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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