Suspects Just Can't Help Themselves
In a Series of Recent Cases, Unwise Moves Spur Arrest

By Dan Morse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sometimes the war on crime, as illustrated by a series of recent arrests by State Police troopers in Southern Maryland, is not much of a battle.

In Calvert County, a woman accused of attaching stolen license plates to her car drove into the back of a trooper's cruiser at a red light.

In St. Mary's County, occupants in three vehicles who allegedly were carrying drugs attracted troopers' attention by not wearing their seat belts.

And in Charles County, more details emerged about a trio transporting a trunk filled with 29 stolen guns. Simply by chance, a trooper drove up behind them. Their response: Swerve suddenly to the left, turn across a lane of traffic and nearly hit another car.

"We get a lot of dumb criminals who keep us in business," said Sgt. Al Paton, a State Police trooper in Calvert.

To be sure, records of the incidents show troopers making a series of smart moves to take advantage of suspects' blunders. They turned traffic stops into investigations, sometimes without letting the drivers know their suspicions. The incidents also caused at least some of the troopers to do what their jobs often prompt them to do: scratch their heads in wonder.

"You're just never surprised at what people do out there," said 1st Sgt. Ronald Best, with the State Police barracks in La Plata.

He said people driving with contraband can get themselves into the same mind-set as children who have done something wrong. They become overly nervous about looking like they're overly nervous. And that causes them to lose focus.

In the most recent incident, Trooper Jeffrey Linger was patrolling Route 5 in Mechanicsville in St. Mary's on Wednesday. He saw a young man driving a Monte Carlo without wearing his seat belt. Linger pulled him over and noted a strong smell of marijuana when he approached the car. He found a bag of marijuana inside a cigarette box on the back seat. Authorities didn't release the driver's name because he was only 17 but said he was eventually released to the custody of a relative.

On Tuesday, also in Mechanicsville, Linger saw a passenger in a Ford F-150 pickup who wasn't wearing a seat belt. Linger stopped the truck. When a bag that authorities say contained cocaine turned up in a cup holder, the officer arrested the driver, William A. Carter Jr., 40, of Chesapeake Beach and a passenger, Andre L. Walker, 37, of Bowie. Both were charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

Why would anyone with drugs not wear a seat belt?

"There really is no way for me to answer that," Cpl. Roger Redmond, another trooper, said.

Pressed, Redmond said there are some people for whom no law registers, whether they're buying drugs or going back home with them.

"When you're a bonehead and you have complete disregard for the law, you disregard nearly everything," Redmond said.

He noted that Linger and other troopers are on alert for suspicious behavior whenever they stop a driver. For example, a visibly thumping carotid artery in the neck suggests an increased pulse rate. Linger has one of the highest drug arrest totals of any trooper in the state, Redmond said.

In Calvert, a trooper was stopped at a light on Route 2 at Plum Point Road on Tuesday when he was hit by the car with stolen plates, authorities said.

They identified the driver as Justine Rae Moschetto-Parrott, 41, of Prince Frederick. She was arrested on charges of theft and driving under the influence, authorities said.

Two days earlier in Prince Frederick, about 10 miles south of that incident, a trooper was patrolling the westbound lane of Route 231. He saw a black Lexus flying toward him in the opposite lane. He activated his radar unit, which displayed 101 mph. The trooper turned around and tried to catch the Lexus. But it ducked into a neighborhood and slipped away, according to records filed in Calvert County District Court.

Other officers kept a lookout for the Lexus, including a Calvert sheriff's deputy who spotted it leaving a parking lot. The deputy pulled the driver over and eventually was joined by the trooper who had clocked the car on radar.

As the trooper talked to the occupants, he noted that five air fresheners were hanging from the rearview mirror, something officers say is a common ploy to mask marijuana odor. A drug-sniffing dog, named Bean, was called in. He smelled the car and indicated there were drugs in it.

Officers searched the car, eventually finding 21 grams of marijuana and 40 jeweler baggies, commonly used to sell it, according to authorities. They arrested the driver, Wayne A. Jones, 39, of Lusby, according to court records.

"I can't understand why these people do half the things they do. Sometimes these things defy logic," Paton said.

Not all arrests are so easy, he added. "There's luck and skill and everything in between," he said.