Two men face firearm and drug charges after St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s deputies stopped two vehicles during a proactive patrol at the Wildewood Community Pool in California early Sunday morning.
Deputies observed a Hyundai Sonata and a Ford Focus in the pool parking lot at about 12:13 a.m. Aug. 16. Both vehicles attempted to leave as deputies approached, prompting traffic stops on each.
As deputies neared the Hyundai, they saw a large glass container in plain view holding suspected marijuana. A probable cause search of the vehicle’s four occupants turned up a loaded Ruger RXM 9mm handgun on the driver, identified as Javen Damar Allen, 20, of Roanoke, Virginia. A search of the vehicle also turned up a backpack containing a digital scale and plastic bag, a loaded handgun magazine with ammunition, and, in a separate bag, a Ruger 57 handgun with a loaded magazine inserted alongside several suspected marijuana buds.
Allen was arrested and charged with possession of a regulated firearm by a minor, wearing a handgun on his person, having a loaded handgun on his person, and two counts of wearing a handgun in a vehicle on public roads. The firearm-by-a-minor charge falls under a Maryland law barring anyone under 21 from possessing a regulated firearm — a misdemeanor carrying up to five years, distinct from a separate, harsher felony provision that applies only to people with prior disqualifying convictions. The wear-and-transport charges stem from Maryland’s core handgun statute, also a misdemeanor with up to five years for a first offense; courts have held that intent isn’t required for conviction under that law, meaning simply having the gun in the vehicle is enough to satisfy the charge.
The Hyundai’s front-seat passenger, Malakai Antonio Gordon, 19, of Mechanicsville, was charged with possession with intent to distribute cannabis and three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia. Maryland reclassified marijuana distribution charges as a misdemeanor in 2023, carrying a maximum of three years and a $5,000 fine — down from felony status before legalization. Prosecutors typically point to items like scales and packaging, which the release says were found in Gordon’s bag, to support the distribution element of the charge.
A rear passenger, James Richard Berry Jr., 19, of Leonardtown, was charged with possession of a regulated firearm by a minor and two counts of knowingly transporting a handgun in a vehicle on public roads — the same statutes applied to Allen.
The Hyundai’s fourth occupant was not charged. The occupants of the Ford Focus were not criminally charged.
This arrest is unrelated to a separate July 27 assault and shots-fired incident at the nearby Wildewood Community Center, which remains under a separate Maryland State Police investigation.
