A Towson-based home detention monitoring company that primarily tracks Maryland offenders faced scrutiny after a teenager under its supervision was charged with fatally shooting two people earlier this year.

Now, the state has suspended the operational license of Advantage Sentencing Alternative Programs, Inc. (ASAP) and fined it $2,500, according to a letter sent to the company Tuesday by Carolyn J. Scruggs, secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

After an investigation, the state ordered the company to return its license to the Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards; cease monitoring Marylanders; and provide personal information for those under its supervision, the letter said.

Tuesday’s order comes just months after Emmetson Zeah was charged with first-degree murder and assault for a fatal double shooting he allegedly committed in Howard County while being monitored by the company.

Two teenagers were shot in the area of the Lidl grocery store in the 10300 block of Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia just before 6 p.m. on Feb. 22. One, 16-year-old Michael Robertson, was pronounced dead at the scene. Blake McCray, 15, died a week later.

In charging documents, police say Zeah, 18, confessed to both shootings. His ankle monitor placed him at the scene of the shootings, and police recovered a gun from his home, according to charging documents.

“Marylanders deserve public safety partners on whom we can all rely to uphold standards for supervision and keep our communities safe. After investigating this matter, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services found that Advantage Sentencing Alternative Programs, Inc. failed to meet our standards,” a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore’s office said in an email.

According to the letter, the company has 30 days to submit a written request for a hearing challenging the actions proposed on Tuesday. If they do not, the actions will stand.

In the letter, Scruggs argued that the company’s failure to notify officials about Zeah’s violations in a timely manner jeopardized public safety. Maryland law requires home detention monitoring agencies to notify the Division of Parole and Probation of any violations by offenders. Failure to do so results in a $1,000 fine for the first day the agency doesn’t give notice and $250 for the days after that.

Advantage Sentencing Alternative Programs, Inc. faces $1,000 for not alerting officials about Zeah on Feb. 13 and $250 for the six days after that, according to the letter. The company must pay the $2,500 civil penalty within the next two weeks, according to the letter.

A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said that at the end of April, a total of 232 individuals were under supervision with ASAP’s ankle monitors and 883 were on private home detention monitoring.

“At this time, we are unable to address questions related to the transition, as ASAP was only formally notified today of the Secretary’s decision,” the statement read. “The phasing out process will likely occur through the courts, where judges may reassign individuals currently under ASAP’s supervision to another Private Home Detention Monitoring Agency.”

Advantage Sentencing Alternative Programs, Inc. is a home monitoring equipment company headquartered in Towson. The Baltimore County-based company was founded in 1994 and primarily monitors those living in Maryland, but they’ve expanded to other states, such as California, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia, according to their website.

Advantage Sentencing Alternative Programs, Inc. did not respond to a request for comment.