A Rawlings man faces a variety of charges after a standoff that lasted more than 12 hours. According to the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office on August 11, 2020, at about 1:20 p.m. deputies responded to a Blooming Field Drive residence to serve an active arrest warrant on 55 year old Jeffrey Lee Custer, Sr. When they arrived and contact made with Custer he refused to open the door of his residence and the windows and doors were boarded-up with plywood. Custer also claimed he had gasoline and propane tanks and was going to blow up his residence as well as other residences in the surrounding area. In addition, Custer advised he poured gasoline into the sewer system to spread to other residences. Deputies detected the odor of gasoline; therefore the immediate area was evacuated and a perimeter was set up. A request for additional resources was made at this time. The negotiation team attempted to convince Custer to surrender. After hours of negotiation, a plan was put into place and executed, which resulted in the arrest of Custer at 2:13 a.m., without incident. Custer was served an arrest warrant with the following charges:Jeffrey Lee Custer Sr., Kidnapping, Rape-second degree, Reckless Endangerment, False Imprisonment, Second Degree Assault, Sex Offense-third degree, Arson Threat, First Degree Assault. Custer was held without bail on the above charges. The operation was a success due to the cooperation with several allied agencies, which included: Cumberland City Police, Garrett County Sheriff’s Office, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, C3I, State Highway, Allegany County Government, EMS and Fire Personnel from Allegany County, and Garrett County. These agencies working together resulted in a safe and successful outcome from a potentially deadly situation. Special thanks to the Rawlings Fire department for allowing Law Enforcement and EMS/Fire to set up a command center at their location.
