime Lab, and Bell was reassigned to the central office, pending the outcome of the investigations. Bell failed to show up for work and was terminated, according to school officials.

In late June, the crime lab reported finding video on Bell’s electronic devices of Bell sexually abusing middle school-aged boys on school property and other locations.

Bell informed investigators he is HIV-positive, and police received evidence to support the claim.

Originally posted on The Maryland Independent:

http://www.somdnews.com/breaking/former-instructional-assistant-charged-with-counts/article_0668dc7b-5aac-5655-b582-9767012a3594.html

LA PLATA, Md. (ABC7) — LA PLATA, MD – As parents meet in La Plata Tuesday night to discuss the assault charges against former Charles County teacher’s aide Carlos Bell, a backlog in state computer forensics labs is affecting that case and many more. Charles County Sheriff’s Investigators confiscated Bell’s phones in December with a search warrant. Evidence obtained six months later resulted in an indictment. Investigators say they found child pornography on Bell’s phone. At least seven middle school aged boys, and possibly more were recorded by Bell’s cell phone in sex acts, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Speaking about the backlog, Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington said, “The backlog, you’re talking about months and months and months. Again, not because somebody is derelict in their duties, but simply because of the volume that they have and how detailed they are — especially on the computer side, these investigations have to be. We’re going to wait. Hopefully the backlog will be cleaned up, but it’s going to take more people, more resources.”

7 On Your Side toured the Maryland State Police Computer Crime Lab in an undisclosed Howard County office park. It is staffed by four investigators, down from a few years past, according to State Police.

7 On Your Side ran the numbers. Maryland reports a backlog of 14 cases. Virginia handles more cases and has a larger backlog of 111 cases. The average wait time in Virginia for a complete evidence search is 346 days.

“They need more people. It’s just that simple. To me, it’s a state issue, but it’s also a local issue,” added Covington. “If the crime is committed and you have to wait 6 months to get the evidence, as you’ve already pointed out, they bad guy may be on the street, awaiting trial. In the meantime, he’s out there doing bad things.”

7 On Your Side is now talking to political leaders in the area, asking what they are planning to do to fix this evidence backlog. We’re working on getting those answers.

Originally posted on ABC7 WJLA:

http://wjla.com/news/crime/7-on-your-side-state-digital-evidence-backlog-keeps-growing

La Plata, MD – Deavan Quindel Jefferson, 20, found guilty May 5 of second-degree murder and unlawful use of a firearm in commission of a crime of violence for the shooting death of 19-year-old Ruell Hicks behind the AMC movie theater at Mall Circle in Waldorf last October, will face 40 years in the Maryland Department of Corrections.

That sentence was handed down by Charles County Circuit Court Judge Erik Nice Monday, July 10.

Nyce gave Jefferson 30 years on the second-degree murder charge and 20 years for the unlawful use of a firearm in commission of a crime of violence with all but 10 years suspended. Sentences for counts three through five, including possession of a regulated firearm under 21; illegal possession of a firearm; and wear, carry and transport a handgun upon their person, were to run concurrent with the 40-year sentence.

It took the jury just over an hour to render their verdict back in May.

Jefferson was found not guilty of first-degree murder in the trial.

During closing arguments of the trial, Charles County Assistant States Attorney Constance Kopelman asserted that the murder was premeditated, that Jefferson lured the victim “into the shadows” with the intention of murdering him. Charles County Assistant Public Defender Matt Connell objected three different times that the prosecutor was repeating the same thing over and over.

“The reason I am repeating the same thing over and over to you is because it’s important,” she told the jury.

Testimony revealed that Jefferson shot Hicks in the head after a drug deal went south behind the movie theater and, the defendant claimed, the victim swung at him. That became evident during an interview played during the trial with Charles County Sheriff Office detectives John Long and John Elliott the night of the shooting, played during the trial and again at closing, in which he told them that although he and Hicks had an altercation in the past, “we were all right.” But he added, he said even though he had arranged to purchase marijuana from Hicks that he was wary. “I know they do that jack bulls—,” he told the investigators. “I know for a fact he has committed armed robbery more than once.”

“Did he say anything?” Elliott was heard asking.

