Calvert County Police Blotter: Guns, drugs, and a hit-and-run on laughing gas

It was, by any measure, a full week for Calvert County law enforcement. Deputies responded to 2,150 calls for service between April 20 and April 26, racking up 73 arrests that included cocaine busts, a loaded handgun with a scratched prescription bottle, a motorcycle rider who thought 100 mph sounded reasonable, and a driver who apparently decided nitrous oxide and rush-hour traffic were a perfectly sensible combination.

What’s Happening: Nearly half of those 2,150 calls were routine patrol and school checks. The rest included 31 domestic incidents, 36 crashes, 78 welfare and mental health checks, and 52 hang-up calls to 911.

What’s Important: The week’s more notable cases:

• A K9 sniff on Dares Beach Road in Prince Frederick led to the arrest of 56-year-old Leonard Anthony Long of Huntingtown. Deputies found cocaine in a crumpled napkin in the car and more in a plastic bag discovered while transporting him. He was charged with possession with intent to distribute.
• A hit-and-run on northbound Solomons Island Road in Prince Frederick ended with deputies finding 40-year-old Scott Daniel Herndon of Great Mills sitting next to a large air canister on his floorboard. Herndon admitted he had been inhaling nitrous oxide while driving. He was charged with inhaling a harmful substance.
• A traffic stop at North Solomons Island Road and Dares Beach Road turned up a glass pipe, a broken antenna, a digital scale, and tweezers — all dusted with white powder residue suspected to be cocaine — in the car of 49-year-old John Edward Dove Jr. of Huntingtown. He was charged with possession and four counts of possession of paraphernalia.
• A stop near 30 Main Street in Prince Frederick produced a loaded FN .40 caliber handgun and a prescription bottle of promethazine syrup with the patient’s name scratched off. The three occupants — 22-year-old Jason Joseph Baldwin of Lusby, 20-year-old Jayvion Marquise Buck of Lusby, and a juvenile — all denied owning the gun. All three were charged with handgun offenses. Buck and the juvenile were additionally charged with possession of a firearm by a minor.

The Chase: A motorcyclist blew past cars on a solid double yellow line along Chesapeake Beach Road in Owings at more than 90 mph before deputies lit up their emergency equipment at the intersection of Route 2 and East Chesapeake Beach Road. The rider glanced back, saw the lights, and floored it anyway. Deputies hit 100 mph in a posted 50 mph zone before the motorcycle finally stopped near East Chesapeake Beach Road and Sansbury Road. The rider, 36-year-old Zachary Ryan Pino of Chesapeake Beach, was arrested and charged with fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, negligent driving, and additional traffic offenses.

The Petty and the Peculiar: A Lusby woman, 44-year-old Jennifer Marie Green, was charged with six counts of theft and a theft scheme after surveillance video caught her stealing from the Weis grocery store at 210 Village Center Drive on multiple occasions — $110.85 worth in total.

Across town at the Giant Food on Rousby Hall Road, an unidentified man walked out without paying for two large bags of Meow Mix cat food worth $14.98. He has not been found.

Meanwhile, inside the Calvert County Detention Center in Barstow, 23-year-old inmate Jarrett James Mitchell used a bedsheet to yank a ceiling-mounted sprinkler head off the wall, causing an estimated $100 in damage. He was issued a criminal summons for malicious destruction of property.

DUI Arrests: Six people were arrested for driving under the influence during the week:

• Kameron A. Nelson, 35, of Upper Marlboro, April 20.
• Robert R. Howerton, 63, of Huntingtown, April 22.
• Richard J. Reynolds, 56, of Waldorf, April 22.
• Dawson M. Orlowski, 25, of Chesapeake Beach, April 25.
• William J. Shenton, 24, of Deale, April 25.
• Joseph C. Guidotti, 43, of Huntingtown, April 25.

Anyone with information on any of these cases can call the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office at (410) 535-2800 and reference the case number. Tips can be submitted anonymously through the sheriff’s office mobile app or by emailing ccsotips@calvertcountymd.gov.