DEVELOPER CONVICTED FOR VIOLATION OF PROBATION IN ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY WETLANDS CASE

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that C. Richard E. Benson, of the 100 block of Aylesbury Road in Timonium, Maryland, was found to be in violation of his probation and was ordered to pay the balance of his $10,000 fine. The Defendant was on eighteen months probation as a result of a June 9, 2005 conviction in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County for wetlands violations.

The Honorable Paul A. Hackner imposed the previously suspended portion of the fine, in the amount of $2,500, after he found that the Defendant violated the terms of his probation by failing to complete the 100 hours of ordered Community Service. The Defendant was convicted in June 2005 of conducting unauthorized activity in a wetland without a permit. Charges resulted after County inspectors from the Department of Inspections and permits discovered, on October 20, 2003, that the tidal wetlands on a site located in the Oyster Harbor neighborhood of Anne Arundel County had been graded and that truckloads of fill dirt were being dumped on the site. Benson was ordered to pay the fine to the Tidal Wetlands Compensation Fund by November 3, 2006.

The Environment Crimes Unit of the Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the original case and the violation of probation, with the assistance of the Anne Arundel County Department of Inspections and Permits and the Maryland State Police.