A 19-year-old Frederick man is facing 11 criminal counts after a Frederick County grand jury indicted him on charges including armed robbery, first-degree assault, and multiple firearm offenses stemming from an encounter in which a masked gunman allegedly threatened to kill a resident who refused to hand over his French Bulldog. Kenwon L. Addison Jr. is being held without bail.
According to The Frederick News-Post, the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office confirmed the indictment, which includes armed robbery, robbery, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, use of a firearm in a felony or violent crime, carrying a handgun, and possession of a firearm by a minor. The office told the paper Addison remained held without bail following a bail review, but declined to answer additional questions, citing ethical restrictions.
The case traces back to a report of a weapons complaint that brought Frederick police to Carlton Place. A resident told officers that a man dressed in black and wearing a black surgical mask knocked on the front door and demanded the resident's dog, warning, “I'm not playing with you. Give me the dog,” and threatening to kill the resident if the door wasn't opened. The resident said they did not personally know the masked man, who fled in a red SUV, and later told police they believed he could be identified through Instagram, though the resident declined to take part in a show-up identification after a subsequent traffic stop.
Traffic Stop Leads to Loaded, Unserialized Handgun
Officer C. Halsleben, identified in the statement of probable cause filed with Frederick County District Court, followed a red Kia Sportage after seeing it back out of a parking space and stopped the vehicle in the 1100 block of Greenwall Place. The officer reported observing the driver making movements consistent with concealing an object beneath the driver's seat. Police then detained Addison and a passenger and searched the vehicle.
Officers recovered a black handgun beneath the driver's seat, loaded with a magazine holding 10 rounds of ammunition, along with two surgical masks and several pieces of dark clothing, the newspaper reported. The handgun had no serial number. Addison admitted he was the primary user of the Kia and acknowledged possessing the firearm while inside the vehicle, though he denied ever removing it from the car.
Under Maryland Public Safety Code § 5-703, which took full effect in March 2023, possessing an unserialized firearm — commonly called a ghost gun — carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to FrizWoods. Separately, Maryland Public Safety Code § 5-133(d) bars anyone under 21 from possessing a regulated firearm such as a handgun, a misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Addison's Account Versus the Resident's
Addison gave police a different account of why he went to the residence. He said someone owed him $500 and that he had told the person the day before that he would come collect the money. He said the person inside ignored him and threatened to release dogs on him, and he acknowledged knocking on both the front and back doors. Addison also told officers he kept the gun in the vehicle for protection because he had previously been robbed himself. Police initially charged him with possessing a firearm before the grand jury handed up the broader indictment.
That account stands in direct conflict with the resident's version, in which the masked man demanded the dog and issued a death threat rather than requesting cash. The statement of probable cause and the newspaper's report present both versions without resolving which is accurate, and it remains an open question for the court to sort out.
Prior Arrest as a Teen in Hagerstown Shooting
This is not Addison's first brush with adult criminal charges in the region. In January 2025, when he was 17, he was arrested at Tuscarora High School in Frederick and charged as an adult by Hagerstown Police with three counts of first-degree assault and reckless endangerment tied to a January 17, 2025 shooting incident, according to 930 WFMD. He was transferred to the Washington County Detention Center following that arrest. Addison had attended Tuscarora, where he played varsity football as a running back and defensive back, per his athletic profile on MaxPreps.
Why a French Bulldog?
The demand for a French Bulldog specifically is not as random as it might sound. French Bulldogs were the most frequently stolen dog breed in the United States between 2019 and 2022, with black-market puppy prices ranging from $3,000 to $10,000, making them attractive targets even for armed robberies, according to a report from Marketplace. Pet theft reports to AKC Reunite rose 140% over that same four-year span. The breed was also the most popular purebred dog in the country in 2023, with 98,500 registrations, having dethroned the Labrador Retriever the year before after the Lab's 31-year run atop the rankings, per WSB Radio.
Steep Sentencing Exposure Ahead
Addison faces significant statutory penalties if convicted on the more serious counts. Armed robbery is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison under Maryland Criminal Law Code § 3-403, and as a designated crime of violence, a conviction would require serving at least half the sentence before parole eligibility, according to the RMP Law Firm. Separately, using a firearm during a crime of violence carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison without parole under Maryland Criminal Law § 4-204, served on top of any robbery sentence, per SoMD Criminal Defense.
The Maryland Office of the Public Defender did not respond to a request for comment by the deadline, the News-Post reported. Addison remains held without bail as the case proceeds through Frederick County courts.
