Police Charge Dorchester County Man with Oystering in a Sanctuary

Cite Four Dirt Bikers with Illegal Operation

Jody Daniel Jackson

A Dorchester County man was charged with multiple counts of illegal oystering during a joint operation between Maryland Natural Resources Police officers on the ground and Natural 1, the department’s recently reacquired helicopter.

Jody Daniel Jackson, 18, of East New Market, was spotted harvesting oysters with a power dredge in the Little Choptank River Nov. 3.

The entire river is closed to dredging and the area where Jackson was working is an oyster sanctuary.

Natural 1’s pilot spotted the 40-foot workboat with bushels of oysters on the deck and alerted officers to intercept it as it approached the dock in Madison Bay. The pilot took photos of the dredging activity and marked GPS coordinates.

The coordinates were verified by the department’s Hydrographic Operations staff and Jackson was charged Thursday with: harvesting oysters more than 250 feet inside a sanctuary, catching oysters for commercial purposes without a license, using a power dredge outside a designated area, failing to pay the state oyster surcharge, failing to cull oysters and return shell to the original bed, failing to obtain a certificate of number, failing to display a Maryland use sticker, and operating an unnumbered vessel.

Jackson is scheduled to appear in Dorchester County District Court March 21. The maximum fine if he is found guilty of all charges is $8,500.

Officers took part in a Maryland State Police Driving Under the Influence checkpoint in Anne Arundel County last weekend that resulted in the arrest of a local motorist.

Olalekan Arawole, 47, of Glen Burnie received six citations for operating under the influence of alcohol and he was released to a sober driver. A district court date has not been set.

Arawole approached the checkpoint on Dorsey Road in Glen Burnie around 1:37 a.m. Saturday. An officer handing out a pamphlet about the effects of alcohol saw an open container of beer in the center-console cup holder. Arawole failed the field sobriety tests and registered a blood alcohol content of 0.15, nearly double the state legal limit of 0.08, during a Breathalyzer test administered by the Maryland State Police.

A Virginia man was arrested early Monday morning and charged with drunken driving by an officer who stopped to assist a disabled vehicle southbound on the Salisbury Bypass, just before the St. Luke’s Road exit.

Alvin Lee Reid, 44, of Painter, received four citations for impaired operation. He registered a blood alcohol content of 0.12, on a Breathalyzer test administered by the Wicomico County Sherriff’s Office, well above the state’s legal limit of 0.08.

A hearing date has not been set in Worcester County District Court.

Officers on patrol in Anne Arundel County Saturday afternoon charged four dirt bike riders with illegal operation.

Jeremy Sean Martin, 26, and Calvin M. Reid Jr., 24, both of Lothian, George Cody Hall II, 48, of Annapolis, and Sean Francis McMillian, 42, of North Beach, received citations for operating an off-road vehicle on property without written permission.

They were stopped on a trail in Davidsonville off Governor’s Bridge Road that is owned by Anne Arundel County. The trail is clearly posted as prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles. None of the riders had written permission to be operating their dirt bikes on the property.

A records check showed that Martin had outstanding warrants in Anne Arundel County and Manassas, Virginia. He was arrested and taken to the Anne Arundel County Detention Center to await extradition to Virginia.