“I didn’t even wait to hear what he had to say,” Jefferson said. “After he swung at me…”

“Where’d you shoot him?” Elliott asked.

“I shot him in his f—— head,” the defendant said, almost shouting.

Jefferson will also serve five years of unsupervised probation upon his release.

Originally posted on The Baynet:

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0717/movietheatershootersentencedto40years.html

La Plata, MD – Samantha Nicole Thomas, 33 of Waldorf, who sold a fatal dose of Fentanyl—a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic similar to morphine, but 50 to 100 times more potent—that led to the death of Christopher Wade, 35 of Mechanicsville, left, was sentenced to 10 years of active time in Charles County Circuit Court Wednesday, May 17.

Thomas accepted a plea agreement with the Charles County States Attorney’s Office after initially rejecting the offer weeks ago. Assistant States Attorney John Stackhouse said that Wade’s roommate found him unresponsive in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, 2015.

“He began CPR and called 911 at 2:19 a.m.,” Stackhouse related.

The prosecutor said Charles County Sheriff Office deputies and emergency personnel responded to the scene. Despite several attempts by an emergency medical technician to revive the patient with NARCAN, a counter-opiate drug, responders were not able to bring the patient back. “At no time was he responsive,” Stackhouse said. “At 2:48 a.m. he was pronounced deceased.”

Detectives found drug paraphernalia near the body and residue on that material tested positive for Fentanyl. Stackhouse added that had the case proceeded to trial, he would have questioned an expert witness who transcribed text messages between Thomas and the victim the day before his death, which would have shown that she provided him with the drugs that killed him.

“In an interview with two Charles County Sheriff’s Office investigators, Ms. Thomas did admit that she, the defendant, gave Wade the CDS. She told them she thought he was on Xanex, but there was no evidence of that in the toxicology reports,” he said.

Investigators found that Thomas was going to Baltimore City and brought back what was called “scramble,” a mixture about 5 to 7 percent heroin. “In this case, it was 100 percent Fentanyl,” Stackhouse stated.

Sandra Wade, mother of Christopher Wade, told the court that her son did everything he could for the defendant. “He took in her dogs because she kept getting evicted from place to place,” she said. “He did everything he could for her. She knew immediately, when she got the call [that he had died]. Yet, she continued to go out there and sell drugs. She continued to go to Baltimore.

“My son mattered,” Wade told the court. “He really mattered. I would like for the court to start taking these cases seriously.”

Stackhouse said there have been 15 fatalities this year alone from heroin and opiate overdoses, 179 in the past three years.

Thomas pled guilty to count two, manslaughter. It is the first time in the history of Charles County that a dealer has been sentenced on manslaughter charges related to opiate abuse.

Judge Amy J. Bragunier, as part of the plea agreement, sentenced Thomas to 10 years active time concurrent to her previous sentences.

“There is no probation, just a flat 10-year sentence and that sentence begins today,” the judge said.

Related links:

December 2016

January 2017

Originally posted on The BayNet:

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0517/woman-sentenced-to-10-years-for-manslaughter.html

La Plata, MD – It took longer to pick a jury in the first-degree murder trial of Deavan Quindel Jefferson, 20, for the shooting death of 19-year-old Ruell Hicks behind the AMC movie theater at Mall Circle in Waldorf last October than it took for the Charles County Circuit Court jury to render a verdict.

Barely an hour after the jury got the case Friday, May 5, they informed Judge Erik Nyce they had reached a decision.

Jefferson was found guilty of second-degree murder and three charges of illegally possessing a firearm used in the commission of a felony. He was found not guilty of first-degree murder.

Charles County Assistant States Attorney Constance Kopelman tried her hardest to get the jury to nibble on the concept that the murder was premeditated, that Jefferson lured the victim “into the shadows” with the intention of murdering him.

Kopelman’s closing went on for some time, causing Assistant Public Defender Matt Connell to object three separate times that the prosecutor was repeating the same thing over and over. The judge finally relented and asked Kopelman if she was getting close to finishing.

“The reason I am repeating the same thing over and over to you is because it’s important,” she told the jury.

