Probation

A Hagerstown woman charged with stealing a ring from a blind man was given probation before judgment Monday in Washington County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to theft of less than $1,000.Destany Trivia Ruse, 25, of 16242 Broadfording Road, was placed on supervised probation for one year by Circuit Judge M. Kenneth Long Jr. She also must pay $40 in restitution to a pawnshop and perform 25 hours of community service, Long said.“Why'd you do...

A former American Red Cross worker convicted of embezzling more than $30,000 from the agency’s Eastern Panhandle chapter was placed on probation for five years Monday with the condition that he pay back the money. Samuel K. Bunner, 38, was sentenced by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Gray Silver III, who agreed to suspend what could have been a sentence of as many as 10 years in prison to allow the Martinsburg man to make monthly payments totaling $30,233.71 to the disaster relief agency.

A registered sex offender who lived in Hagerstown since he was released in March from Roxbury Correctional Institution was returned to prison Wednesday for allegedly violating the conditions of his probation, a Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman said Thursday. John Lamont Garville, 48, formerly of 50 Summit Ave., Apt. 613, in Hagerstown, was taken into custody Wednesday night. It was alleged he purchased a pornographic magazine and committed other probation violations, according to Mark Vernarelli, a Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman.

Facebook images of Robbie Eugene Liggett standing near a bottle of rum were insufficient to find him in violation of probation for his conviction for homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, a Washington County Circuit Court Judge ruled Tuesday. In 2009, a jury found Liggett, 38, of Hagerstown, guilty in the April 26, 2008, death of Roy James Gordon, court records show. Gordon died when his vehicle was hit from behind by Liggett’s on Interstate 70 west of Big Pool.

A Washington County Circuit judge Wednesday sentenced a paraplegic driver convicted of the 2002 deaths of a Hagerstown couple killed in a head-on collision to 3 1/2 years in state prison for violating his probation. Matthew David Meyer, 33, of Ellicott City, Md., also received a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence from Judge Daniel P. Dwyer, who deferred imposing the sentences for 30 days, releasing Meyer on a $50,000 appeal bond. Defense attorney John Salvatore argued that a condition of probation prohibiting Meyer from driving might not have been legal and could be the basis for an appeal.

A Washington County Circuit Court judge Wednesday sentenced a Keedysville man to 45 days in jail for violating his probation by ignoring another judge’s order not to wear law enforcement gear. Judge Daniel P. Dwyer found that Forrest Jordan Gunter, 21, of 5034 Churchey Road violated his probation on 2010 convictions for carrying a concealed weapon and trespassing. Judge W. Kennedy Boone III had ordered Gunter last year not to wear or carry badges, batons, radios, uniforms or other law enforcement equipment or apparel unless engaged as an agent for a licensed bail bondsman.

A Berkeley County woman convicted of violating her black neighbors' civil rights lost her probation. A circuit judge revoked 39-year-old Kendra N. Sulick's probation and sentenced her to six years in prison Monday. The decision follows Sulick's guilty plea last month to a misdemeanor DUI charge. Sulick received five years' probation in November after she was convicted of three civil-rights violations. She received a 24-hour jail sentence on the DUI charge with credit for time served.

A Hagerstown man who pleaded guilty last month in Washington County Circuit Court to sexually molesting a boy was sentenced Monday to six years in prison for violating probation on a 2001 attempted-rape conviction. David Wayne McNamee, 48, of 145 E. North Ave., pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree rape in 2001, court records show. The case involved a 13-year-old female whom he molested between 1999 and 2000, court records show. McNamee was sentenced to 18 years in prison with six of those years suspended on that conviction, according to court records.

Over the objections of a police officer who said he could have been shot in the incident, a father and son were granted probation before judgment during a sentence-modification hearing Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court. "Mr. Royer was attempting to retrieve that handgun with the sole intent of firing that weapon," Detective Jason Dietz told Judge M. Kenneth Long Jr., referring to James G. Royer Jr. "This man was trying to kill me that day," Dietz said. James Royer Jr., 60, and James G. Royer III, 32, who now live in Falling Waters, W.Va., had Hagerstown addresses at the time of the 2008 incident at the father's Woodland Way home, according to the statement of probable cause filed by Hagerstown police.

Sen. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington, pitched a two-part idea for criminal justice reform on Thursday to a Senate committee. Shank and Del. Michael J. Hough, R-Frederick/Washington, are pushing for measures they say could make the prison system fairer and less crowded and help cut crime. One bill would set up a pilot program to assess prisoners' risks and needs to lessen their likelihood of committing new crimes after they're released. A second bill would create a new system of graduated sanctions for technical parole and probation violations, letting the state impose fast but fair sanctions administratively.