Franklin Smith, 34, of Catonsville, received a nine-year sentence, while Davon Dorsey, 30, of Gwynn Oak, was sentenced to 15 years.

The defendants were charged with 12 counts in April 2022, including kidnapping, according to court documents. In July, Smith pleaded guilty to carjacking and using a gun in a violent crime. In March, Dorsey pleaded guilty to carjacking.

In May 2021, Smith, Dorsey and two others posed as police officers with lights on their car, vests and badges and pulled over an employee of Check Cash Depot in Northwest Baltimore on her way home from work, according to court documents. Smith set up a detour to direct the woman down a side street where two other defendants brandishing guns removed her from her car, handcuffed and blindfolded her while demanding access to the cash checking business, according to court documents. The defendants then left the woman in the trunk of her own car and covered it with a tarp. She was able to make her way out and call for help, according to a news release from the district attorney’s office.

Later in May 2021, the defendants again used police lights to pull over a man around midnight in Edgewood, according to court documents. The defendants told the victim he had a warrant and was under arrest before handcuffing, blindfolding and bounding him while demanding $10,000, according to court documents. The defendants eventually released the victim in Baltimore City after 5 a.m.

In August 2021 the defendants carjacked a woman outside an Ace Cash Express in Cockeysville by posing as police officers and blindfolding her in the back of a car, according to the indictment. The defendants demanded access to the check cashing business and safe codes, detaining the victim for nearly six hours before releasing her near Edmonson Village, according to court documents.

In all three cases, the defendants threatened the victims with guns and assaulted them with blow torches while demanding money and keys to the businesses, according to court documents. Court documents do not say that the defendants were ever successful in accessing or robbing one of the check cashing businesses.

The two other defendants in the case did not take plea deals, according to court documents. Dennis Hairston, 34, of Windsor Mill, and Donte Stanley, 33, of Rosedale, were convicted by a jury in June of kidnapping, gun and carjacking charges. They both have sentencing hearings scheduled for November.

In a filing in the foreclosure case of Spacey’s harborfront home in Baltimore’s Federal Hill, the actor asked the court to revoke the sale to a Potomac real estate investor. Trustees mishandled the auction, leading to an inadequate price of $3.24 million, and the buyer should be disqualified because of harassment, the document says.

A representative of buyer Sam Asgari called the claims “frivolous” and without merit.

“This is still the house of cards,” said Sam Sheibani, a Compass real estate agent who is representing Asgari, on Monday, referring to the popular Netflix TV series filmed in Baltimore in which Spacey starred.

Asgari is preparing a response to the latest filings in Baltimore City Circuit Court and plans to pursue eviction, Sheibani said.

Attorneys for Spacey, listed as Kevin Spacey Fowler, principal of home owner Clear Toaster LLC, accused Asgari of acting in bad faith.

“Mr. Asgari has continuously harassed Clear Toaster’s principal, Kevin Spacey Fowler, and has published false and defamatory statements and accusations against Clear Toaster’s principal, Kevin Spacey Fowler, who occupies the property as his home,” said Spacey’s attorney, Edward U. Lee III, in a motion Friday.

Spacey purchased the two-unit condo in the gated The Pier Homes at Harborview for $5.7 million in 2017. His friend and manager Evan Lowenstein owned the home, but the former “House of Cards” star recently laid claim to it, Lowenstein previously told The Sun.

The Oscar-winning Spacey, who has said he was left with millions of dollars of debt from fighting several lawsuits in the U.S. and Britain alleging sexual misconduct, owed back payments for the home.

Last summer, a city Circuit Court judge approved a foreclosure sale.

Spacey’s attorneys are arguing the court should revoke the July sale, which took place outside Baltimore Circuit Court and require trustees to resell the property.

They say trustees failed in their obligations to maximize the home’s price. They advertised it as a dwelling, the filing said, but left out details such as its size, 9,000 square feet on five levels, and amenities, such as seven full baths, a sauna, elevator, home theaters, a rooftop terrace and four-car garage.

The price at auction fell well below both the property’s assessed value of more than $5.4 million in July, and the outstanding principal balance of more than $3.8 million, the court document said.

It says Asgari should be disqualified, in part because he threatened eviction before the auction sale had been ratified and before he had possession of the home, placing a “notice about eviction” on the home Spacey has occupied as his primary residence. The sale is not final, the filing says, until an exception period expires and the court ratifies the sale.

Yet, Spacey’s filing says, the notice placed on the property on the day of the auction gave anyone residing in the home 15 days to notify Asgari, or the property would be considered abandoned and the locks changed, without a court order.

