POLICE IMPERSONATOR GUILTY OF FIREARMS VIOLATIONS

Maryland Attorney General, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., announced today that 41-year old Arthur Woody Thomas, Jr. pled guilty in Baltimore City Circuit Court to illegal possession of a regulated firearm. Maryland State Police and Baltimore City Police executed a search warrant at Mr. Thomas’ residence and discovered two handguns. Mr. Thomas, of the 1800 block of Belt Street in Baltimore, was prohibited from possessing a regulated firearm due to a prior felony conviction. Last year Thomas was arrested in Frederick, Maryland for impersonating a police officer and using forged prescriptions to obtain drugs. During the investigation by Maryland State Police it was subsequently revealed that there were guns in his home in Baltimore. He was sentenced by Judge Allen L. Schwait to five years incarceration with all but six months suspended and two years probation. At the request of the Attorney General ’s office, Judge Schwait also ordered the guns to be forfeited to the State.

This case was investigated by the Maryland State Police Firearms Enforcement Section. The case was prosecuted by the Firearms Trafficking Unit of the Attorney General’s Criminal Investigations Division. This unit is funded by grants from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the Maryland State Police Cease Fire Council.

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