A judge in Maryland sentenced a man to life without parole plus 20 years in prison for shooting a cashier at a 7-Eleven in Waldorf in October 2020. Gregory Deshawn Collins, 23, of Waldorf entered the store in the 3300 block of Middletown Road about 1 a.m. Oct. 1, 2020, grabbed a bottle of tea…

Anthony “Tony” Covington (D) has seen quite a few changes in Charles County’s state’s attorney’s office over the past decade. Covington, who was elected to the office in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 and 2018, said a lot of ideas about law enforcement have changed over the years. He was hired as deputy state’s attorney…

A Maryland man has been sentenced to one year in jail and fined $5,000 for throwing two large parties in violation of the state’s ban on gatherings of more than 10 people. The man, Shawn Marshall Myers, 42, was convicted on Friday of two counts of failure to comply with an emergency order, the Charles…

A judge sentenced a Maryland man to a year in the Charles County Detention Center for throwing parties that exceeded capacity restrictions at the beginning of the governor’s coronavirus emergency order. Shawn Marshall Myers, 42, of Hughesville was arrested in March when officers found more than 50 people hanging out around a bonfire at his…

A news release from Charles County State’s Attorney Anthony Covington states that — in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 in detention centers — some inmates in Charles County will be released prior to the expiration of their sentence. Proceeding Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) executive order released on April 18, which stated that…

CHARLES COUNTY, Md. — The Charles County man who was arrested and charged with violating a governor’s order limiting the size of gatherings is being held without bond after a Monday hearing. A state’s attorney for Charles County, Anthony Covington, told the judge at the hearing that his request for no bond was because, “During…

A Bryans Road man received a life sentence with all but 30 years suspended on Wednesday for the March 2018 torture and attempted murder of his wife. So many people turned out in support of 46-year-old former Prince George’s County corrections officer Armando Quispe Rodriguez that his sentencing proceedings had to be moved to a…

Jury deliberations were already well underway in Janeal Jerome Thompson’s trial for first-degree murder when he pleaded guilty to all counts Monday morning in Charles County Circuit Court before Judge Hayward James “Jay” West. Thompson, 27, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and related weapons offenses for the October 2018 murder of his friend, 22-year-old Ronaj…

The trial of Janeal Jerome Thompson, a 27-year-old Bryans Road man accused of shooting his friend in the head as he slept in the front seat of a moving car, began Monday afternoon in Charles County Circuit Court before Judge Hayward James “Jay” West. In her opening arguments, Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Freeman said Thompson…

Facing seven counts of attempted first-degree murder among 33 charges related to a July 2018 shooting, 25-year-old Marquis Deangelo Swann of Waldorf pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree assault before Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier on Monday. The Maryland Independent reported last year that Swann was one of two men involved in the…

For his limited role in the 2017 invasion and robbery of a Waldorf home, a Derwood man received five years of unsupervised probation in Charles County Circuit Court on Tuesday. Jermel Andrico D’Aubrey Thomas, now 35, was 33 when he said he was invited by a family friend to what he thought was just a…

A Temple Hills man pleaded guilty to armed robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime on Monday, the same day his trial was scheduled to start. Raymund Antoine Bradford, 42, was arrested in November 2018 and charged with the March 21, 2018, robbery of Drive Up Liquors in Faulkner,…

Samuel Keith Gemeny’s life ended over a bong, a bed and a debt of less than $100. Two of the six people involved in his death learned their own fates Tuesday in Charles County Circuit Court. Dominic Xavier Daniel, now 26, was 24 on May 16, 2017, when he and five others forced their way…

The jury in the weeklong trial of a Waldorf man accused of shooting and killing his close friend in December 2017 declared him guilty of second-degree murder and related weapons charges following a full day of deliberation until 6 p.m. Tuesday. Nicholas Jabbar Williams, 22, was charged with the death of his friend Cameron Marcel…

The day before he murdered his father-in-law, DeAngelo Hemsley bought himself a new truck. In the end, that purchase may have sealed his fate in court. Hemsley, now 42, appeared in court last week for a bifurcated trial in the April 2016 first-degree murder of John Edward Yates and attempted kidnapping of his daughter. The…

It isn’t often that the defense attorney in a case outright tells you his client did in fact murder the person they’re accused of killing in their opening arguments, but that’s what happened Monday. The trial of 42-year-old Deangelo Hemsley, accused of killing his father-in-law and attempting to kidnap his daughter at knifepoint, began Monday…