There was no doubt that Jefferson shot Hicks in the head after a drug deal went south behind the movie theater and, the defendant claimed, the victim swung at him. That became evident during an interview with Charles County Sheriff Office detectives John Long and John Elliott the night of the shooting, played during the trial and again at closing, in which he told them that although he and Hicks had an altercation in the past, “we were all right.” But he added, he said even though he had arranged to purchase marijuana from Hicks that he was wary. “I know they do that jack bulls—,” he told the investigators. “I know for a fact he has committed armed robbery more than once.”

“Did he say anything?” Elliott is heard asking.

“I didn’t even wait to hear what he had to say,” Jefferson said. “After he swung at me…”

“Where’d you shoot him?” Elliott asked.

“I shot him in his f—— head,” the defendant said, almost shouting.

Jefferson also told detectives he knew one of the three men had a gun, but only two knives were found.

Kopelman said Jefferson at first tried to pin the murder on someone else.

“Who is robbing who here?” she asked. “The defendant’s story is all over the place.”

“Ruell Hicks set up a drug deal and agreed to sell drugs he didn’t even have,” Connell said in closing. “Hicks and his friend, Darius Wilson and Jared Ryce, they were going to commit an armed robbery. Wilson testified right in this courtroom, ‘Yes, we were going to rob the man who shot Ruell.’ My client told police he thought they were armed and they were,” he said, holding up the two knives found in a backpack with the two men.

Connell also said Hicks’ accomplices ransacked his body after he was shot, taking his iphone, belt and sneakers. “DJ [Jefferson] told police, this was a robbery that was reversed,” Connell told the jury.

His argument proved fruitful from the aspect that he was able to dissuade the jury from premeditation, but Jefferson still faces serious jail time for the second-degree murder charge and the illegal use of a firearm in a felony charge.

“There are no winners in a case like this,” Connell said after the verdict.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 10.

Originally posted on The BayNet:

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0517/movie-theater-shooter-guilty-of-second-degree-murder.html

La Plata, MD – Anger and fear are the two most destructive forces in life. Consider Richard Travis Conway, 28, the former Prince George’s County police officer found guilty Jan. 11 of attempted first-degree murder of Krystal Mange, who didn’t say a word during his sentencing Tuesday, May 9 before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Erik Nyce.

His mother, Caroline Marie Conway, 53 of Waldorf, was sentenced to life in prison without parole the day before in the so-called “McDonald’s shooting” at Mall Circle in Waldorf.

Nyce sentenced the defendant to 30 years for second-degree murder in the death of Mange’s husband Robert, another 20 years to be served consecutively for the use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, and on Count 4, attempted first-degree murder of his former girlfriend, Krystal Mange, the judge sentenced Conway to life in prison.

“In my view, Robert Mange did save Krystal,” Nyce said. “He was a hero. The level of harm was excessive. Her last moments with her husband was watching him bleed out under the Jeep. And then there was the defendant’s own statement when he was being interviewed by the investigators, ‘I hate her. I hate him even more.’ To have children with someone whose hatred has no bounds, those are extraordinary circumstances.”

“Because of the actions of Richard Conway, Robert will never be able to meet his daughter,” Krystal Mange told the court. “Every major milestone in her life, Rob will miss. My children visit their father in the cemetery. They talk to a headstone.”

“Make no mistake,” Charles County States Attorney Tony Covington said. “This crime does not take place without his actions.”

Assistant States Attorney Fran Granados told Nyce that the other victims in the shooting who happened to be in the McDonalds drive-through when the incident occurred May 20, 2015, decided not to attend the sentencing or make statements to the court.

“They are good, decent people,” he said. “They told me, ‘Our losses can’t compare to the loss of the Mange family.”

Granados outlined the long, sad story of a custody battle between Conway, his mother, and Krystal Mange. The prosecutor alleged that the defendant used his status as a police officer to abduct the children from their mother in Virginia, obtaining custody where they had the two young children 22 days out of the month.

“That wasn’t good enough,” he said, citing allegations that Krystal and Robert Mange were sexually assaulting the children, something an investigation failed to find “a shred of evidence” to support.

Granados also played an audio of a conversation between Conway and his girlfriend, who told him, “you’ve been lying to me for two f——-g years.” In the recording, the defendant maintained that he did not know what his mother intended to do.

“You lied to me since day one,” she can be heard saying.

