La Plata, MD – It was a relationship gone wrong that landed Kathryn Jane Callahan, 27 of Waldorf, before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Monday, June 22 in La Plata.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Campbell told Bragunier that Callahan was pleading to a lesser charge of theft under $100 for theft charges stemming from an October 2014 incident.
“The victim is here,” Campbell said. “Apparently he is not happy with the way this case was resolved.”
“I lost my mother in a house fire,” the victim told the court. “Among the items she stole was a gold necklace I got in Pakistan while serving our country. She stole a diamond ring I took off my dead mother’s hand.
“She’s a drug addict,” he asserted. “She needs serious help. She went out of her way to violate my home.”
Charles County Public Defender Allison Heldreth told Bragunier a different story.
Heldreth said her client and the victim were in a relationship and that she had permission to be in the house.
“She had a key to the house,” she said.
She asserted that the victim was “violent and abusive” and began beating on Callahan.
“She decided to leave the relationship,” Heldreth said, “which is what we encourage victims of domestic violence to do. She is now in a healthy relationship and expecting her first child.”
Heldreth added that Callahan cooperated with authorities and will pay restitution for the items she stole.
“It was an abusive relationship,” she said. “I know emotions are running high right now.”
The victim disputed the public defender’s assertions, stating, “I never laid a hand on a woman in my life.”
Bragunier handed down a sentence of 90 days in the Charles County Detention Center, which she suspended. She ordered Callahan to perform 24 hours of community service and said she would be on three years of unsupervised probation.
She added that Callahan was to have no contact with the victim.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com