By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY’S TODAY
OAKVILLE --- Burglars have been
entering homes in the north end of St.
Mary’s County, from Oakville to Golden
Beach and have been running wild over
the Seventh District, which is nothing
new, as burglars have been feasting on
that area for the past 20 years. Last
month 400 people showed up for a meeting
with law enforcement officials to talk
about the problem in the Seventh
District with St. Mary’s Sheriff Tim
Cameron.
While the Sheriff has assigned dozens
of officers to the burglary patrol as
part of increased efforts to find and
capture the burglars, the cooperation of
citizens in locking their cars, outside
shed, putting on security lights, going
to the shelter and adopting new pups
after the old dogs have died and loading
and having ready shotguns are vital to
solving the problem.
“We have people out there doing good
police work following up on leads,
surveiling people we have as suspects
and staying after them until we can
place charges against them for
individual cases,” said St. Mary’s
Sheriff Tim Cameron. “That’s the
second time Morgan has been charged and
released and then committed more
burglaries. Morgan was responsible for
Queentree Road, Morganza and Hollywood
burglaries, we are working on putting
cases together and will follow the
evidence where it leads.”
"People in the Seventh have been
responding well to our enforcement
efforts, we have gotten a lot of
cooperation from residents, and that
information is being followed up as
well," said Cameron.
Since most of the burglars tend to be
homegrown bozos preying on their
families and neighbors for money to buy
drugs, there is a general reluctance
among many to send a final offer to
these brazen burglars with the end of
the barrel of a gun, but it’s a step
which will deliver a message much
stronger than one of them will get from
the local judges and their revolving
door sentences.
Burglars went into a home in the
Queentree area last month and cleaned
out a house where the owner forgot to
set the alarm. Many of these burglars
watch for the residents to leave for
work before beginning their rounds. In
past burglaries, the burglars have
raided the refrigerator and had meals
and one in St. Mary’s City, after he
killed the homeowners dog who tried to
keep him out, got drunk and fell asleep
on the couch, and was nabbed by a
deputy.
The latest burglar to be apprehended
was picked up on December 15th
at approximately 10 p.m., according to
Lt. Rick Burris of the St. Mary’s
Sheriff’s Department.
St. Mary’s County BCI detectives
arrested Matthew Scott Hurry, 21, of
Mechanicsville, and charged him with
Burglary and Theft for a December 14th
burglary to a home on Laurel Ridge Drive
in Mechanicsville. He was incarcerated
at the St. Mary’s County Detention
Center.
On December 14th at
approximately 3:30 p.m., Lt. Burris
reports that St. Mary’s County BCI
detectives arrested Mark Anthony Morgan,
20, from Mechanicsville, for multiple
residential burglaries which occurred in
the Queentree Road area of
Mechanicsville, between October 31st
and December 14, 2007. Morgan was
charged with 5 Counts of Burglary, 5
Counts of Theft and 2 Counts of
Malicious Property Destruction. He was
incarcerated at the St. Mary’s County
Detention Center.
Remember to load up, light up and
lock up.
It is very important to not shoot
family members who are trying to sneak
in late and if you are in fear of your
life you must shoot the burglar but do
so inside your home, don’t track him
down in the woods and then blast away.
Remember, when you call 911 the
police will only show up to take a
report, they won’t be there in time to
protect, that part is up to you.
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