MARYLAND BRIEFING

Saturday, November 17, 2007

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY

Woman, 23, Dies After Car Crashes Into Utility Pole

A 23-year-old Upper Marlboro area woman was killed yesterday after her car crashed into a utility pole in the District Heights area, Prince George's County police said.

Megan Graham, of the 1000 block of Welshire Drive, was driving eastbound on Donnell Drive and lost control of her 2008 gold Chevy Malibu as she attempted to turn left into the northbound lane of Pennsylvania Avenue, crashing into the pole, said Officer Henry Tippett, a police spokesman.

-- Candace Rondeaux

Driver Ejected, Killed on Beltway Near Camp Springs

A motorist was killed last night on the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County in an incident in which his car hit a guardrail and he was ejected, Maryland State Police said. They said he then may have been struck by another vehicle.

The incident occurred about 9 p.m. on the inner loop in the Camp Springs area, police said. They said the man apparently was not wearing a seat belt.

-- Clarence Williams

Woman Sentenced to 8 Years in Money Order Scheme

A Temple Hills woman who called herself the Sultana of the United States Moorish-American nation was sentenced by a federal judge in Greenbelt yesterday to eight years in prison for cashing counterfeit money orders using fake IDs, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said.

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus imposed the sentence on Edna Gorham Bey, 58, who was convicted in August on charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, passing counterfeit money orders and other crimes. The bogus money orders were cashed at banks, post offices and check-cashing businesses.

According to prosecutors, Gorham Bey and her companion of more than 20 years, co-defendant David Rosser-El, 60, obtained more than $225,000 from July 2001 to September 2002 using the counterfeit documents. Rosser-El pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud banks and was sentenced last month to five years in prison, authorities said.

-- Ruben Castaneda

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Council President Praisner Injured in Car Accident

Montgomery County Council President Marilyn Praisner, 65, was in intensive care at Bethesda's Suburban Hospital last night after suffering injuries in a car accident near her Burtonsville home, said council spokesman Neil Greenberger.

Greenberger said Praisner is "alert and communicating with people." He said she would stay overnight at the hospital.

Praisner (D-Eastern County) is the second council member in recent weeks to be injured in a car accident. George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) is recovering from an accident in which his car hit a deer on the Capital Beltway.

Police reports said that Praisner's car was involved in a minor collision with another car about 9 a.m. near the 2800 block of Spencerville Road and that she told police she would proceed to a scheduled meeting. About 15 minutes later, police were called to a one-car accident in the 2000 block of Briggs Chaney Road. The car driven by Praisner left the road, clipped a tree and turned on its side, police said. The accident's cause is unclear, Greenberger said.

Praisner was taken to Suburban with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, fire-rescue spokesman Pete Piringer said. She is the longest-serving woman on the council, and recently shepherded through a county growth policy and will end a one-year term as council president next month.

-- Miranda S. Spivack

Two Teens Arrested in Shady Grove Metro Shootings

Montgomery County police said yesterday that two teenagers have been arrested in a shooting Monday night near the Shady Grove Metro bus stop, one of several recent episodes of what police say is gang-related violence.

John Hollis Reynolds, 18, of the 14900 block of Coles Chance Road in Gaithersburg, and Phillip Kang, 17, were each charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and other crimes. In the shootings, an 18-year-old was hit in the hand and a 15-year-old's leg was grazed.

Police linked the incident to three previous stabbings in Gaithersburg, which were determined to be a result of feuding between local gangs who identify themselves with the nationally known Bloods and Crips gangs.

-- Michael Tunison