A Howard County judge yesterday dismissed the Board of Education as a defendant in a civil lawsuit in which an 18-year-old Columbia resident sued the board and a former county teacher over emotional distress the resident said he suffered as a result of sexual encounters with the teacher three years ago.

However, the teacher remains a defendant in the suit.

The teacher, Kirsten Ann Kinley, is currently serving an 18-month term at the Howard County Detention Center for her August 2007 conviction on a charge of third-degree sex offense for having sex with the plaintiff when he was 15 and she was 25, in late 2004 and early 2005.

At the time, Kinley was a special education teacher at Hammond Middle School in North Laurel. The plaintiff did not attend Kinley's school.

In a civil suit he filed in Circuit Court Feb. 29, the plaintiff accuses Kinley of battery and causing him emotional distress.

The suit, which seeks $3 million, also named as defendants the school board, Hammond Middle principal Kerry McGowan and the state of Maryland and accuses each of negligence for their roles in hiring and supervising Kinley.

The Howard County Times is not naming the plaintiff, because it is the paper's policy not to name victims of sexual assault.

At a hearing June 11, Judge Lenore Gelfman granted the school system's request to dismiss the suit against the school board. The plaintiff's attorney, Loyd Byron Hopkins, had previously dropped McGowan and the state from the suit.

Gelfman said Kinley's acts fell outside the scope of her employment with the school system, since they occurred on the evening of a holiday in Kinley's home. Additionally, Gelfman said there was nothing to suggest the school board should have known of Kinley's interaction with the teen.

The board terminated Kinley's teaching contract in May 2007.

Kinley's attorney, Andrew Dansicker, said he also has filed a motion to dismiss the suit against Kinley. A hearing date on the motion has not yet been set.

— Sarah Daniels

Repair work to close part of Jessup road

A portion of Vollmerhausen Road in Jessup will be closed later this month as road crews repair a bridge.

Beginning on June 23, Vollmerhausen Road will be closed between Spring Water Path and Savage- Guilford Road while crews replace the deck and beams of a bridge on that stretch of road.

During construction, expected to be complete by mid-September, the area will be open to local traffic. Road closure signs and message boards directing motorists to a detour route will be posted along the road.

For more information about the project, contact Lisa Brightwell at Howard County's Department of Public Works by calling 410-313-3440 or e-mailing publicworks@howardcountymd.gov.

— Jennifer Broadwater

Seven men arrested in prostitution sting

Howard County police arrested seven men June 5 for soliciting prostitution along Route 1 in North Laurel.

Police arrested men who approached female officers dressed in plain clothes and offered the women money in exchange for sex, police said. Police targeted a portion of Route 1 near the intersection of Brewers Court that citizens had reported was being used by prostitutes.

Officers arrested two men from Columbia, two from Laurel, one from Savage and one from Fort Meade, according to police.

— Mike Santa Rita

Sex offenders meet reporting regulations

Howard County police announced a review of the 86 registered sex offenders in the county found all had complied with a requirement to report their latest addresses and other information to authorities.

Police conducted the review in the last week of May and made their report public June 6.

It included ensuring that the 86 people who are listed on the county's sex offender registry were living at the addresses they had reported to police, had provided accurate employment information to authorities and reported their information twice annually, police spokeswoman Cpl. Jennifer Reidy-Hall said.

Police attributed the universal compliance to routine checks made throughout the year. Police added a detective dedicated to sex offender compliance to the county department in 2007.

The Howard County sex offender registry can be found at www.hcpd.org.

— Mike Santa Rita

Man gets jail time for '07 boating death

A Baltimore man has been sentenced to six months in prison following a guilty plea last month to charges of negligent manslaughter by vessel.

William Spittel, 52, of Baltimore, was sentenced by Judge Robert Cahill Jr. in Baltimore County Circuit Court in connection with the death of Michael Schott, 33, of Ellicott City, said Assistant Baltimore County State's Attorney Allan Webster.

Schott was killed Aug. 4 last year when he was thrown from Spittel's boat after it collided with a marker on the Back River near the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore County, Maryland Natural Resources Police said at the time.

Schott was thrown from Spittel's boat when it struck a large metal channel marker that was driven into the ground. Schott died of head trauma complicated by drowning, Maryland Natural Resources Police said.

Cahill sentenced Spittel to six months in prison on May 30, Webster said. Cahill also ordered Spittel to perform six months probation following his sentence, pay a $2,500 fine and perform 250 hours of community service, Webster said.

Spittel's attorney Warren Alperstein did not return a call seeking comment.

— Mike Santa Rita

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