Sheriff's office makes three firearms arrests within a week

Mar. 8—The Frederick County Sheriff's Office said it made three arrests this week related to illegal firearms possession.

The sheriff's office arrested Trent Cornelius Thomas and Dashawn Alejandro Pollard, both of Frederick, in unrelated cases on March 2, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office also arrested Malachi James Witherspoon of Frederick on Monday, in a separate case.

Online court records indicate that Thomas is 33, Pollard is 22 and Witherspoon is 19.

As of Wednesday afternoon, online court records don't list attorneys for any of the men.

At around 10:35 p.m. on March 2, deputies responded to the 6700 block of Overton Circle in Frederick for a domestic dispute in progress. A woman told police that a man had punched her in the face and pulled a gun on her during a dispute, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies spotted the man, identified as Thomas, who ran away, the news release said. Deputies chased and caught him.

Police searched a backpack Thomas ditched during the chase. Inside, they found a loaded Canik TP9 handgun and roughly 83 grams — about 3 ounces — of marijuana, the news release said.

Thomas was charged with first- and second-degree assault, and several firearms counts.

Later, at around 11:02 p.m., a deputy pulled over a Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV in the area of Walnut Pond Court in Middletown for speeding, the release said.

As the deputy approached the SUV, the driver sped off, then stopped at the end of a nearby parking lot, the news release said.

The driver, identified as Pollard, got out of the SUV and ran away, according to the sheriff's office. The deputy chased Pollard and caught him.

The news release said that after searching Pollard and his SUV, the deputy found a loaded Glock 19X handgun, a Glock 19X magazine, 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition and narcotics.

Pollard was charged with nine counts relating to firearms and drugs.

On Monday at around 10:50 p.m., a sheriff's office deputy pulled over a Volkswagen Jetta in the area of Tennison and Lambert drives in the Ballenger Creek area, after the driver, identified as Witherspoon, ran a stop sign, the news release said.

The deputy smelled marijuana in the car, then searched the Jetta and Witherspoon. The sheriff's office said a loaded Polymer 80 9mm handgun was found on Witherspoon, and roughly 11.4 grams, or about 0.4 ounces, of marijuana was found on Witherspoon and in the car.

Witherspoon was charged with five firearms-related counts.

"The trend we are seeing is that deputies enforcing the traffic laws in the normal course of their duties are increasingly proactive in seizing guns from individuals that are prohibited from possessing firearms or are illegally transporting the loaded handguns," Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said in the news release.

All of the men were being held at the adult detention center as of Wednesday.