Frederick County Grand Jury Returns Four Indictments On Friday

One was against a Frederick man on child pornography charges.

Frederick, Md (KM) Four indictments were returned on Friday by the Frederick County Grand Jury.

The panel charged Ricky Lee Shafer, 21, of Frederick with 15 counts related to child pornography. State’s Attorney Charlie Smith says Shafer communicated with 30 or more juvenile girls in Frederick County through social media. “He would allegedly pay them money in exchange for sending child pornographic images as well as threatening them if they did not share them,” says Smith.

Police investigators became aware of these incidents through a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In another indictment, Devin Wade Stemple, 21, of Frederick is charged with 1st- and 2nd-degree assault, false imprisonment and a crime of violence against a pregnant person. Smith  says this follows an incident last month where a man was assaulting a woman in a parking lot in Emmitsburg. Sheriff’s deputies responded. “They met with the victim while she was being treated by EMS. It revealed she was seven-months pregnant with the defendant’s child. And she told the police she was punched several times, that she was strangled. She threw her phone out of the car after activating the SOS, 911 call during the assault,” Smith says.

The victim was taken to the hospital for treatment, and to make sure her baby was okay.

Also indicted was Kevin Darryl Arnold, 37. of Morgantown, West Virginia, whose charged with 1st- and 2nd-degree assault and numerous firearms offenses. Smith says this was for an incident which occurred last month. ” A trooper was dispatched to a road rage incident on I-70 involving a gun And he {Arnold} was accused of pointing a handgun at another driver on I-70,” Smith says.

One of the charges against Arnold is possession of a firearm with a prior conviction of a crime of violence.

The fourth indictment was returned against Otagwyn Sengbe Kambon, 30, of Frederick, whose charged with drug and weapons offenses  in connection with a home invasion incident in October. Smith says Frederick Police responded to Greenspring Place for a home invasion. Two suspects knocked on the door of a home. One claimed to be a delivery driver with a package. ” A female victim opened the door. The two men brandished handguns, forced  their way in, assaulted a male occupant standing in the living room. And we were able to fortunately get latent fingerprints pulled from the delivery box, led them to this defendant,” says Smith.

These indictments move these cases to Circuit Court where trial dates will be scheduled.

Smith says indictments are charging documents which allege  criminal conduct, and all defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

By Kevin McManus