Kenneth Allen Woodburn, 32 of Ridge
On Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at approximately 11:55 a.m., Deputy D. Sidorowicz of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence in St. Inigoes for a report of an indecent exposure.
Police made contact with the parents of a 12-year-old girl who advised Kenneth Allen Woodburn, 32 of Ridge, exposed himself to their daughter.
Woodburn has been living at the residence for approximately 4 years, but is not a family member. The mother told police that the night before, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Woodburn showed the 12-year-old victim his erect penis in the hallway of the residence. The mother said the victim was shaking and extremely scared, the victim said that similar incidents had happened over the past few months with Woodburn.
The mother called a family member to remove the 12-year-old from the home, because of how frightened she was.
Police interviewed the victim, who said Woodburn barged into her room while she was babysitting her nephew. She went on to say, Woodburn had been drinking, and when he barged in and he had his pants unzipped, she did not see his penis exposed at that time.
She told Woodburn to leave, and he did for a short period of time before knocking on the door again, when the she opened the door, Woodburn was standing in the doorway to his room across the hall wearing long johns and had his erect penis exposed through the front hole of the long johns. The victim said Woodburn had a blank stare on his face, and was touching his erect penis. The victim advised that she reported the incident to her mother because she is scared that it may escalate into assault of a sexual nature.
Police made contact with Woodburn who denied exposing himself to anyone intentionally, he said the only time anyone may have seen him naked is when he leaves the bathroom and returns to his room.
Woodburn was placed under arrest and charged with indecent exposure and transported to the St. Mary’s County Detention Center where he is currently incarcerated.
Woodburn appeared before a District Court Commissioner, and his bail was set at $15,000.
Kenneth Allen Woodburn, 32 of Ridge
Woodburn posted a picture on his Facebook posing with the dead dog
On March 12, 2014, Kenneth Allen Woodburn 29 of Ridge, shot and killed “Tank” a 1-year-old pit bull after he claimed the dog came onto his property and approached him aggressively. Soon after the shooting, Woodburn posted a picture on his Facebook posing with the dead dog. The family and friends of Tank started a petition to States Attorney Richard Fritz having nearly 50,000 signatures in hopes to have Woodburn charged for killing Tank. Click HERE to see the petition.
On April 9, 2014, Cpl. M. Boyer of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office completed an Application for Statement of Charges against Woodburn charging him with the following:
- Aggravated Cruelty to Animal
- Animal Cruelty
- Reckless Endangerment
According to the statement of charges, Cpl. Boyer completed a follow-up investigation from the original investigation. During the original investigation, Cpl. Corcoran learned of Woodburn’s actions seeing the picture he posted on Facebook. Cpl. Corcoran spoke with Tank’s owners and learned Tank left his residence and entered Woodburn’s back yard. Woodburn told Cpl. Corcoran Tank approached him aggressively and he shot Tank twice “in quick succession”.
Cpl. Boyer spoke with other witnesses who advised they were in a nearby garage when they heard one shot. About 10-20 minutes later, they heard a second shot. Once hearing the second shot the witnesses came out of the garage and observed Tank crawling away from Woodburn’s property. The witness went on to say Tank was “dragging his hind legs” and thought he was about to die. The witness also stated they observed Woodburn following Tank armed with a rifle. Investigators spoke with Woodburn on March 21, 2014 and learned he fired the two shots from his front porch in the direction of other residences and a day care. Witnesses stated Tank had made it to their property after Woodburn had shot him, however the victim located Tank deceased in Woodburn’s yard.
Althiogh Woodburn Admitted to Killing the dog, he was found not guilty of Aggravated Cruelty to Animal, Animal Cruelty and Reckless Endangerment.
Woodburn was represented by Public Defender Gerald Riviello, who stated in closing arguments this was a very tragic case however, Woodburn was justified in killing the dog.
The verdict was given after the State’s witnesses could not prove that Tank was as harmless as they thought he was. The charge of reckless endangerment for shooting towards the direction of a daycare was also a not guilty verdict, after Woodburn’s attorney brought in a diagram showing where the shooting occurred in relation to the daycare.
This case was decided that Tank was running loose without a leash. This is a violation of the St. Mary’s County Animal Control Ordinance. This is the same law that allows anyone to use force if the dog is attacking or aggressive to a person.
