Charges escalated in case against Sharpsburg-area man who rammed truck repeatedly into car

Charges against a Sharpsburg-area man who allegedly rammed his truck into a real-estate agent's car multiple times in March have been expanded to include attempted murder, according to Washington County Circuit Court records.

A county grand jury indicted James Russell Anderson, 47, of Churchey Road, on Aug. 31 with one count each of attempted first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder for trying to kill real-estate agent Cynthia Ruth Sullivan on March 1, according to court records.

Jacob Craven, one of Anderson's defense attorneys, said in court on Thursday the defense intends to file a motion that Anderson is not criminally responsible for his alleged crimes on March 1 due to his mental-health status at the time.

Craven and Deputy State's Attorney Sarah Mollett-Gaumer were in court Thursday seeking a continuance in a different case in which Anderson is charged with assaulting a different person in a vehicle on Oct. 3, 2020. A trial was scheduled Thursday in that case, according to the court docket.

Judge Andrew F. Wilkinson granted a continuance in the October 2020 case due to the expected competency hearing for Anderson in the March attempted murder case.

More: Hagerstown real estate agent working through new fears, awareness after alleged assault

With the grand-jury indictment in the March incident, Anderson now faces up to life in prison if convicted of attempted first-degree murder.

Craven had no comment Thursday on the new attempted murder charges.

Anderson had been found competent to stand trial in the October 2020 case, according to a July 28 entry in his court docket.

Competent to stand trial is different than a filing for criminally not responsible, the latter of which refers to the defendant's mental capacity during the alleged criminal incident.

Anderson remains held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center.

What led to the attempted murder charges?

The attempted murder charges stem from a March incident in which the Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported disturbance at a neighbor's property across the road from Anderson's home, according to court documents.

The caller reported that people who didn't belong there were removing things.

While en route, the responding deputy was told another caller reported a male in a truck was ramming other vehicles there, the truck had become disabled and the driver then got into an SUV that struck another vehicle before fleeing, the documents state.

The deputy arrived to find an Audi with rear and passenger side damage and a Tesla with heavy front-end damage that "looked as if another vehicle was on top of the entire front end." There was also a silver Ford F-350 truck with heavy front-end damage and its two front tires stuck in the mud, court documents state.

The original caller, who was a tenant in the residence, told deputies a car full of people showed up and began removing furniture that belonged to the owner. Deputies later learned the owner had warned the tenant ahead of time, and the real estate agent driving the Tesla was there to value the property, according to court documents.

The tenant told deputies Rebecca Anne Finkelman was with her at her home when the movers arrived along with property owner Linda Adele West and real estate agent Cynthia Sullivan. She said Finkelman called Anderson "and told him that people were breaking into the house, which is when Anderson arrived on the property and began striking vehicles," the charging document against Finkelman states.

West told deputies she had hired workers to remove her furniture and the truck came onto the property at a high rate of speed and hit Sullivan's Tesla head-on, the documents state. Sullivan was in the car at the time.

West said the truck backed up and hit the Tesla about five times, and that she "thought he was trying to kill her." Sullivan was treated by emergency medical services personnel for severe neck and back pain before she was taken to Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown, the documents state.

West said the truck backed up and hit her Audi and then reversed again until it got stuck in the mud, according to the documents.

The driver then got into an SUV driven by a woman who matched Finkelman's description. The SUV hit West's Audi twice more to push it out of the way as it fled onto Anderson's driveway, the charges filed against Finkelman states.

Deputies at the scene were notified by the Washington County emergency dispatch center that a caller from Anderson's address was reporting his silver Ford truck missing. The center sent a picture of the registered owner, Anderson, and witnesses at the scene positively identified him as the driver of the truck that struck the other vehicles, the documents state.

In trying to contact Anderson at his home, deputies used an intercom at a front gate with multiple cameras and signs stating "trespassers will be shot," according to chargings document filed against Anderson. Those documents note that deputies had dealt with Anderson in the past and "he is very uncooperative and aggressive towards law enforcement."

When Anderson came down the hill and was taken into custody, he told deputies he had taken some medications. He was treated at the scene by EMS personnel, the documents state.

"It should be noted that at the time Anderson was placed under arrest, his face appeared freshly shaven and did not have a beard as originally described by victims and witnesses," the documents state.

Finkelman, 53, who has the same Churchey Road address as Anderson listed in court documents, was indicted by a county grand jury on Aug. 31 for first- and second-degree assault against Sullivan and for being an accessory after the fact, court records state. She also was indicted for second-degree assault against West and for malicious destruction of property valued at over $1,000 in regards to West's Audi.

In addition to the attempted murder charges, Anderson also faces two counts of first- and second-degree assault against Sullivan and West as well as two counts of malicious destruction of property valued at over $1,000 for destroying the Tesla and Audi, court records state.

Other charges from different cases

Anderson also faces charges of first- and second-degree assault and other offenses in the Oct. 3, 2020, incident in which he is accused of ramming another driver's Pontiac GTO with his truck near South Potomac Street and Oak Ridge Drive just south of Hagerstown.

That is the case that was granted a continuance on Thursday.

Records also show Anderson is scheduled for a hearing in December on whether he violated his probation on charges stemming from a 2019 fire that destroyed his home, causing $200,000 damage.

In that case, Anderson was charged with first-degree arson, first-degree malicious burning and reckless endangerment. He pleaded guilty on June 11, 2019, to reckless endangerment, court records show. The arson and malicious burning counts were dropped.

He was sentenced to five years in prison with all suspended except for the 45 days he had already spent in jail. He also was placed on two years supervised probation, court records show.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland man faces attempted murder charges in ramming occupied car