Asgari knew the home was not abandoned and intended only to “harass and coerce [Spacey] to leave his home when he was in no way obligated to do so,” the filing said. “In Mr. Asgari’s wrongful demand to have [Spacey] vacate the property, he threatened to pursue eviction as a result of the property being ‘abandoned.'”

Lee said Asgari contacted him in mid-August, “threatening to proceed with interviews with Inside Edition and CBS News that same day unless an immediate response was provided regarding the vacancy date and further threatening to start eviction proceedings the following Monday.”

Asgari views the chain of events differently, Sheibani said. Spacey simply won’t return something that no longer belongs to him, he said.

He is taking advantage of “my client’s generosity, requesting a large sum of money and a long time to vacate the property,” Sheibani said. “We simply want the property that rightly belongs to my client to be vacated and handed over.”

Lee, Spacey’s attorney, countered in the filing that Spacey has never “refused or threatened to refuse” to leave the home.

The document said Lee spoke with Asgari’s attorney Aug. 6 and proposed that Spacey be allowed to stay until about Feb. 1 in exchange for giving Asgari early entry to the home to begin planning to sell to an investor and agreeing not to file an objection to ratification of the sale.

But then a week later, Asgari offered $50,000 if Spacey would leave by Sept. 15, the filing says.

The 33-year-old African penguin, who made a “tremendous contribution” to the survival of his endangered species by fathering 230 chicks, was euthanized for age-related declining health, the Maryland Zoo said. He is survived by his lifelong mate Mrs. Greedy.

“This one bird was incredibly important to the continued existence of African penguins throughout the world,” Maryland Zoo bird curator Jen Kottyan said in a Sept. 5 news release. “It’s tough to lose an animal who has been such a welcome presence at our Zoo for three decades, but all of us are proud that he is survived by five generations of offspring.”

Kottyan added the median life expectancy of African penguins is 18 years, and Mr. Greedy was the oldest penguin in the zoo’s colony. Both Mr. and Mrs. Greedy hatched in 1991 and arrived in Baltimore in 1992.

“They had been paired up from the time they hit reproductive age in 1994,” Kottyan said.

Zookeepers are monitoring Mrs. Greedy, and if she shows interest, will pair her with a single male in the colony as a companion, according to the release.

The couple’s oldest offspring is 28 years old, and several of the pair’s chicks still live at the Maryland Zoo, including a fifth-generation descendant named Olive, according to the release.

Based in Baltimore, Maryland Zoo is home to the largest colony of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) in North America, according to the release, and has bred more than 1,000 chicks.

The zoo’s Penguin Coast exhibit is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and offers private visits with a zookeeper and photo opportunities.

The trail is meant to boost greenspace access and active transportation routes for residents of Northeast Baltimore, providing pedestrian and bicyclist connection to Morgan State University, Lake Montebello and Herring Run Park, in addition to other neighborhoods.

Local officials and community leaders gathered on the park’s basketball court Monday for a celebration of the grant and the park’s revitalization hosted by Rails to Trails Conservancy, Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) and the Northeast Community Organization (NECO). The Morgan State Marching Band played cheerful music and danced before speakers took turns at the podium beneath a basketball hoop with a missing backboard and rim.

“We are able to come together today because we got a new vision and a new dream for our community,” said Father Joe Muth of Notre Dame of Maryland during the opening prayer, echoed by “Amens” from the crowd. “And we are grateful that we’ve come together today to make that dream a reality.”

About two years ago, the Rev. Cat Goodrich of Faith Presbyterian and some of her colleagues in Northeast Baltimore started having conversations about bringing residents together to see if there were common concerns, she said.

Of the issues raised, Goodrich said, “We heard a lot about Chinquapin Run Park.” She said people remembered when there were picnic tables and benches in the park, sports programs and children playing in the stream, noting the missing basketball rim and overgrown trail. The group had several meetings, held a walkthrough with City Councilmember Mark Conway and did some door-knocking, connecting with more than 100 residents, Goodrich said.

“It feels good and right that we are here today to celebrate because this park is a connector. It cuts through six different neighborhoods,” Goodrich said. “It runs all the way from the city-county line down to Morgan State. It cuts across lines of neighborhood and race and class, connecting us as one community.”

A clean, safe and well-kept park for families in the community is essential, said Angie Winder, president of NECO, reflecting on her elementary school teacher who “stood in the gap for us.”

“We, too, are standing in the gap for the next generation just by being here, affirming to them I’ll fight for their future,” Winder said. “Revitalizing this park is just one example of that, we will not see it be neglected or let it be disinvested.”

