SEPTEMBER 26, 2024
BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
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Knupp accepts deal on misuse of money Hit-and-run victim’s mother gets probation, as judge orders foundation to close By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (Sept. 27, 2024) Tiffany Knupp, the founder of a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising charitable funds in her son’s name, will be placed on probation after entering an Alford plea this week to one of nine charges filed against her in an embezzlement case. In Worcester County District Court Tuesday, Knupp, 43, entered an Alford plea to theft $1,000 to under $25,000, following an investigation involving the Gavin Knupp
Foundation, a nonprofit she helped start following her son’s death. As a condition of her year-long probation, Knupp will pay $6,500 in restitution and will separate herself from the nonprofit, which will be dissolved. “The foundation has done tremendous work. It helped a lot of people,” Knupp’s attorney, Thomas Maronick Jr., said following Tuesday’s court proceeding. “And if there’s some good that’s a part of this, everything that the foundation has done to help people, those funds will be donated to other charities of the board’s choosing. So this is a situation where good will continue to be done.” In an Alford plea, the defendant See KNUPP Page 3
State grants provide body camera boost Pines police seek renewal of contract, new equipment with ‘transparency’ award
STEVE GREEN/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
FIDDLING IN BERLIN The 32nd Annual Berlin Fiddlers Convention was held in Berlin last week. Above, town residents and visitors are pictured on Main Street taking in the live entertainment.
By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (Sept. 26, 2024) The Ocean Pines Association Police Department is recieving a series of grants from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the Maryland Highway Safety Office, including one allocating $35,000 for body cameras. In total, the department received approximately $61,000 in funding from the state, and OPPD Chief Tim Robinson said the funds will help increase officer visibility at neighborhood events and aid the department’s effort to be more transparent. The financial award from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and
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Prevention includes a $3,891 body armor grant. Robinson said that the state provides half the money required for the bulletproof vests while the federal government picks up the remaining cost of $2,485. The chief added that the equipment is expensive, roughly $1,500 per officer, and must be updated every five years. The updates are done on a rotating basis rather than all at once. “If I had to outfit everyone here at one time if we are fully staffed, that is $24,000 … but we stagger them,” Robinson said. “They are bought as new officers are hired, they are fitted for each officer, or when it needs to be replaced, around five years later.” The $35,000 that came from the Crime Control and Prevention Office See GRANTS Page 4
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