Latest news with #MarylandAttorneyGeneral'sOffice
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Maryland AG continues investigation into deadly police-involved shooting at National Harbor
The Brief The Maryland Attorney General's Office is continuing to investigate a deadly officer-involved shooting. It happened at National Harbor on Easter Sunday. The AG's Office says two officers opened fire on a knife-wielding man that allegedly was coming at them. Body-worn camera footage of the shooting is expected to be released in the coming weeks. PRINCE GEOREGE'S CO., Md. - The Maryland Attorney General's Office is launching an independent investigation just one day after an officer-involved shooting in Prince George's County. Police are looking into a stabbing and fire as part of the investigation. The backstory The Maryland AG says their independent investigations division is looking into every detail of what unfolded in National Harbor on the morning of Sunday, April 20. At 10 a.m., two officers opened fire on a knife-wielding man that allegedly was coming at them. But the incident started around 8:30 a.m. at a nearby apartment complex. Prince George's County police say there was some sort of domestic incident where the suspect stabbed a man and woman and then set the apartment they were in on fire. Police say it's unclear how they all knew each other. No injuries were reported but 14 people were displaced, including six children, because of that fire and then 90 minutes later, the county got several 911 calls. When they arrived, officers came into contact with the suspect, who was armed with a knife. READ MORE: What they're saying Prince George's County Police Chief Malik Aziz says the suspect moved towards an officer, and that's when two officers opened fire. The suspect was struck an unknown number of times. "It's so unfortunate that it happened on a beautiful Easter Sunday and beautiful National Harbor and I don't want to speculate but I think it's important that we pay attention to mental health issues, families knowing what's going on with their loved ones, so that we can live in a peaceful no violent world without these incidents," Chief Aziz said. No officers were hurt, nor anyone at National Harbor. Chief Aziz did add that police have come into contact with this suspect before. He was shot and rushed to the hospital where he later died. Local perspective With this all taking place on a holiday weekend in broad daylight, many were left shaken. "We walk out here all the time. We're always alert when we're walking. Sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's light and it's disturbing to know the mental capacity of people," one Prince George's County woman said. "We have to be vigilant." Police have not identified who the suspect is, but do say he lives in the area. The AG's office will be analyzing body camera video, which should be released in the coming weeks.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
5 indicted in bust of violent Howard County sex trafficking ring, Maryland A.G. says
Apr. 18—Five people face charges in a crackdown of a Howard County-based human and drug trafficking organization, the Maryland Attorney General's Office said Friday, including a "particularly violent" suspect accused of "lining up" trafficked women and beating them. Subscribe to continue reading this article. Already subscribed? To log in, click here.
CBS News
14-04-2025
- CBS News
Baltimore County man pleads guilty to bribing state employee to secure cleaning contracts
A Randallstown man has pleaded guilty to bribing a state employee to secure nearly $175,000 in COVID-related cleaning contracts, according to the Maryland Attorney General's Office. Mark Anthony Sykes, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a public employee in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Prosecutors said Sykes paid approximately $20,000 in bribes to the former Director of General Services for the Maryland Department of Labor in exchange for steering state contracts to his company, Building Enterprises LLC. Between July 2020 and March 2021, Sykes' company received $174,903.25 from the State of Maryland for COVID-related facilities cleaning services through what investigators described as a fraudulent procurement scheme. Sykes' sentencing is set for April 29. On March 10, a 73-year-old Maryland man was charged with lying about his citizenship, misusing social security and committing passport fraud, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. Days later, Nichelle Henson, a former Baltimore City Council Candidate was found guilty of COVID-19 relief fraud, after federal prosecutors proved she submitted fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program loans for several non-operational businesses. Earlier this month, Baltimore City officials were alerted to the theft of $1.5 million by a fraudulent vendor. A bank alerted the city after an account received two payments, once for $803,000 and another for $721,000. While the money was approved for a vendor, it was directed to an unrelated bank account.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US judge blocks Trump administration from firing federal employees on probation
By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday said the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump cannot quickly fire thousands of probationary federal workers in 19 states and Washington, D.C., narrowing an earlier nationwide ruling. U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore, Maryland, said that if federal agencies want to fire large numbers of probationary workers, they must follow the required procedures for conducting mass layoffs of government employees. The administration failed to do so when it terminated about 24,500 people in February without notifying states and local governments in advance, he said. But Bredar said he only had the power to require the reinstatement of employees who either live or work in the mostly Democratic-led states that, along with Washington, D.C., sued over the mass firings. Representatives for the White House and the Maryland Attorney General's Office, which led the group of states that filed the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. Probationary employees typically have less than a year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees. Bredar on March 13 had already ruled that the firings were likely illegal and ordered 18 agencies to reinstate workers who had been fired pending further litigation. Tuesday's decision will be in place pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which could take months or longer to resolve. A large number of federal employees live in Washington and neighboring Maryland, while some of the most populous U.S. states, including California, New York, and Illinois, are plaintiffs in the case. The Trump administration has appealed Bredar's earlier decision, claiming the firings were lawful and the judge lacked the power to require workers to be reinstated. A U.S. appeals court panel earlier in March declined to pause his ruling, but a Trump-appointed judge criticized the nationwide scope of the order.
New York Times
27-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Judge Extends Pause on Firings of Probationary Workers for 5 Days
A federal judge in Maryland on Wednesday extended a temporary pause in the Trump administration's efforts to fire probationary workers at more than a dozen federal agencies by five days. The judge, James K. Bredar of the Federal District Court in Maryland, said he needed more time to determine whether a longer-term halt to the government's firing of probationary employees should apply to the entire country or be restricted to certain states while the case proceeds. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia sued the federal government, arguing they were irreparably harmed when the government fired thousands of probationary employees en masse in February, leaving states to face unemployment spikes without warning. Judge Bredar's order earlier this month called for the workers' reinstatement. During a hearing on Wednesday, Judge Bredar said he was wary of issuing a longer halt to the government's firings that would apply to the entire country when 31 states have decided not to participate in the case. He cited recent criticism that district courts had exceeded their authority in ordering nationwide halts to Trump administration programs. Of the lawsuit's plaintiffs, all of the attorneys general are Democrats. Lawyers for the states and Washington, D.C., say that when the administration conducts mass firings, as it did in February, the harm can spill over to other states, even if they are not joining this lawsuit. This is why a preliminary injunction needs to apply to more than just the participants, one of the lawyers, Virginia Anne Williamson with the Maryland Attorney General's Office, said on Wednesday. For example, if a preliminary injunction were restricted to the states that brought the lawsuit, the federal government could resume firing probationary employees in Virginia, which is not part of the suit. But in the case of an employee who works in Virginia and lives in Maryland, which is a party in the lawsuit, Maryland suffers from the firings, the suit argues, because it could have to provide support services for its unemployed resident. 'This is murky,' Judge Bredar said on Wednesday, adding that the court 'has to wade into the swamp here and figure out if it can't draft something more restrictive than across the country.' Judge Bredar's reinstatement order, issued on March 13, overlaps with court-mandated reinstatements of probationary employees in two other cases. Many of the agencies have reinstated employees and issued back pay for the time between their firings and the court orders. Most agencies are placing the reinstated employees on administrative leave, which the Trump administration has told the court is part of the process of returning them to their jobs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, however, is not providing back pay to the fired workers, said Ashaki Robinson, president of the local American Federation of Government Employees union representing workers at that agency. Ms. Robinson said that could change if Judge Bredar made back pay part of a future order.
