Arundel Digest

Local man guilty in stepson's killing

BALTIMORE (AP) - A Glen Burnie man was convicted yesterday of murder in the 2007 death of his 8-year-old stepson while the family was stationed in Japan, federal prosecutors said.

Roberto DeLeon, 27, was convicted by a jury after a three-week trial in U.S. District Court.

According to federal prosecutors, DeLeon was living with his wife, who was in the Air Force, on Kadena Air Base on April 7, 2007, when he beat and seriously injured 8-year-old Jordan Peterson.

Four days later, DeLeon killed the boy by hitting him in the stomach, prosecutors said.

DeLeon faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said federal law allows the prosecution of people who accompany the armed forces for crimes committed in foreign countries.

Teens charged with boat break-in

PASADENA - Three teens were charged last night with burglarizing a boat after county police said they caught them in the act, and one of them tried to get away by jumping overboard.

Police were called at about 11:45 p.m. by residents who said they saw suspicious activity on a 41-foot boat at Oak Harbor Marina in the 1300 block of Old Water Oak Point Road, said Justin Mulcahy, a county police spokesman.

Police said that, when officers arrived, they found two 17-year-old boys on the boat. An 18-year-old man who was with the teens saw the officers and jumped overboard into the water, police said.

Officers jumped in after him and pulled him to a pier.

Mulcahy said the three teens had stolen a small paddleboat from a nearby home and rowed it across Rock Creek. The teens broke in to the larger boat and removed a mounted television, DVD player, speakers and several bottles of alcohol, police said.

Two 17-year-old boys, of Annapolis and Baltimore, were charged as juveniles. Charles Nicolas Lowery, 18, of 182 Dunlap Road in Pasadena was charged as an adult with burglary, theft, and destruction of property.

South county road closed next week

DEALE - Drivers and residents in the Deale area will have to work around a closed section of Rockhold Creek Road next week while county crews continue work on a sewer-extension project.

A 400-foot section of that road, north of the bridge over Rockhold Creek where it intersects with Deale Road, will be closed from Monday through Friday.

As a result, there will be no through traffic between Bay Front Road and the bridge.

Drivers who usually use Rockhold Creek Road between the bridge, by the Happy Harbour Inn, and Bay Front Road, Route 258, will have to use a detour.

Most will have to use Deale Road or Bay Front Road to reach areas of the community.

Residents and businesses along the 400-foot stretch of Rockhold Creek Road directly affected by the closure will have access to their homes and businesses, said Matt Diehl, spokesman for the county Department of Public Works.

The sewer project is to extend service along an 8,000-foot stretch on the strip of land between Rockhold and Tracys creeks where septic systems have been leaching into the water.

The new sewer line will serve 38 properties.

- From staff and wire reports