Probation

A Washington County Circuit Court judge Tuesday gave a Smithsburg man a three-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution in connection with the theft of 200 pounds of copper wire from a Potomac Edison substation last year that caused about $8,000 in damages, according to court records. Judge W. Kennedy Boone III also placed Michael Steven Bray, 31, on three-years' probation. Bray was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree burglary Tuesday.

A Shepherd University student was placed on probation for his role in the December 2010 shooting of a 16-year-old boy in the genitals with a BB gun. Mason D. Jones, 21, of Martinsburg, entered an Alford plea to one count of battery. By entering an Alford plea, Jones did not admit guilt, but he acknowledged there was sufficient evidence for the prosecution to gain a conviction. A one-year jail sentence was suspended by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes, who placed Jones on probation for five years and ordered the Shepherd sophomore to complete 200 hours of community service.

A 45-year-old woman pleaded guilty Monday to two felony charges of gross child neglect for her alleged role in the starvation of two young children in 2010. Karen Sue Boback, who now lives in Hagerstown, was placed on probation for five years in lieu of what would have amounted to a two- to 10-year prison sentence, which was suspended by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes. Boback also was fined $1,000 and must register with the child abuse registry for 10 years.

Hagerstown Police were looking Friday for two men wanted for parole/probation violations. Anthony Leroy Huse, 19, is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He has a history of theft charges. John Daniel Mumma, 40, is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes. He has a history of assault and drug charges. Police ask anyone who knows the whereabouts of these men to call 911 or the Hagerstown Police Department at 301-790-3700.

A Smithsburg woman charged with administering a fatal drug overdose to her boyfriend last year entered an Alford plea to an involuntary manslaughter charge  Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court. Judge Daniel P. Dwyer sentenced Chasity Dawn Kline, 34, of 12804 Bikle Road, to 10 years in prison, with all of it suspended except for the 349 days she has served in the Washington County Detention Center since her arrest in April 2011. Dwyer also ordered Kline to spend three years on supervised probation, abstain from drugs and alcohol, submit to random drug testing and take part in any treatment programs recommended by her probation officer.

A Garrett County, Md., attorney accused of setting a fire at the Martinsburg law firm where she once worked and threatening to bomb a nearby insurance business has agreed to enter no-contest pleas to felony charges in Berkeley County Circuit Court. Ashley R. Shreve, 30, of Oakland, Md., would be convicted of second-degree arson and conveying a false bomb threat if 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes accepts a plea agreement reached between Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela Games-Neely's office and J. Michael Cassell, the defendant's attorney.

A Berkeley County man accused of threatening to harm a West Virginia state trooper and his son with a chain saw at their home in October 2010 was sentenced Monday to five years of probation. A jury in October found Ralph L. Mason, 49, of Gerrardstown, W.Va., guilty of single misdemeanor counts of brandishing a deadly weapon, assault on a government representative and obstructing. Mason was found not guilty on one count of assault. On Monday, 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Gina M. Groh suspended consecutive jail sentences for each conviction, which totaled 30 months, and agreed to allow Mason to be released from Eastern Regional Jail next Monday.

The Washington County Parole and Probation Office will be holding a meeting of certain registered sex offenders on Monday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., according to a news release. The required gathering is scheduled to coincide with Halloween and trick-or-treat activities in most communities, the release said. The Washington County Sheriff's Office is partnering with the parole and probation office by providing assistance with a location and staffing, the release said.

Charged with participating in the theft of two cars from Hagerstown Community College for a “joy ride,” a Hagerstown man pleaded guilty Monday in Washington County Circuit Court to conspiracy to commit second-degree burglary. Judge Daniel P. Dwyer sentenced 19-year-old David George Savage, of 11335 Youngstoun Drive, Apt. 2110, to two years in state prison, but suspended the sentence. He placed Savage on five years probation, ordered him to pay more than $6,700 in restitution and to stay off the college's property.

A Washington County Circuit Court judge Tuesday suspended the sentence of a Hagerstown teenager after he entered an Alford plea to second-degree assault in the robbery of a convenience store. Judge John H. McDowell suspended a 10-year sentence for Eric Shaquille Baymon, 18, of 411 S. Potomac St., but gave him three years of probation, according to court records. Baymon had been charged with armed robbery, robbery, assault, reckless endangerment and firearms violations in the Feb. 20 robbery of Nadia's Convenience Store at the corner of North Prospect and West Franklin streets in Hagerstown.