Defense Attorney C.T. Wilson said that while the state was asking for life, he was “asking for something lower.” He said the state had offered a 30-year sentence and that’s what he felt was appropriate.

Covington said that offer was contingent on Conway telling them where the gun was and to testify against his mother, both of which he refused to do.

The state also alleged that while in jail, Conway attempted to bribe a fellow inmate in a “murder-for-hire” hit against local attorney Rudy Carrico, who had defended Krystal Mange in her child custody battles with him.

In addition to the major offenses, the judge also gave him five five-year sentences on the reckless endangerment charges and gave him credit for 715 days of time served.

“During the trial and sentencing, the defendant had the theory that he was under the influence of the mother, that she acted alone,” the judge said. “In my view, he acted in concert with her and accepted her influence.”

Originally posted on The BayNet:

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0517/formerpgcopsentencedformurder.html

La Plata, MD – Caroline Marie Conway, the 53-year-old grandmother from Waldorf who shot and wounded her former daughter-in-law Crystal Mange and killed her new husband, Robert Mange, in the parking lot of the Rock N Roll McDonald’s in Waldorf will spend the rest of her natural life in prison.

Visiting Charles County Circuit Court Judge Steven I. Platt handed down that decision Monday, May 8 in La Plata.

Platt said that in his 17 years on the bench in Prince George’s County he sentenced 11 people to life sentences, seven of those without the possibility of parole.

“As far as I know, life without parole in Maryland means life without parole,” he said.

The judge said he felt the defendant was still a threat to Crystal Mange.

“Even if I sentenced you to life with parole, you’re 53, it’s a 20-year sentence … you would still not see the light of day,” Platt said. “During the defendant’s testimony, I don’t believe she ever said anything she didn’t believe at the time. You had an excellent defense [Attorney James Farmer].”

Conway said during testimony, and Farmer continued to hammer home the point during his arguments, that her grandson was being abused by someone in the Mange household. “You were obsessed in believing your grandson was being abused,” he said, “That the system failed in your mind. But your obsession makes you dangerous.”

Farmer asked for his client to be placed in the Patuxent Institute, chipping at holes in the state’s case, that a roommate in the Mange household, who Crystal Mange had told the social worker was never alone with the children, yet pointed out text messages between the two that indicated he was, in fact, alone with them. He continued through a list on incidents, of interviews between the young child and social workers that seemed to indicate that something was going on.

Jessica Baldwin, mother of the slain victim, told the court, “Two years ago tomorrow will be the last day I ever saw my son alive. The next time I saw him, I was pinning his Navy pin onto his uniform as we prepared to bury him. His daughter is walking now. She says ‘da da,’ but da da isn’t there.”

“Your honor, the jury has spoken,” Charles County States Attorney Tony Covington told the court. “This smoke screen was just that. This was a premeditated murder. Ms. Mange almost lost her life as well.”

Assistant States Attorney Fran Granados added to that argument, saying that Conway has claimed she doesn’t remember the shooting.

“She knew what she was doing,” he said. “Robert sacrificed himself to save his wife and their unborn child. This case is about a lot of things, but there’s a lot things it isn’t about. It’s not about child abuse.”

Coway faced Crystal Mange in the courtroom and apologized.

“I am sorry,” she said. “I did not want anyone to be harmed. I was worried abut my grandchildren.”

She told Platt, “I will accept whatever you decide.”

On Count 1, first-degree murder, he sentenced Conway to life, “for the rest of your natural life, with no possibility of parole.” On Count 2, conspiracy to commit murder, he handed down another life sentence concurrent to the first. For Count 3, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, another 20 years, five without the possibility of parole. Count 4, attempted first-degree murder, Platt handed down another life sentence. Count 6, the use of a firearm associated with the attempted first-degree murder charge netted another 20 years, five without parole, and four five-year consecutive sentences on the remaining charges.

Conway was given credit for 791 days of time served but in this particular case, that really doesn’t mean much.

Originally posted on The BayNet:

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0517/grandmother-sentenced-to-life-without-parole.html

La Plata, MD – Daron Lee Wright, 27 of Temple Hills, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but 18 months suspended, to be served locally for a home invasion and first-degree assault that occurred in Waldorf April 8, 2016. Read more