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Tag: glen burnie

  • Former congressional staffer from Maryland charged with stealing 240 government cellphones – WTOP News

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    A former congressional staffer from Glen Burnie, Maryland, is accused of stealing 240 government cellphones from the U.S. House of Representatives.

    A former congressional staffer from Glen Burnie, Maryland, is accused of stealing 240 government cellphones from the U.S. House of Representatives.

    Christopher Southerland, 43, was arrested earlier this month and charged with stealing cellphones worth more than $150,000, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office.

    Southerland was a system administrator for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from April 2020 until July 2023 and had the power to order the devices for staff members of the committee.

    According to prosecutors, Southerland used his government position to order the devices and have them shipped to his Maryland home. He allegedly sold more than 200 of those phones to a local pawn shop.

    At the time of the alleged thefts, there were only 80 members who worked on the committee.

    Southerland told a worker at the pawn shop to sell the phones in parts to get around the government software that remotely detects its phones, prosecutors said.

    Authorities were made aware of his scheme after one of the stolen phones was purchased off eBay. When the person who bought the phone turned it on, prosecutors said it showed the phone number of the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk.

    The person who bought the device called the number, and other House employees then learned that phones bought by Southerland were unaccounted for, prosecutors said.

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    Tadiwos Abedje

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  • New details emerge in Christmas Eve shooting by ICE officers in Glen Burnie – WTOP News

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    Weeks after a Christmas Eve shooting involving ICE officers in Glen Burnie, Maryland, the Department of Homeland Security has released a revised account of the incident.

    Weeks after the shooting of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on Christmas Eve, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement that differs from the account first provided to the media.

    Initially, in a social media post on Dec. 24, DHS stated the two men who were taken into custody by ICE in Glen Burnie were in a van they claimed had been driven “directly at ICE officers” and that the driver, Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, was shot by officers “defensively.”

    The account described a second man, Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, as being in the passenger’s seat of the van driven by Sousa-Martins, and that he was injured when Sousa-Martins “wrecked his van.”

    But, on Friday, Anne Arundel County Police said in a news release that Serrano-Esquivel was not in the van driven by Sousa-Martins.

    In fact, he was “already in custody in an ICE vehicle.” It added that the other individual, Sousa-Martins, “was struck by gunfire while operating a separate vehicle.”

    What did DHS say?

    On Friday afternoon, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to WTOP that ICE officers were involved in a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” during the Glen Burnie incident, and that officers approached the van driven by Sousa-Martins and told him to turn off the engine.

    Sousa-Martins tried to drive off and “weaponized his vehicles and began ramming his van into several ICE vehicles,” according to the release.

    “He then drove his van directly at ICE officers, it appeared he was trying to run them over.”

    It was that action, the release states, that then prompted agents to “defensively” fire their service weapons, hitting Sousa-Martins who then “wrecked his van between two buildings, injuring (Serrano-Esquivel).”

    Friday’s statement indicated officers “rendered immediate medical aid” to both men.

    According to DHS, both men are in the United States illegally. Sousa-Martins is originally from Portugal and Serrano-Esquivel is from El Salvador.

    Anne Arundel County police said the Christmas Eve shooting remains under investigation, and that anyone with information should contact them.

    In Wednesday’s fatal shooting in Minneapolis, DHS officials stated 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good tried to run over officers before she was shot and killed.

    A day after Good was killed, federal immigration agents shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland. DHS claimed the driver attempted to “weaponize” his vehicle to strike the officers.

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    Kate Ryan

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  • Two injured in Anne Arundel County shooting by immigration officer – WTOP News

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    Two people were shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on Wednesday morning.

    Two people were injured in a shooting by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on Wednesday morning.

    A spokesperson with the Anne Arundel Police Department confirmed with WTOP the shooting took place around 11 a.m. Wednesday in the 500 block of West Court.

    The spokesperson said ICE officers who were conducting a detail in the area approached a white van that attempted to flee and run them over. An officer shot at the van, which sped up then stopped in the woods behind some homes in the residential area.

    One person inside the vehicle was struck by gunfire and another person outside the vehicle, whose involvement in the enforcement detail is unclear, also sustained minor injuries, the spokesperson said.

    The two people, whose identities are currently unknown, were taken to a local hospital for their injuries and are in stable condition.

    Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement on social media that he’s aware of the shooting and that he and other state officials will provide more information to the public as it develops.

    “We will remain in touch with local officials and are standing by to provide support for the community,” he wrote.

    The Anne Arundel County Police Department is investigating the shooting, in collaboration with the FBI and ICE, which are conducting internal investigations.

    This is a developing story. Stay with WTOP for the latest.

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    Ciara Wells

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