Judge R. Noel Spence ruled during a hearing Thursday that there was sufficient evidence of "stalking" and "harassment" to grant a temporary peace order against Daniel A. Rohrer, 61, of 6853 Wheeler Road.
The request for the peace order was filed on Tuesday by Crystal Mowery, an animal-control officer for the Humane Society of Washington County and the lead investigator in the case.
Mowery told Spence at the hearing that Rohrer harassed her on several occasions beginning on April 17.
She said the first incident happened on Sharpsburg Pike, where Rohrer followed her in a white van as she approached the turn to her house on Taylors Landing Road.
Rohrer continued to follow her after she turned off, Mowery told the court. He backed off as she approached her home, then drove by after she pulled into the driveway, she said.
Rohrer then turned around and slowly drove past her home again, Mowery said.
The second incident occurred on April 19, when Mowery saw the same van drive past her home in the early evening.
Mowery said she followed the van in her humane society vehicle to obtain a tag number.
She lost sight of the van and drove toward Rohrer's house, where she saw the van in the driveway with the engine still running, Mowery told the court.
Mowery said she called Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies, who determined the vehicle belonged to Rohrer.
Rohrer drove by Mowery's house again on Tuesday in a Ford pickup truck, she told the court.
Mowery said she got in her humane society vehicle, called Maryland State Police and followed the pickup until troopers arrived.
State police pulled over the truck and identified Rohrer as the driver, she said.
Spence set the temporary peace order to last until May 22, when a final hearing is to be held at district court.
Humane society officials seized 95 cows, sheep and goats from Rohrer's farm on Nov. 24, according to previous Herald-Mail Media reports.
Authorities at the time said no feed was available for the emaciated animals.
Dozens of dead animals, bones and a large number of rotting carcasses also were found at the farm, humane society officials have said.
If convicted, Rohrer faces more than seven years in prison and $30,000 in fines, according to court documents.
Among other conditions, Spence ordered Rohrer to stay away from Mowery's home and place of work.
Mowery also has filed a private criminal complaint against Rohrer for intimidating a witness. The allegations in the charging document mirror those in the civil peace order.
(Herald-Mail Media - May 14, 2015)
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