Grants and donations from the France-Merrick Foundation, Kentfields Foundation and Lockhart Vaughan Foundation, as well as private donors, comprise the investment funds according to the Rev. Kate Foster, a Baltimore resident and mid-Atlantic director of trails development for Rails to Trails.

The investment will support the preliminary planning of the trail, but Rails to Trails doesn’t own trail projects or build them, according to Foster. The group will continue working alongside partners to receive city and state funding for the project’s final design and construction.

“To get this park back and get it back better, we’re going to need resources. To get this trail built and to complete the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network, we’re going to need city leadership and a lot more money,” Foster said. “So we’re here to work with you, Baltimore City, but we need you to make it a priority too.”

The project is part of the vision to connect the area to the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network, a city-adopted plan for a 35-mile network of paths for city residents to “walk, bike or roll” between 75 neighborhoods and safely access green spaces, according to Foster.

Director of Baltimore City Recreation and Parks Reginald Moore emphasized the city’s commitment to all parks. Moore explained that benches will be replaced and a new basketball goal has been ordered, along with a fence to prevent people from doing donuts on the court with their vehicles, motioning to the marks on the ground. He also said the city will support a 2025 application for more funding to complete the full project.

Amidst many calls to action, Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry reminded the crowd that the mayor is responsible for delegating city spending, so people must call on the mayor to prioritize funding for the park.

“We have to make it clear that this is important and that we prioritize this. Are we good?” Henry said. “Yes,” the crowd cheered. “Do we understand the assignment?” Henry asked. “Yes,” the crowd cheered again.

“A lot of my designs stem from the imagination I created while growing up in Baltimore. … No matter what or where I was at, or what part of the city I was in, you can always tell that identifying and expressing who you are through your garments is very important,” said Cromartie, 33, who now lives in Los Angeles but once called Baltimore’s Waverly neighborhood home.

“I love seeing some of the buildings, like abandoned buildings or like industrial buildings, where you can see how the building was held up.”

With last year’s Season 20 “Project Runway” All-Stars win under his belt and clients including Lizzo, Victoria Monet, Jennifer Hudson and Ciara, Cromartie is returning to his hometown for a talk about his journey as a designer at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Oct. 9. The event will kick off the museum’s new Labor + Innovation speaker series co-produced by Baltimore artist Cheyanne Zadia and moderated by Baltimore podcast producer Aaron Henkin, slated to run through June of next year.

“We really wanted this talk series to reflect industry leaders, everyday workers, and really tell human stories about the intersection of work and art,” said Brianne Mobley, the Baltimore Museum of Industry’s public engagement manager.

After Cromartie’s solo appearance, the lineup will feature multiple speakers coming together to offer insight on the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse on Dec. 3; women in the culinary arts on March 13; and AI technology on June 4.

Mobley said the series is inspired by the museum’s galleries and collections, including its garment loft exhibit, which focuses on Baltimore’s history of garment making.

Cromartie was preparing for the online debut of his fashion film “Brutal Cry” on Sept. 10 during New York Fashion Week when he spoke with The Baltimore Sun, and said the collection explores the topic of grief. His older sister, Chimere Faye Wall, died from colon cancer in 2022 after being diagnosed while he appeared on Season 17 of “Project Runway”; his new film and collection is about “releasing the burden of grief and rediscovering yourself.”

“To come home is kind of like a home run,” he said. “The timing of it is perfect.”

If you go

Bishme Cromartie’s two-hour talk at the Baltimore Museum of Industry will start at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 and is free via registration online. It will be preceded by a meet and greet for museum members at 5:30 p.m.

Highs are expected to remain in the mid-80s throughout the week amid mostly sunny daytime weather.

[Get the latest weathercast from FOX45 News]

Tuesday will be clear with temperatures kicking up to around 86. Tuesday night will remain mostly clear with a low around 63.

Wednesday and Thursday should be identical to Tuesday with sunny conditions and a high around 85. Wednesday night will be mostly clear with a low around 64, and Thursday night will be the week’s first glimpse at mostly cloudy conditions.

Wine on the Water 2024 | PHOTOS

Some clouds will stick around into Friday, as conditions will be partly sunny with a high near 84. Friday night, conditions will shift to mostly cloudy with a low around 64.

Baltimore Police officers responded around 10:45 p.m. to the 1600 block of North Bentalou Street near Senator Troy Brailey Easterwood Park for a ShotSpotter alert — a network of sensors that alert police to potential gunshots.

Upon arrival, police located a male 17-year-old suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, according to police.

The victim was transported to an area hospital by medical personnel. His condition is non-life-threatening, police said Sunday.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2477 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.

