GAITHERSBURG

Weed woes: The Navajo have an old saying about jimson weed, the plant suspected of being the poison in a Gaithersburg grandma’s stew that sent six family members to the hospital: “Eat a little, and go to sleep. Eat some more, and have a dream. Eat some more, and don’t wake up.”

Montgomery County health officials found pieces of the hallucination-causing plant mixed in with the mint cuttings the grandma used to flavor her stew, tossing out the theory that the illness was caused by a pesticide. Final tests are still pending, but all signs point to the prolific weed as the cause. Those who fell ill have recovered. – Freeman Klopott

FAIRFAX CITY

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Snakes check out: Samuel L. Jackson wasn’t around to deal with the 17 snakes, including 12 venomous ones, found in a Fairfax City hotel, so animal control officers had to handle it. Fairfax City police said they were called by the management of Hy-Way Motel at 9640 Fairfax Blvd. around 9:30 p.m. Thursday to investigate a suspicious odor coming from a room. The officers discovered the snakes, which were being kept in containers.

The person who rented the room July 6 was not there and was not located. The snakes were removed Friday morning and sent to an exotic animal zoo in central Virginia.

The 12 poisonous varieties were identified as African puff adders, cottonmouths, rhinoceros vipers, albino cottonmouths, speckled rattlesnakes plus a nonvenomous black-headed python. Charges are pending. – Freeman Klopott

GERMANTOWN

Motorcycle crash: Alexander Monday Weisser, 33, of Germantown, died late Thursday night when his 2005 Honda motorcycle crashed into a 2003 Honda Accord on a hill on Middelbrook Road in Germantown, Montgomery County police said. Weisser crashed as he crested the hill and Melanie Rae Shapiro, 17, of Germantown, turned her Accord from Ridgecrest Drive onto Middlebrook Road.

Weisser, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown from the motorcycle. – Freeman Klopott

UPPER MARLBORO

Child pornography: A Maryland man pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge on Friday, after prosecutors seized hundreds of explicit digital and Polaroid photographs from his Upper Marlboro home.

Police state they discovered more than 600 photos of children engaged in sexual acts on the home computer of 57-year-old Gary Jorandby. Additionally, they found about 200 Polaroid photos of a young girl, who Jorandby said was 4 years old when he began taking the pictures, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Maryland.

Jorandby could face up to 20 years in prison. He is expected to appear before Judge Deborah Chasanow on Oct. 20. – Eric Roper