An Accokeek man already on probation for a series of 2015 church and school burglaries was sentenced to eight years on Tuesday morning in Charles County Circuit Court for the Feb. 7, 2017, armed robbery at a Waldorf branch of Old Line Bank. Mortimer Mumpford Wade, 24, appeared before Circuit Court Judge H. James “Jay”…

[Update: Pursuant to a plea agreement, Uniqueka Davis-McKinney’s case was placed on a stet docket on April 24, 2019, and was nolle prossed on December 19, 2019.]   Just days before his trial was set to begin, South Hampton Homeowners’ Association treasurer Benedicto Afroilan pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of fraudulent misappropriation, likely bringing…

For throwing his 5-month-old daughter down so hard her skull was fractured, a Waldorf man will serve 15 years. Delontre James Austin, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse and neglect of a minor in January. Appearing before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier on Thursday, the court heard the details of the…

Charles County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Devine, far right, speaks to the crowd gathered for the “So You’ve Been Pulled Over” event at the Waldorf West branch of the library about best practices for one’s day in court following a traffic stop. From left to right next to Devine are Cpl. Steve Bryant of the…

The trial of a Waldorf man and former substitute teacher accused of sexually abusing one of his charges resulted in a guilty verdict on Tuesday. Keith Allan Krikstan, 31, was found guilty of sex abuse of a minor for sending suggestive messages to a former student of his. Krikstan’s trial began last Monday. The jury…

A former correctional officer pleaded guilty Monday in connection to a gruesome attack last March in which he stabbed his wife 23 times and handcuffed her to the basement of their Charles County, Maryland, home. Armando Quispe Rodriguez, 46, of Bryans Road, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder in Charles County Circuit Court, the State’s…

The weeklong trial for a Waldorf man accused of a January 2016 murder resulted in a partial conviction on some charges and a hung jury on the others, including first-degree murder, on Wednesday. Miguel Angel Santana, 28, was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit the same, illegal firearms possession and other weapons charges for…

Anthony “Tony” B. Covington, state’s attorney for Charles County, released on March 3 part two of a two-episode podcast discussion regarding drunk driving. The “Tony Talks Charles County Crime” podcast hosted by Covington aims to educate and inform citizens about the criminal justice system. The podcast covers a wide range of topics related to criminal…

La Plata, MD – Charles County Circuit Court Administrative Judge Amy Bragunier called defendant Daniel Juwan Butler a “nice hard-working young man.” Bragunier then declared “nice people sometimes do bad things.” Butler stood before Bragunier in a jam-packed courtroom in La Plata Tuesday, Oct. 30 to be sentenced for an early December crash that claimed…

Daniel Juwan Butler, 22, of Newburg pleaded guilty to manslaughter and waived his right to a jury trial on Thursday in the death of 21-year-old Taylor Anne Halbleib in December. Butler is accused of killing Halbleib, a Hughesville resident, while driving drunk. Almost all available seats in the courtroom were filled with friends and family…

Charles Leon Thompson Jr., 34, of Waldorf was sentenced to 40 years in prison on June 29 following a guilty plea that he made late last year in connection with an armed robbery which killed one woman and injured several others following an altercation at a local sports bar. Around 1:25 a.m. on Saturday, Feb.…

A former Charles County Public Schools substitute teacher, who had been charged earlier this year for allegedly producing child pornography and having illicit contact with a student, has now been charged with rape after investigators learned through the course of their investigation that he allegedly had sex with an 11-year-old girl in 2007. On June…

WASHINGTON — A Charles County, Maryland, man has been convicted again on charges that he stabbed and slit the throat of a puppy in the midst of a domestic dispute. Stephen Eugene Paysinger, 39, of Waldorf, was convicted Tuesday of aggravated animal cruelty. The puppy survived the attack. Court documents show that on Feb. 24,…

After a two-day trial, a Charles County Circuit Court jury found a 34-year-old Washington, D.C., man guilty Wednesday of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s daughter for approximately two years. In October 2017, when his case was forwarded to Circuit Court, Calvin Julius Burgess was charged with three counts of sexually abusing a minor and two counts…

A 25-year-old Baltimore woman was sentenced to 15 years incarceration May 8 in connection with a January 2016 fatal shooting that claimed the life of a 34-year-old Waldorf man. Rena Cassandra Crandell was charged with first-degree murder and various related charges for her alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Michael Keith Beers. On April…

Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington is speaking to high school students, urging them to think about where they want their path in life to lead. “Your life is determined by your choices. Every choice has consequences,” Covington (D) told students. “These consequences are going to determine your future.” Covington has brought his media presentation…

A 20-year-old Waldorf man accused of armed robbery was sentenced to eight years in prison in Charles County Circuit Court Monday. Dominic Isiah Marks-Wiggins was sentenced to a total of eight years incarceration by Circuit Court Judge H. Jay West after he pleaded guilty to robbery and violation of probation. On June 8, 2017, around…

A St. Charles High School teacher, who was accused of sexually abusing a student during school hours from January to May 2017, entered a guilty plea in Charles County Circuit Court Tuesday. In front of Judge H. Jay West, LaToya Niccole Parker, 40, of Waldorf pleaded guilty to misconduct in office and displaying obscene matter…

  CHARLES COUNTY, Md. – A former Charles County school assistant who pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of producing child pornography and already faces over 100 years in prison has been sentenced to 190 additional years on state charges Tuesday. Carlos Bell, 30, admits he coerced children at Charles County Middle School and…

A 45-year-old Bryans Road man, who allegedly stabbed and beat his wife last week, is being held without bond at the Charles County Detention Center. In Charles County District Court Wednesday, in front of Judge W. Louis Hennessy, Armando Quispe Rodriguez, appeared in court with both of his arms heavily bandaged from the elbow down.…

A Charles County Circuit Court jury deliberated for three hours before finding a 27-year-old Waldorf man accused of a 2016 murder guilty after a seven day trial. Angel Miguel Santana was charged with 53 counts in regards to this case, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. He was found guilty on all…

A Charles County Circuit Court jury deliberated for three hours before finding a 27-year-old Waldorf man accused of a 2016 murder guilty after a seven day trial. Angel Miguel Santana was charged with 53 counts in regards to this case, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. He was found guilty on all…

La Plata, MD – A man who told police he used drugs and then killed his father pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Charles County Circuit Court Monday, March 12. The defendant, Carlton Vernon Bell Jr., 23 of Waldorf, entered the plea before Judge Amy Bragunier. According to documents on file in the Maryland court system,…

La Plata, MD- A repeat sex offender in Charles County is now facing life in prison after being convicted on several counts relating to child sex abuse. Lafayette Remoine Crutchfield, 44 of La Plata, was charged with sex abuse of a minor, second-degree sexual offense and two counts of third-degree sexual offense. On Tuesday, Feb. 27,…

A 24-year-old Newburg man was sentenced the maximum five years for attacking and stabbing a male in the stomach last June. Tramaine Vondell Dorsey, 25, was charged with first-degree and second-degree assault, along with reckless endangerment. On June 17, 2017, around 10:30 p.m., officers responded to the 4000 block of Tims Place in Nanjemoy for…

A 39-year-old New Carrolton man was sentenced to the maximum 25 years in prison on Tuesday after he was found guilty last year of sexually abusing a minor. On Nov. 6, 2015, Donald McCoy Stancell Jr. was accused by a 17-year-old girl of sex abuse. After DNA results were returned to the Charles County Sheriff’s…

After a three-day trial, a jury found a 21-year-old Indian Head man guilty of armed robbery and an additional 12 related charges in Charles County Circuit Court Wednesday. In May 2017, Tyrel Javonte Adams, 21, of Indian Head was charged with armed robbery, use of a firearm to commit a violent crime, first-degree assault and…

A 25-year-old Marbury man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbing the White Plains Dash-In with a shotgun in April 2017. On Nov. 15, 2017, Corey Anthony Kelton, 25, who was identified as the gunman of the robbery, pleaded guilty to two of the 14 counts he was charged with: armed robbery and…

(CNN)An HIV-positive former Maryland school aide and track coach pleaded guilty Friday to sexually abusing students and filming child pornography, prosecutors said. Carlos Deangelo Bell, 30, of Waldorf, signed a plea agreement admitting guilt on 27 counts, including sexual abuse of a minor, porn charges and attempted transmission of HIV, the state’s attorney for Charles…

