Sheriff

A Washington County Sheriff's Office officer hit a guardrail on Interstate 81 on Tuesday morning in an accident that might have been caused by icy conditions, officials said. Washington County Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore said it appears Tim Atwell encountered black ice when his police car went into the guardrail. Atwell's vehicle sustained minor damage and Atwell was not hurt, according to Mullendore. The accident occurred about 7:30 a.m. at about the 10-mile marker on southbound I-81, a Washington County 911 supervisor said.

A Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesman said Monday night his department is looking for a missing 17-year-old boy who last seen about March 20. Deputy First Class Marc Albowicz said Caleb Michael Conklin was last seen at his home at 19624 Cool Hollow Drive in Hagerstown. Conklin was last seen wearing a black jacket, blue jeans and red and white Nike sneakers. Conklin is described as being about six-feet tall, weighing 215 pounds and having blue eyes and light brown, shoulder-length hair.

Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies said Sunday night they were looking for a missing teenage boy. Ra'Quann Mitchell, 15, was dropped off at 826 George St. in Baltimore at about 8:10 a.m. Saturday for a home visitation, according to the sheriff's office. Mitchell was on home visitation from the Oak Hill House at 12806 Independence Road in Clear Spring, police said. When staff returned from he Oak Hill House, Mitchell was not at the Baltimore home and failed to return, police said.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in finding an electric guitar that was stolen during a burglary that occurred in the Clear Spring area on Dec. 31. A guitar matching the stolen black Fender Squier Strat was sold to Washington Street Pawn Brokers and the shop sold the guitar to an unknown individual on Jan. 11, according to the sheriff's department. The sheriff's department would like to talk to the person who bought the guitar to determine if it is the instrument that was stolen in the burglary, the sheriff's office said.

A Pennsylvania man accused to stealing hundreds of bronze grave decorations from a Hagerstown cemetery was found guilty in a bench trial Thursday in Washington County District Court and sentenced to four years in state prison. Bryan Lynn Fishack, 27, whose address was previously listed as Lindale Avenue in Greencastle, Pa., was charged in November by the Washington County Sheriff's Office with stealing 293 bronze vases valued at more than $40,000 from graves at Rest Haven Cemetery on Pennsylvania Avenue on the night of Oct. 15-16, according to court records.

Top law enforcement officials from Washington County testified Thursday in support of a bill that would give authority to the sheriff to appoint municipal law enforcement officers as special sheriff's deputies. Thursday's hearing for House Bill 559 was at the House Environmental Matters Committee and was attended by Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore, Hagerstown Police Chief Mark Holtzman and Smithsburg Police Chief George Knight. A senate committee had a similar hearing for a cross-filed version of the bill in February.

Peter Dougherty, president of the Jefferson County Board of Education, Tuesday was appointed to replace ousted Jefferson County Sheriff Bobby Shirley on a 3-2 vote following public interviews. Jefferson County Commission members Walter Pellish, Dale Manuel and Patsy Noland voted for Dougherty. Commissioners Jane Tabb and Lyn Widmyer went for retired Charles Town Police Chief Louis Brunswick. Steve Groh, an assistant county prosecutor, the third candidate interviewed Tuesday, received no votes.  The three candidates were singled out for interviews from an original list of 16 applicants.

Peter Dougherty, president of the Jefferson County Board of Education; Steven V. Groh, an assistant county prosecutor, and retired Charles Town Police Chief Louis Brunswick will be interviewed next week by the Jefferson County Commission in the county's quest to replace ousted Sheriff Bobby Shirley. Each will be interviewed Tuesday morning in the commissioners' meeting room below the Charles Town Library. The interviews will be open, but public comment won't be accepted, Commission President Dale Manuel said.

Washington County Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore and the chiefs of police from four Washington County municipalities testified Tuesday at a senate committee hearing in support of a bill that, if passed, would let a sheriff appoint municipal law enforcement officers as special sheriff's deputies. Mullendore said municipal boundaries in the county are fragmented and it is not possible for a municipal law enforcement officer to know what areas are exactly in their jurisdiction. Cases have been jeopardized in court because “the wrong unit” responded outside their municipal borders, said Sen. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington, who has introduced the bill in the Senate.

Washington County Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore is requesting funding in his 2014 budget for a day reporting center, a facility similar to one in Franklin County in Pennsylvania, which he says could push back the need to expand the county detention Center. Mullendore is requesting $2.5 million for the center, which would be in the former Phoenix Color building near the detention center. That figure includes more than $1.3 million for operation costs, most of which would be for a contractor to operate the program, he told the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday.