Crime & Safety
HoCo Teen Charged in Speed Camera Fires: Police
The vandalism caused $30,000 in damage, Howard County police said.
The Howard County Police Department reported that it has charged a 19-year-old Glenelg man in the recent vandalism of one of the county's mobile speed cameras.
Connor Lynn Eash, 19, of the 13600 block of Bold Venture Drive, faces six charges including malicious burning and destruction of property.
The charges stemmed from two incidents this week in which a speed camera near Glenelg High School was damaged, police said.
At 4:43 a.m. on Wednesday, officials were called to the 1400 block of Burntwoods Road for a report that the box containing a portable speed camera was on fire, police said.
The Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services put out the blaze and no one was injured, according to police. The Howard County Office of the Fire Marshal helped determine the fire was intentionally set, police said.
In September, a speed camera was torched in the same area, and police said officials thought the two may be related.
After Wednesday's fire, officials set up surveillance that captured Eash driving by the location multiple times, then parking his vehicle and walking toward the speed camera, police said.
"...he approached it on foot, carrying an ax and a bottle of accelerant," according to a statement from the Howard County Police Department.
At approximately 5:05 a.m. on Saturday, Eash bent down next to the speed camera box and police converged on him, at which point he ran away, the statement said.
Police conducted area checks and took Eash, who was found with a lighter in his possession, into custody, according to the report.
Eash was charged with first and second-degree malicious burning and malicious destruction of property greater than $1,000 in connection with Wednesday's and Saturday's incidents, online court records show.
Damage to the equipment from the Sept. 16, May 22 and May 24 incidents is estimated to be $30,000, according to police, who said the cost will be covered by the vendor.
Eash was taken into custody and released on Saturday.
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