Maryland Natural Resources Police Blotter

Natural Resources Police officers in western Maryland handled hunting and drug possession violations this week while officers on the Eastern Shore charged four watermen with oyster poaching.

On Wednesday, an officer westbound on Interstate 68 in Allegany County stopped a pick-up truck after noticing two deer carcasses—a 10-point buck and a six-point buck—without field tags attached to them, as required by state hunting regulations.

While questioning the two men, both Garrett County residents, the officer learned that they had killed the bucks on private property in Howard County and were on their way home. Neither man had recorded the kills on their harvest records.

John Joseph Condego, 60, and Ernest Wayne Welch, 51, both of Grantsville, received citations for possessing untagged deer parts and warnings for failing to record their kills. Welsh also received a warning for not having his hunting license with him.

The two men are scheduled to appear in Allegany District Court in Cumberland on Jan. 22. If found guilty, each man faces a maximum fine of $1,500.

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On Tuesday, an officer patrolling an off-road vehicle trail in Savage River State Forest in Garrett County found a pick-up truck at the trailhead. The three occupants each had an open bottle of beer and the vehicle smelled of burnt marijuana. The officer also found a folded sheet of waxed paper with a powdery white substance in the pocket of one man.

Charles Edward Smith, 32, of Rivesville, Terry Allen Robey, 62, of Morgantown, and Marcus Wade Hipp, 42, of Masontown—all West Virginia towns—were charged with possessing less than 10 grams of marijuana and possessing alcohol in a non-designated area.

The three men are scheduled to appear in Garrett District Court on Feb. 18, but can pay fines of $105 before that date.

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An officer patrolling Broad Creek in Talbot County on the morning of Nov. 6 noticed a workboat named Linda, with two men aboard power dredging for oysters in the hand tong-only area. The vessel also had two types of gear on board: two sets of hand shaft tongs and a dredge.

Two other boats, Miss Murphy and Christina Jean, entered the hand-tong area and harvested oysters with power dredges.

The officer took video of the illegal operations and identified the watermen aboard with a spotting scope. He later recorded GPS coordinates of his location, the location of the buoys marking the harvest line and the three vessels, and submitted those to the state’s Hydrographic Operations unit for verification.

Four watermen were charged with harvesting oysters with a power dredge in a hand-tong-only area:

Norman Benjamin Murphy, 64, of Tilghman, the operator of Miss Murphy; Edward Harper Higgins Jr., 59, of McDaniel, owner/operator of Linda; Abram Keller Longenecker, 43, of Bozman, owner/operator of Christina Jean; and Barclay A. Malik, 18, of Centreville, who was working aboard Christina Jean.

In addition, Higgins was charged with having two types of harvesting gear onboard with oysters.

Higgins and Murphy are scheduled to appear in Talbot District Court on Jan. 21.  Longenecker and Malik are scheduled to appear in Talbot District Court on Feb. 18. The maximum fine for harvesting in the hand tong-only area is $1,000. Higgins must appear in court on the gear violation, where a judge will impose the penalty.