Trooper Investigated After Business Owners' Complaint

A Maryland state trooper is under investigation by internal affairs, following a complaint filed by local business owners, state police said.

The complaint was filed by Kerry Harrington and his wife, Diane, against 1st Sgt. Stewart B. Cumbo, the assistant barrack commander operations officer in Calvert County, who is also a member of the Chesapeake Beach Town Council. Cumbo has complained publicly that a new restaurant, which Harrington owns with his sister, would attract outlaw motorcycle gangs.

According to Diane Harrington, Cumbo walked into the Harringtons' motorcycle enthusiast clothing store, Renegade Classics, on April 30 in his trooper's uniform and asked whether Beach Cove restaurant in Chesapeake Beach would be a biker bar. She said Cumbo asked whether the restaurant would allow colors, referring to patches worn on clothing identifying biker organizations and gangs.

"I told him explicitly, 'No. It will be a family restaurant that will be biker-friendly,' " Harrington said in an interview Monday. She said the restaurant would allow colors because, "We do not discriminate."

She said an argument followed, and Cumbo pointed a finger in her face, yelled and threatened that he would put a stop to the restaurant's opening.

"I was blindsided by the way he talked to me and what was going on," she said. She and her husband reported the incident less than a week later to Maryland State Police, she said.

Elena Russo, a state police spokeswoman, said this week that the incident "is a personnel matter under investigation."

Cumbo, however, said he was unaware of the investigation. "All of that is absolutely untrue and embellished on [Diane Harrington's] part," he said in an interview Tuesday. "It was really an inquiry."

He said that he was following up on rumors he had heard about a biker bar coming to Chesapeake Beach and that he was concerned about public safety.

"It had nothing to do with politics," Cumbo said. "If it did, I would have been in casual attire.

"I very much welcome a neighborhood restaurant coming to the beach," Cumbo said. He added, however, that Harrington was effectively putting out a "welcome mat" by allowing outlaw motorcycle gang members to wear colors in the restaurant.

"That is my biggest concern, that we'll get that type of element into a small town like Chesapeake Beach," Cumbo said.

In May, he and Kerry Harrington traded harsh words in public sessions regarding the restaurant. Last week, the Harringtons were had to defend their liquor license request for the restaurant before Calvert County's liquor board.

"All I want is to be left alone and given a chance to run my business," Kerry Harrington said. "To have a clean start at this place without having a cloud hang over me."