On Sept. 22 Mark J. Lunsford, a Baltimore Police Department (BPD) detective assigned as a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) task-force officer, was charged in federal court with lying and embezzlement, based on a fast-moving investigation conducted by the FBI public-corruption unit in Baltimore, court records show.

According to the criminal complaint and search warrant for Lunsford’s Sykesville home, his DEA work space, and his official vehicle, filed by U.S. Attorney Jonathan Biran and based on a 16-page affidavit written by FBI special agent Brian Fitzell.  The case against Lunsford began in June as a result of information developed from a “confidential human source” that Lunsford was handling in the course of doing DEA investigations. That source provided the FBI with “information regarding the criminal conduct of Lunsford to include Lunsford’s theft of clothing and jewelry from crime scenes (including searches and arrests) and Lunsford’s receiving ‘kickbacks’ of source payment money,”according to Fitzell’s affidavit.

As recently as Sept. 22, the day the charges were filed, the affidavit says, Lunsford was observed participating in such a “kickback,” in which the source he handled was paid, but then later split the proceeds with Lunsford. Items Lunsford allegedly stole include watches, clothing, and Playstation video games. BPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told City Paper that departmental comment may be forthcoming, once Commissioner Bealefeld has a chance to review the details of the freshly charged case.

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A Johns Hopkins University student armed with a samurai sword killed a man who broke into the garage of his off-campus residence early Tuesday, a Baltimore police spokesman said.

According to preliminary reports, a resident of the 300 block of E. University Parkway called police about a suspicious person, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. An off-duty officer responded about 1:20 a.m. to the area with university security, according to Guglielmi. They heard shouts and screams from a neighboring house and found the suspected burglar suffering from a nearly severed hand and lacerations to his upper body, he said.

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

The student told police that he heard a commotion in the house and went downstairs armed with a samurai sword, Guglielmi said. He saw the side door to the garage had been pried open and found a man inside, who lunged at the student. There was no indication that the suspected burglar was armed, however, according to Guglielmi.

Burglars had already stolen two laptops and a Sony PlayStation from the student’s home Monday, Guglielmi said.

Dennis O’Shea, a spokesman for Johns Hopkins, said all four residents of the house are undergraduate students at the university. Police had released three of the roommates by Tuesday afternoon, but the student who wielded the sword remained in custody while investigators worked to corroborate his story with evidence and witness statements. The city state’s attorney’s office will determine whether to press charges, Guglielmi said.

Police have not formally released the name of the suspected burglar, but a department source identified the man as Donald D. Rice, 49, of the 600 block of E. 26th St. in Baltimore. He had 29 prior convictions for crimes such as breaking and entering, according to Guglielmi, and had been released Saturday from the Baltimore County Detention Center after he was arrested by county police in August 2008 for stealing a car in Baltimore. Rice was found guilty in December on one count of unauthorized removal of property, and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Michael Hughes of the 3400 block of University Place, about a block away from the scene, said he was working at his home when he heard screams shortly after 1 a.m.

“I could hear the fear in the voice, and I could tell someone was scared,” said Hughes, 43, who works for Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Hughes said he called police and could hear sirens as he was on the phone. He walked over to the crime scene shortly after.

“The body was near the garage. And I watched them carry the sword out. The whole thing was surreal and totally bizarre,” Hughes said.

By Tuesday afternoon, two pools of blood remained on the ground a few feet away from the door to the garage, which is not connected to the home. A door to a wooden fence surrounding the back yard was broken, allowing the scene to be viewed from the sidewalk.

The three-story house has five bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to Diego Ardila, a junior at Hopkins. Ardila said he lived in the house during the summer and was a roommate of two of the people that currently live there.

Ardila, 19, said one of the roommates owned a samurai sword and generally kept it in his room. Ardila described the student as somewhat outgoing, although they did not speak frequently.

“He kept the sword on top of his cabinet,” Ardila said.

Five people lived at the house during the summer, according to Ardila, who now lives a few blocks away.

“You don’t expect to hear that someone you know killed a guy with a samurai sword. From what little I know of him, he wasn’t some guy going out to kill,” Ardila said.

Guglielmi said it is legal to possess a sword in Baltimore, and “individuals have a right to defend their person and their property.” But the police spokesman said he was not in a position to comment on whether it was appropriate to use a sword, baseball bat or other means of defense.