Click below for the police body cam of the arrest of Sheriff Steve Hall’s son on cocaine charges

By Ken Rossignol
THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY
NEWS AND COMMENTARY

UPDATE: Calvert States Attorney Bob Harvey’s
Plea Deal for St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Son

Trent Hall Follows in Sheriff Father’s Criminal Footsteps

• St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Top Commanders Have Trouble Keeping Their Sons Away from Cocaine;
• Arrest of St. Mary’s Sheriff Steve Hall’s son Trent Hall by Calvert Sheriff on a Cocaine Rap Echoes Many Cocaine Arrests of Son of former St. Mary’s Narcotics Captain Daniel Alioto;
• Assistant Sheriff Steven Doolan Illegally Releasing to his DUI Killer Stepson Building Materials Seized from Drug Dealer;
• Sheriff Richard Voorhaar and Posse of Deputies 1998 Raid on Newsstands on Election Eve Ruled Unconstitutional by Federal Court.

There are many traditions in the annals of St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department and Keystone Cops, such as the Order of the Cinderblock Building, The Steve Doolan Midnight Building Supply, the Fritz and Voorhaar Night Raiders, The Lyle Long Anger Management School, The Kindergarten Cops Detective Squad, The Steve Hall Baby in the Crib Shooting Contest, The Seafarer’s Union Plant in the St. Mary’s Sheriff Department and more.

Excerpt from charging document of cocaine arrest of Trent Hall

LEONARDTOWN, MD.  Trent Allen Hall, of 2530 Whippoorwill Way, Huntingtown, Md., (DOB 4/9/1997), the son of St. Mary’s Sheriff Steven Hall, was arrested on January 6, 2024, by Calvert Sheriff Deputy C. Shoemaker on charges of possession of cocaine. 

Calvert Sheriff Ricky Cox issued this report on the arrest of the son of St. Mary’s Sheriff Steve Hall:

“On January 6, 2024, DFC Shoemaker initiated a traffic stop near the Cove Point Self Storage located on Cove Point Road in Lusby after the driver was observed speeding. Upon making contact with the driver, Trent Allen Hall, 26, of Great Mills, DFC Shoemaker observed suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia in plain view. Further investigation revealed a plastic containing white powder (suspected cocaine) and 3 cut straws containing a white powdery residue were located inside the vehicle. Hall was placed into custody and transported to the Calvert County Detention Center where he was charged with CDS: Possession-Not Marijuana and CDS: Possession of Paraphernalia.”

Trent Hall was allegedly with a motorist in St. Mary’s City, Md., who was recently charged with gun and drug possession on a traffic stop by a Maryland State Trooper. There is no record of any charges placed against Trent Hall in that incident. Two addresses for Trent Hall in the past year are available on Maryland Court records, one near Winters Sheet Metal in Callaway and another at a residence off of Plum Point Road near Huntingtown in Calvert County.

 In the Calvert cocaine arrest, Trent Hall has hired noted criminal defense attorney Melissa Miller, daughter of the late Maryland Senate President and vaunted criminal lawyer Thomas V. “Mike” Miller. An appearance in the District Court for Calvert County is scheduled for February 12, 2024. Melissa Miller entered her appearance on January 11, 2024, and has filed motions for discovery and inspection of evidence and to exclude and suppress evidence in the arrest.  

District Court Commissioner DeVante Meullion reviewed the bail determination for Trent Hall on January 6, 2024, and released Hall on his own recognizance with no bail required.

CRIMINAL BACKGROUND OF STEVEN HALL NOT DISCLOSED BEFORE EMPLOYMENT WITH ST. MARY’S SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

The process for employment at the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department in 1994, in the last year of the final term of Sheriff Wayne Lee Pettit, was to submit a complete background investigation compiled by the department investigators, approved by the division commanders, Lt. Phil Cooper and Lt. Richard Voorhaar to Captain Greg Copado for a final decision to hire a new correctional officer at the St. Mary’s Jail. Included in such an employment folder was the application of the prospective hire, Steven Hall. 

Sheriff Pettit would never have hired Steven Hall to be a member of his department had he disclosed his criminal conviction on a violent assault charge in the State of Colorado that included serving six days in jail were that included in his application. The hiring and promotional practices of the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department had just undergone a thorough review by the United States Federal Court in litigation brought by five persons who were either applicants or employees of the agency and were denied either hiring or promotion by Sheriff Pettit. The litigation resulted in a sizable financial settlement paid by the taxpayers of St. Mary’s County, either directly or through county insurance premiums paid to the Local Government Insurance Trust. 

Also, that year, Sheriff Pettit was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination to the Maryland State Senate District 29 seat created by the retirement of Senator Bernie Fowler.  The winner of that primary election was former Congressman Roy Dyson, who beat Pettit, former Del. John William Quade, and attorney David Densford.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACKS BY ST. MARY’S SHERIFF PETTIT SEALED WITH A PAYOFF TO END FEDERAL LAWSUIT

While Sheriff Wayne L. Pettit fostered a discriminatory environment towards the hiring of blacks in the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department, with Sergeant Ernest Carter achieved the rank of Sergeant only after and as a result of the federal litigation alleging the violation of their civil rights was filed on May 4, 1989, by attorney David Moore of Baltimore in United States District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of Ernest S. Carter, Sheila D. Benjamin, Andrew I. Holton Jr., and Wendell Paul Williams III.  The action demanded payment of damages in the amount of $9,999,000.  The defendants were Pettit, Philip R. Cooper, and the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners.  Cooper was dropped from the lawsuit on August 18, 1989.

The federal judge ordered on June 25, 1992, for the case to proceed to trial on Count II of the Complaint as if subject to the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and in accordance with the plaintiff’s jury demand as therein set forth.

On June 17, 1993, after Federal Judge Marvin J. Garbis ordered the case to go to trial, the parties agreed on a settlement of an undisclosed sum of damages payable to the plaintiffs, leaving the taxpayers without any accountability to hold Sheriff Pettit responsible.  Carter continued to be discriminated against by Sheriff Richard Voorhaar in promotions and duties and retired in 1999. Benjamin quit the agency, Holton continued to serve the public, and finally retired in 2023, while applicant Williams was never hired.

St. Mary’s Sheriff top commander lied to trial board to get correctional officer fired after ruckus at Ocean City bar during conference

Turmoil at the Top! St. Mary’s Sheriff Narco Boss Capt. Dan Alioto Booted

Turmoil at the Top of St. Mary’s Department

UPDATE

• When Captain Alioto was suspended pending the outcome of an investigation, he was left without wheels to leave the Sheriff’s Headquarters, as his police vehicle was also removed from his possession.  The choice? Call Uber. Reportedly, the new Assistant Sheriff Michael UnAmerican gave him a ride home.
• According to THE SHADOW, who always has the best on the inside scoop in the Keystone Cops Sheriff’s Department, Merican was the first to let Alioto know he was appointed to the post that everyone thought would go to Alioto.
• Get the latest news of the story behind the sudden retirement of Capt. Dan Alioto.
  Alioto and his wife were reportedly on vacation with Sheriff Tim Cameron and his wife in the Bahamas in February.
• When they returned, the next day, Alioto was called into Sheriff Cameron’s office and ordered to turn in his gun and his badge due to turmoil and allegedly lies in an investigation.
• Neither Alioto or Cameron has responded to several requests for comment.  Sheriff Cameron successfully dodges all questions on his administration of the Sheriff’s Department by claiming privilege due to personnel matters – thus depriving the taxpayers of key facts concerning the spending of millions of tax dollars. 

St. Mary’s Sheriff suspends two captains on heels of admission cops were shooting at occupied homes