A week after Maryland Gov. Wes Moore admitted that he inaccurately claimed to be the recipient of a prestigious military award years ago, veterans in the state he runs remain divided on the gravity of the situation.

For some who have served in the Armed Forces, the fact that the state’s 63rd governor incorrectly stated on an internship application 18 years ago that he was awarded a Bronze Star for his service with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division represents a nearly unpardonable breach of military ethics. Others say that while the misrepresentation was not ideal, it’s just as important to measure it against the backdrop of the charismatic politician’s otherwise exemplary service record.

Both military tradition and federal law make it clear that claiming military honors one did not earn is a serious violation of protocol. The federal Stolen Valor Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2013, even makes it a crime to do so for some military awards (though not specifically for the Bronze Star).

“Veterans generally hold a very dim view of individuals who falsely claim medals or otherwise lie about military service because they lay claim to honors that should be reserved for individuals who actually risked their lives on behalf of the country.” said Mark Moyar, a professor of military history at Hillsdale College in Michigan.

But in the view of many in Moore’s adopted home state, not all mistakes in documenting one’s military service are created equal.

“I agree that it was not appropriate for Governor Moore to claim an award that he had not received based on an indication from a superior officer that he was going to receive it,” said Frank Armiger, a military historian and the national executive director of the 29th Division Association, an advocacy group for one of Maryland’s most storied fighting forces. “From the other perspective, however, the fact that he served in the Army – that he served in an elite paratrooper unit and performed extremely well there — that’s what I look at more than this faux pas around the Bronze Star. I see all that as important context.”

Moore has long made his military service a centerpiece of his personal biography. He has described — in “The Other Wes Moore” (2010) and “The Work” (2015), both bestselling memoirs — how attending military school as a youth and experiencing life in the Army helped endow him with a sense of purpose and spawned in him the understanding of leadership that has driven him to the pinnacle of state politics.

According to his writings and various biographical sketches, he led paratroopers in special operations as a captain in the elite 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006. And Moore famously stressed his military background as a gubernatorial candidate, echoing a legendary military motto in coining his gubernatorial slogan — “Leave No One Behind.”

But questions about how Moore, Maryland’s first Black governor, has represented that service have dogged him, including during his campaign for the State House. On Aug. 29, the New York Times confirmed a long-swirling rumor that he had claimed on an application for a prestigious White House internship in 2006 that he’d earned a Bronze Star — but no military record showed he’d ever received one.

The Times story also mentioned two instances in which Moore failed to correct television interviewers who mentioned the Bronze Star assertion, once in 2008 and once in 2010.

Moore has since expressed contrition, calling the misrepresentation an “honest mistake.” He is quoted recalling that a superior officer had encouraged him to make the Bronze Star claim because the officer expected Moore to receive one. Moore also apologized for failing to correct interviewers who repeated the Bronze Star claim.

He also came under fire on the campaign trail in 2022 for failing, on earlier occasions, to contradict interviewers who called him a Baltimore native and a member of the Maryland Football Hall of Fame, which doesn’t exist.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle last week expressed support for the Democratic governor, considered a rising star on the national scene. And some Marylanders who have knowledge of the military say the bureaucracy around awards can be notoriously byzantine and confusing.

“Having spent 24 years in the Army, I became well acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of the military administration and awards system, which certainly could be baffling at times,” Kurt A. Surber, a District Commander with the Veterans of Foreign Wars who is based in Anne Arundel County, said in an email to The Baltimore Sun.

“I believe that Gov. Moore did what most soldiers probably would have done in his situation: he included information in his application packet, based on the assurances of his superior officers, whom he trusted. Assurances to the contrary, in the end, it appears the award didn’t make it through the process, but that only became evident after the fact.”

Armiger, meanwhile, said he had encountered far more egregious cases of misrepresentation during his tenure with the 29th Division Association, a nonprofit with a worldwide reach. And he recounted how group officials had allowed one such man to remain after he sent them a letter of contrition.

“You could tell from the letter that it was very heartfelt,” the Towson resident said, adding that Moore acknowledged and apologized for these issues“] almost as soon as the Times article came out. “I think he took the right action. That’s a refreshing thing in this day and age.”

The Maryland branch of another veterans group, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, took a similar position.

“Governor Moore’s willingness to explain the situation, taking accountability and apologizing for his mistake 18 years ago, is all we can ask for,” a spokesperson for the organization said in a statement. “The VFW Department of Maryland believes this matter should be considered closed.”

Several veterans and civilian employees of the military contacted by The Sun declined to comment, citing the sensitivity of the matter given Moore’s continuing role as commander in chief of the Maryland National Guard.

