Offender

Teen Court, a legally binding justice system in which volunteer youth jurors try their peers in a real courtroom, has been a success in Morgan County. On Thursday, the Jefferson County Commissioners heard a presentation on the program that keeps first-time offenders between the ages of 11 and 18 charged with minor crimes out of juvenile court. The commissioners warmed to the idea. Their only responsibility to the program — and that of the five Jefferson County municipalities with police departments — is to charge a $5 fee on all traffic and more-serious violations that come through county or municipal courts.

About a dozen cases of juveniles sexting — a crime in which a young person can be both victim and perpetrator — have been investigated in Washington County in the past three years. While only a couple of cases of sexting — disseminating nude or pornographic images on cell phones — have resulted in teenagers going through the juvenile justice system, it is a crime that can come back to haunt them years later, said Detective Shane Blankenship of the Hagerstown Police Department.

A Hagerstown man convicted Thursday by a Washington County Circuit Court jury of possession of marijuana was sentenced to two years in prison. But Carlos Joel Flores Rios, 23, of 238 N. Locust St., was found not guilty of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records. Hagerstown police and the Washington County Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant at Rios' home on July 26, 2010, finding several bags of packaged marijuana in the kitchen and more in an upstairs bedroom, according to the application for statements of charges.

A Hagerstown man who pleaded guilty last fall to molesting a 4-year-old boy was sentenced Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court to eight years in prison. Timothy Allen Norris poses "a moderate to high risk of re-offending," Circuit Judge W. Kennedy Boone III said, citing Norris' presentence investigation. Boone sentenced Norris to 25 years in prison with all but eight of those years suspended. Norris, 44, of 1125 Glenwood Ave., pleaded guilty in October to sexual abuse of a minor.

A former Boonsboro Middle School teacher whose 2006 child sex abuse case resulted in a change in the Maryland Sex Offender Registration Act tried unsuccessfully last week in Washington County Circuit Court to have his name removed from the state's list of sexual offenders. Robert Merle Haines Jr., 51, had requested the court issue a declaratory judgment to remove his name from the registry. Circuit Judge John H. McDowell denied the motion Friday, a few hours after the hearing. An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court ruling had given Haines permission last year to proceed in his motion as John Doe. In it, he named the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services as the defendant, according to McDowell's opinion.

HAGERSTOWN -- An 18-year-old Clear Spring man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl he met through a social networking site was ordered Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court to remove his profile from the site, but he still will be on the Internet as a registered sexual offender. "The temptation is there for me to just give you a taste of jail," Circuit Judge Daniel P. Dwyer told Mitchell Blevins, of 20A Mulberry St., who pleaded guilty May 19 to a third-degree sexual offense charge, according to court records.

A District Heights, Md., man convicted on drug and weapons charges stemming from a 2009 standoff with police near Fairgrounds Park was sentenced Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court as a subsequent offender, receiving a mandatory 40-year state prison sentence. Roger L. Prophet, 36, of 6509 Elmhurst St., was convicted in April of 15 counts, including maintaining a common nuisance for the distribution of narcotics. It was that charge that resulted in the 40-year sentence imposed by Judge Daniel P. Dwyer.

Hagerstown Police respond to incidents The Hagerstown Police Department responded to the following recently incidents, according to spokeswoman Barbara Pickett. Dec. 22 o A camera and accessories were stolen in the 17000 block of Garland Groh Boulevard. Dec. 24 o A wallet was stolen and a window was damaged in an incident involving a vehicle in the 100 block of Bester Street. o Tires were damaged on a vehicle in the 1500 block of Potomac Avenue.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Law enforcement officials in Washington County expect more than 65 registered sex offenders to spend four hours tonight at a meeting designed to keep them away from children during trick-or-treat hours. The meeting -- part of an initiative undertaken in cooperation with the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation -- will be from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Washington County Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Douglas Mullendore said. Rounding up certain categories of offenders and keeping them in one place while children in the community are trick-or-treating is something local law enforcement agencies have been doing for several years.

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- The lawyer for a registered child sex offender charged with visiting a Frederick County elementary school without permission says his client feels persecuted. The charges against 40-year-old Steve Yingling, of Frederick, allege he dropped off and picked up his son at Lewistown Elementary School in Thurmont, and toured the school before classes began. Defense attorney Scott Rolle said Monday that Yingling didn't know he needed written authorization from school administrators to be on the grounds.