Metro Targets Disruptive Youths; Ex-Md. Trooper Faces Sex Charges; Police Say Pr. George's Stabbings Were Self-Defense

Roberto E. Cruz, 45, was cleared of a second-degree murder charge after investigators found the incident to be "a case of self-defense," police said. According to online court records, he was released from jail Aug. 26.

Cruz had been charged in the fatal stabbing of Johnny E. Alvarez-Gomez, 28, of Gaithersburg at a residence in the 5000 block of Hollywood Road in College Park. There, police said, Cruz stabbed Alvarez-Gomez and a 19-year-old Riverdale man after a domestic dispute turned violent. Both men were found in the parking lot of a nearby 7-Eleven and transported to area hospitals, where Alvarez-Gomez later died.

-- Matt Zapotosky

Ex-Trooper Faces Sex Charges

Maryland State Police say a trooper who resigned in April after being disciplined for a personnel issue has been arrested for sexually assaulting a woman.

State Police said Thursday that Marlon Iglesias, 42, of Silver Spring was charged Wednesday night with sexual offenses. Police say Iglesias squeezed a woman's thigh after he arrested her on Interstate 270 in July 2008. The woman told police in May that he fondled and kissed her while she was handcuffed.

Maryland State Police hired Iglesias in 1994 to patrol roads out of the Rockville barracks. In January, his police powers were suspended because of a personnel issue. He has been released on bond.

-- Associated Press

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