March 19, 2024
Annapolis, US 37 F

Common Sense And Politics…A Bad Mix?

Wayne Taylor (D), candidate for Mayor of Annapolis
Wayne Taylor (D), candidate for Mayor of Annapolis

Correction: From an email just received, we have made the following correction. We regret the error.

Could you please edit your article regarding Wayne Taylor’s campaign headquarters being raided? This location is NOT a Pawnshop. It is an unlicensed buy/sell store. Pawnshops are licensed and regulated by Annapolis City, AA County and the State of Maryland. Pawnshops have to turn in a list of every item they take to the local police department on a daily basis. This shop was not licensed and did not report transactions to the police department like all legal/licensed Pawnshops have to do. By labeling this illegal fencing operation a Pawnshop, you are misleading the public into making unfair conclusions regarding legitimate, licensed, legal businesses.

Candidate Wayne Taylor Needs To Explain

Does anyone remember the days when politicians did their best to portray the best image possible? Apparently those days are gone.

On one hand, current Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer can be excused as she is a true lame duck. But look on the national scale and the troubles Barack Obama had in appointing appropriate people to his cabinet. The best we could do is an admitted tax evader for our Treasury Secretary?

But it also resonates on the local level. Two days ago, after a post about the HACA Candidate Forums, a reader commented:

Why is Wayne Taylor running his campaign out of a pawnshop? Sounds fishy if you ask me!

Well lo and behold, it is released today that indeed, Mayoral Candidate Wayne Taylor is involved. According to The Capital, his campaign headquarters is located in an illegal buy/sell shop located outside the City Limits. And the owner, who was arrested, is his campaign manager. As the candidate for “One Annapolis”, why isn’t his campaign located IN the city?

In a release from the Anne Arundel County Police, here’s what they have to say:

On July 22, 2009, at approximately 10:00 a.m, officers from the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s Pawn and Precious Metals Squad executed a Search and Seizure Warrant at the Trading Depot located at 2020A West Street in Annapolis after a five month investigation into the business.

Trading Depot is a secondhand store that had been acquiring precious metal objects and other consumer products since March of 2009. Trading Depot was suspected of facilitating and aiding in the fencing of stolen merchandise from retailers. Additionally, Trading Depot had been acquiring precious metal objects without a required State of Maryland Secondhand Precious Metals Object Dealers and Pawnbrokers License and operating the business for over five months without the proper occupancy permits.

As a result, Darryle A. Carter was cited for the zoning violations by the Anne Arundel County Department of Inspections and Permits and a stop work order was issued. A search of the business revealed items suspected of being stolen from retailers across the region and this included the following:

• Over 600 packages of various Health & Beauty Products all New-in-Box (ie. Oil of Olay Products, Rogaine, Alli, Gillette Fusion Razors, Oral B Toothbrushes, Crest Whitening Strips, Vicks Ear Thermometers, Accu Check Strips, etc.)
• Over 250 Vera Bradley purses all New with Tags
• Over 30 Faucets all New-in-Box
• Numerous clothing items with Retailer Tags
• Various Office Supply Products, Housewares, Power Tools, Pet Products, Designer Glasses, Automotive Products, Hand Tools and Arts & Craft Supplies all New in Box.

Additional items seized included a shoplifting detection device, miscellaneous gift cards from retailers and numerous pieces of jewelry. The estimated value of the items seized is over $100,000.

Upon execution of the warrant, detectives met with the owner, Darryle A. Carter, 49, of Bowie, MD, and he was subsequently apprehended on an unrelated charge from Prince George’s County. The investigation is ongoing and numerous theft-related charges are expected for the owner and any other individuals involved in the secondhand business.

It is hard to believe that someone who feels he is qualified to be Mayor, is not shrewd enough to even question the operation of a fencing operation prior to listing it as a campaign headquarters. And why is an ANNAPOLIS candidate headquartered in the COUNTY?

This is not the first “indiscretion” by a Mayoral candidate and some feel it won’t be the last. Good or bad, there are no more secrets.  How will Wayne Taylor address this? Will his decision to hire an alleged fence impact his candidacy? Time will tell. The elections are only seven weeks away.

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