WOMEN FIND STASHING THEIR MEN'S DOPE IS A CRIME

To all the girlfriends, fiances, lovers and significant others out
there, county prosecutors have a message for you: Don't hide your
man's drugs.

Two women in the past month were convicted on serious drug charges
after letting - and even helping - their boyfriends store large
amounts of marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine in their homes.

Both women, one of whom was a Maryland Transportation Authority Police
Officer at the time of her arrest last year, now face the possibility
of more than a year in jail.

"Being a girlfriend doesn't make you any less culpable," said Kristin
Riggin, spokesman for the State's Attorney Office, dismissing a myth
that leads many women to help their boyfriends hide or hold drugs at
home or during traffic stops.

Officer Hal Dalton, a city police spokesman, noted the law looks only
at who possesses the drugs - not who owns them - and Ms. Riggin said
that just moving drugs as a favor for someone else can open someone up
to felony distribution charges.

"You are just as much of a drug dealer as someone who sells it for
money," Ms. Riggin said, stressing girlfriends receive "no special
considerations" in Anne Arundel County.

Krystal King, 24, of Laurel, and Angela Greene, 26, a now-former MdTA
police officer from Curtis Bay, learned that first hand in the past month.

King pleaded guilty Monday to possession of marijuana with intent to
distribute after police found more than 15 pounds of marijuana, 145
pills of Ecstasy, two handguns and more than $7,500 in cash in her
car's trunk in September. State sentencing guidelines recommend she be
locked up for as much as 18 months.

And Ms. Greene, who resigned from her job with the MdTA Police
Department Sept. 6 in the midst of the drug investigation, pleaded
guilty Jan. 18 to conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to
distribute after letting her boyfriend keep $2,900 worth of crack at
her house. State sentencing guidelines recommend Ms. Green go to jail
for between six months and three years.

According to court documents, neither woman did much with the drugs.

After learning her boyfriend was being questioned by Prince George's
County Police Sept. 24, King carried the drugs, guns and money from
the apartment they shared to her car outside. When detectives knocked
on her door later that day, King quickly confessed to what she did and
told police where to find the drugs.

Ms. Greene, who resigned from her job with the MdTA Police Department
Sept. 6 in the midst of the drug investigation, simply turned a
blind-eye. When police searched her home in August, she admitted only
to knowing Michael Tavares Allen, 28, of Baltimore, was a drug dealer
and that he had the drugs in a safe in her bedroom. Allen even backed
up her story and told police she had nothing to do with the drugs.

While Allen's confession probably helped Ms. Green in court, police
and prosecutors said such statements are not get out of jail free
cards for the girlfriends.

Officer Dalton said a man might try to take the rap for both of them
out of love; that a girlfriend might be more involved in the drug
dealing than they let on.

"Sometimes I don't know if I believe it," said Officer Dalton.

"Chivalry does seem to be alive in that world," added Ms. Riggin.

Vice versa, the girlfriend's handling of the drugs usually doesn't
help clear their boyfriend's names.

Allen pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to
distribute Jan. 14 and was sentenced to five years in prison. Circuit
Court Judge William C. Mulford II suspended all but one year, however,
and let him serve 11 months of that year on house arrest.

King's boyfriend, Navarro Stroman, 29, of Laurel, is charged with
various felony drug and weapons charges. He is being held at the
Jennifer Road Detention Center on a $1 million bond. He is scheduled
to go in front of a jury April 24.

Ms. Riggin said the best way for a girlfriend to stay out of trouble
is to stay clear of drugs all together.

"It's not a very wise decision," she said.