Others were less reserved — and much less forgiving.

Wes Moore served with honor. He doesn’t need a Bronze Star to prove it. | STAFF COMMENTARY

Glenn F. Williams is a retired Army major who for 18 years worked as a senior historian for the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, which decides on the appropriate use of history and records throughout the Army. Williams said any soldier should know the basic rules for seeking and receiving military honors, and he sees no reason why a man as knowledgeable as Moore should be exempt.

“I understand he was recommended for it. But you don’t assume that you’re getting it,” Williams said. “I never got a Bronze Star, and it pisses me off that someone says he got one who didn’t. He knows the difference between being recommended and being awarded. This is not an honest mistake.”

To Williams, Moore’s admitted lapse calls into question the veracity of other elements in his resume.

“I never lied about any of the awards I got, and I can show you that I have orders on my record of service for each one I wear on my uniform,” he said.

Williams said he believes many soldiers and veterans in the state would echo his thoughts if they weren’t wary of repercussions.

Whether the uproar affects Moore politically remains to be seen. A Morning Consult poll taken in late July found him to be America’s third most popular governor, and a speech he gave at the Democratic National Convention last month enhanced his profile as a rising Democratic star.

Moyar said it might seem at first glance that the situation would damage Moore, especially among veterans. But he wonders whether American voters haven’t simply accepted that “politicians in general are known to stretch the truth.”

Armiger, too, said he believes voters might be more concerned about whether Moore aligns with them politically than how carefully he observed an element of military protocol.

“I’m being blunt here, but I believe it can depend on who you are, on your political perspective,” he said.

Though Williams sees Moore’s situation as a “clear case of stolen valor,” he, too, wonders whether it will hurt the governor’s electoral standing in a state that skews reliably to the left even as it boasts a storied military history.

“It’s Maryland,” he said.

“I want to thank FOX45 for asking the question because it caught me off guard,” Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright told FOX45 News Wednesday.

That “question” Wright referenced, which concerned transparency, was asked by FOX45 at the August state school boarding meeting.

MSDE had just released the most recent state test results known as MCAP — the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program. When FOX45 News began analyzing the data, something didn’t seem right.

“We can’t see how any kid in that entire school performed on the MCAP,” said FOX45 News’ Chris Papst to Wright at the board meeting.

Within the results released by MSDE, the public can see in math 24.1 percent of Maryland students tested, scored proficient. In English, 48.4 percent scored proficient.

Digging deeper into the data, FOX45 News found 185 schools statewide had 5 percent or fewer students score proficient in math. Nearly 60 of those schools are in Baltimore City. But that is all the public can see. The proficiency levels for many schools have been suppressed — replaced with asterisks. In those 185 schools, taxpayers don’t know the number of students who scored proficient.

But taxpayers soon will, after FOX 45 brought this issue to Wright’s attention.

“Rather than, having just, an asterisk you get a percentage of the percentage of students that are at that actual level,” explained Wright.

Here’s the back story.

In January 2023, FOX45 analyzed that year’s state test results and found 23 Baltimore City schools where zero students, among those tested, scored proficient in math. After that story aired, the state changed the way it reports test scores to the public. Instead of reporting the scores for the lowest performing schools, MSDE chose to suppress the scores by replacing the results with asterisks. It was a move that kept parents and taxpayers from seeing how poorly many schools were performing.

That decision by MSDE sparked criticism from the community. But when FOX45 tried to question then State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury about it, he locked himself behind a door.

When Wright became the new State Superintendent, following Choudhury’s resignation, FOX45 asked if she would reverse the previous administration’s decision and once again make the results available to the public. At the time, Wright said she would look into it.

“I think that’s just important for the public to know,” Wright said in March.

At last week’s board meeting, Wright announced her department would reverse course and unredact the results. But when FOX45 analyzed the 2024 data MSDE, we noticed the results for many schools were still suppressed and hidden behind asterisks. Project Baltimore questioned Wright about it at the board meeting.

A few days later, MSDE told Fox45 in an email that the department “inadvertently continued the previous practice of applying an additional suppression rule.” And a new report with unredacted results would be released later this month – so taxpayers can see how all the schools performed.

“Finding this extra suppression rule that was not needed, that surprised me as well,” Wright told FOX45. “Taxpayers deserve to know, parents deserve to know, exactly what’s occurring in their schools and in their communities. And so, for me, it’s not a finger pointing exercise. It’s not an outing exercise. The data speak for themselves.”

Once the results have been updated and uploaded to the state website, Fox45 News will analyze the information and report the results.