A 34-year-old Waldorf man, who was charged with the murder of a 26-year-old Lexington Park woman, took a plea deal just days before his scheduled trial in Charles County Circuit Court on Dec. 4. On Feb. 4, three men, Anthony D’Angelo Wilkins, Charles Leon Thompson Jr., both 34, of Waldorf and an unidentified man, were…

State’s Attorney Tony Covington commenting on the case said, “Great job Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Freeman. She had to try this case 3 times! She kept the faith that justice would eventually prevail. And thanks to her indefatigable efforts, it finally did. Also, my thanks to the victim and her family for their patience and…

A Waldorf man received a three-year sentence to the Department of Corrections for an April incident in which he was pulled over by a trooper with more than an ounce of marijuana and a loaded handgun in his vehicle. Deandra Sherman Bush, 20, was indicted on charges of possession of a controlled dangerous substance with…

State’s Attorney Tony Covington commenting on the sentence said, “Great job by ASA’s Granados and Beattie. It took a long time, but this defendant was finally held accountable for Crystal’s demise. I hope her family believes that justice was done in this difficult case.” —- A Nanjemoy man accused of murdering a 29-year-old woman in…

(CNN) Prosecutors added more charges and accusations to an already lengthy indictment of an HIV-positive former Maryland school aide and track coach who is accused of sexually assaulting underage students and recording the abuse on video. Carlos Deangelo Bell, 30, of Waldorf, was hit Friday with a 206-count indictment that covers accusations about 28 identified alleged…

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…

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…

  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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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. (more…)

La Plata, MD – David Martin Barnes, 44 of Indian Head, is unfortunately quite familiar with the Charles County and state of Maryland’s legal justice system. He has been a frequent visitor to La Plata. Having violated probation with a string of third-degree burglary charges, Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Jared I. Albert found himself…

La Plata, MD – Sean Michael Allen, 26 of Indian Head, became the second distributor of heroin in Charles County to be sentenced to prison inside of a week when visiting Charles County Circuit Court Judge Eric Nyce sentenced the dealer to 10 years Wednesday, Jan. 18 in La Plata. Nyce sentenced Allen, arrested last…

La Plata, MD – Samantha Nicole Thomas, 33 of Waldorf, tried to run, but in the end the law won. Thomas was sentenced Tuesday, Jan 17 to 16 years of active time for attempting to smuggle heroin into the Charles County Detention Center July 30, 2015. Thomas has had an interesting couple of weeks leading…

La Plata, MD –  In July, a male defendant passed out in a Charles County Circuit Courtroom when a jury pronounced him guilty on five reckless endangerment charges. The defendant shot up his Oak Manor neighborhood in 2013 and was given a sentence of 26 years on Wednesday, Nov. 30. Judge H. James West sentenced Clyde…

La Plata, MD – A man who slit the throat of the family puppy while threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, and her three children was sentenced to 13 years in prison by Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Thursday, Dec. 1 in La Plata. Stephen Eugene Paysinger, 38 of Waldorf, was sentenced to…

La Plata, MD – As a Charles County Circuit Court jury rendered its verdict Tuesday, Dec. 20, the shoulders of Caroline Marie Conway, 53 of Waldorf, began dropping a little more with each count as it was returned with an answer of “guilty” from the foreman. Conway was convicted of First Degree Murder of Robert Mange,…

La Plata, MD – Laportia Chardae Davis, 25 was not prepared for what happened to her Wednesday, Nov. 30. She appeared before Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West for sentencing after entering a plea over the summer to possessing a counterfeit document. Davis began crying as she was escorted from the courtroom after…

La Plata, MD – Shondell Javon Middleton, 20 of Clinton, NC, learned his fate Monday, Nov. 7 in Charles County Circuit Court. Visiting Judge Larnzell Martin Jr., who convicted Middleton of second-degree murder in a bench trial Sept. 15, sentenced the defendant to 30 years in the Maryland Department of Corrections, suspending all but 12…

La Plata, MD – On Wednesday Oct. 26, Datonya Monique Riley, 29 of Prince Frederick, was found guilty by association with a former drug dealer. Evidence presented by the State’s Attorney’s office reveal tthat although she might not have been directly involved with the illegal actions of her former boyfriend, she was considered to be “guilty…

La Plata, MD – A Marbury man was sentenced to 35 years in the Maryland Department of Corrections Monday, Oct. 17 by Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West. Edward Eugene Coates, 38, received a sentence of 35 years for first-degree rape and an additional two years to run concurrently for violating the terms…