Woman Charged In Essex Kidnapping

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD – A woman with no known connections to a 4-year-old Essex boy has been charged in his kidnapping. Police have charged a D.C. woman in the crime, officials reported Wednesday.

Laronica Shertice Gorham, 30, of the 3700 block of 1st Street Southeast in Washington, D.C., has been charged with kidnapping.

Gorham is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

RELATED: Kidnapping In Essex Reported

The charge came after an incident in an Essex neighborhood where the community helped save the child, according to authorities.

Police said that before 8 p.m. on Friday, June 15, the boy's mother went into her garage in the 1600 block of Renaissance Drive to get him a toy when she heard his scooter hit the ground.

Neighbors said they saw a woman grab the 4-year-old boy in a "bear hug" then walk away holding him toward Back River Neck Road, according to police. They helped the mother find the woman, who was in the 100 block of Back River Neck Road, still holding the child and refusing to release him, officials said.

"...neighbors struggled with the woman to release the child," police said.

The boy suffered minor injuries, and eventually he was able to be reunited with his mother, police said.

Photo of Laronica Shertice Gorham courtesy of the Baltimore County Police Department.