Today we reported on a reversal by the Police Department, reinstating the decades-long policy of naming officers who shoot or kill. Police quietly began withholding the names - possibly in violation of state law - in late 2008, and in January 2009 we got them to confirm that it was in fact a policy shift. To many, it wasn't so much about knowing any individual officer's name, but the symbolism of a department that was seeking to rebuild trust with the community seemingly on a whim deciding to restrict the information. They hit plenty of stumbling blocks, including the admission that none of the 23 threats against police that they had used to justify the change were related to police shootings. A cat-and-mouse game ensued, redacting names from public documents, or writing only an officer's badge number in charging documents.

Policies vary from city to city, but all Maryland departments release the names and St. Louis police just reversed their policy and no longer withhold them. "There will be times when, to protect cases or lives, the department will withhold information that should be available to the public. But, those occasions should be rare," said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

So what caused yesterday's change of heart? The department says publicly that they were just taking their time to weigh opinions from various stakeholders. But that doesn't hold much water considering the Fraternal Order of Police and the incoming mayor weren't even given a heads up until the decision had been made. It probably has more to do with Stephanie Rawlings-Blake about to take over as mayor - of course, we reminded everyone on this blog earlier this month that Rawlings-Blake was against the police department's decision last year to withhold the names, though aides told me that as a remedy she was leaning towards posting investigative documents online and keeping the names restricted. Will this work as a pre-emptive strike by the police department or will she push her idea?

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Police shootings, Top brass
        

Today, we start a new weekly feature, Best of the Blotter, a look back at the funniest, strangest, distrubing and serious crimes that were too small for a big headline but too important to residents to leave out of the paper.

Richard Irwin, our venerable police scribe, has listing purse snatchings, muggings, shootings and other mayhem for three newspapers and under the close eye of 10 mayors (soon to be 11) and 13 police commissioners. The feature, popular both on-line and in print, turned 30 last year and we celebrated with a cake adorned with Dick's very first blotter published in the News-American in 1979.

So without further ado, here's the first installment:

Western Baltimore
Shooting/arrest: An 18-year-old male was arrested Saturday and charged with the attempted murder of a man, 22, in the 2200 block of N. Fulton Ave. near Liberty Heights Avenue hours earlier. The victim was standing in the block about 9:40 p.m. when he was shot in the right buttock. Police said the victim ran two blocks to a house, where he was found by police and was taken by a city Fire Department ambulance to Sinai Hospital. He was expected to survive. Arrested at an undisclosed location and charged with attempted murder, assault by shooting and a handgun violation was Dion Wilson, of the 2800 block of Gwynns Falls Parkway. Wilson was being held at Central Booking and Intake Center. Police had no motive for the shooting.

Theft -- A 2007 Ford Taurus was parked in the 400 block of E. Eager St. on Sunday when someone broke a window and stole a remote-controlled toy car valued at $40.

Eastern Baltimore
Theft -- Three ladders, all worth nearly $900, were stolen from a vehicle parked in the 3700 block of Duncanwood Lane between Jan. 19 and Friday.

Church burglary -- Someone broke into Israel Baptist Church in the 1200 block of N. Chester St. through a window between Sunday and Tuesday and stole a microwave oven and a soft-drink vending machine.

Robbery -- A deliveryman for a distributing company was outside a liquor store in the 2300 block of Barclay St. about 5 p.m. Tuesday when a man armed with a handgun robbed him of liquor valued at $182.

Theft -- Someone entered a second-floor bedroom of a house in the 1600 block of Cliftview Ave. on Tuesday and stole a Wii system valued at $200.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Best of the Blotter, East Baltimore, South Baltimore
        

UPDATE: Here's more from the Delaware News Journal. The suspect is a competitive figure skater, and some neighbors think they now know why shoes vanished from their front porch.

Police in Delaware announced Friday night that they have arrested a man in connection with a spree of burglaries over the past two decades in which thousands of pairs of men's shoes and photos of men were stolen.

The break in the case came after a passerby spotted three duffel bags of shoes left in a Maryland creek near the Delaware line and reported seeing a person drive off in a yellow Mitubishi Eclipse, according to authorities.

Police said the suspect, from Delaware, mainly targeted student housing in the off-campus area of the University of Delaware, striking during breaks such as Christmas and Easter.

Police said the searched the man's home and seized 150 boxes of shoes and photograhs, photos taken from a college fraternity, eight guitars, one mandolin, eight snowboards, a surfboard and sports equipment, all linked to burglaries.

Authoritie also said they confirmed that the shoes found in the Maryland creek were from the burglaries, which they said span a period of 20 years.

Walter J. Rubincan, 46, of Newark, has been charged with 25 counts of burglary, 77 counts of theft and 15 counts of criminal mischief.

Here's a statement from police in Newark, Delaware:

SUBJECT: Shoe Burglar In Custody

The Newark Police Department announces the arrest of the “Shoe Burglar”.  Working from the description of the yellow Mitsubishi Eclipse provided by a witness, the investigator was able to connect the defendant to numerous burglaries and thefts involving men’s shoes and photographs of men.

Three truckloads of stolen property were recovered from the defendant’s house.  The property includes approximately 150 boxes of shoes and photographs.  A count has not yet been conducted, but it is a safe estimate that the boxes contain several thousand shoes.  Several fraternity composite pictures were also seized.  The remaining recovered items include eight guitars, one mandolin, eight snowboards, a surfboard, and sports equipment that were also stolen during the burglaries.  It has been confirmed that the shoes recovered last week from the Little Elk Creek in Cecil County, MD were part of the shoe burglar’s stash.  The investigation revealed that the defendant has been stealing shoes in and around Newark for about 20 years.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Breaking news, Crime elsewhere
        

The Sun reported this week that three military veterans have been slain in Baltimore in the past month - more than the number of combat-related deaths in Iraq during that time period - and today comes news that a man accused of killing a former Marine and two-time Purple Heart recipient last February in Northeast Baltimore has pleaded guilty.

According to a press release from prosecutors, 26-year-old homeless man Matthew Hooper will be sentenced next month, exactly a year from the day Hoeck's family members found him dead in his home. The plea agreement calls for him to receive no more than life in prison with all but 50 years suspended and no less than life in prison with all but 30 years suspended. In English, that means he should receive between 30 and 50 years in prison.

Here's the article that we wrote about Hoeck at the time of his death. Hoeck, 62, lived alone and was known as "Mr. Dan" to his neighbors in Northeast Baltimore. When police arrested Hooper, it was among six cases closed in one day last year. Hooper was accused of breaking in to Hoeck's home to steal tools and stabbing Hoeck when confronted.

Below is the press release from the State's Attorney's Office:

MATTHEW HOOPER PLEADS GUILTY TO FIRST-DEGREE MURDER AND FIRST-DEGREE BURGLARY

Sentencing Scheduled for February 12, 2010
           
            Baltimore, MD – January 29, 2010 – At a hearing today before his scheduled trial was to begin, Matthew Hooper, 27, of the 1600 block of Joplin Street pled guilty to first-degree murder and first-degree burglary. 

            The terms of the plea agreement, announced in open court, call for Hooper to be sentenced to no more than life in prison suspend all but 50 years and no less than life in prison suspend all but 30 years.  Judge Lynn K. Stewart scheduled sentencing for February 12, 2010.

            On February 12, 2009 a family member discovered the body of Daniel Hoeck, 46, at a residence in the 6100 block of Glenoak Avenue.  The family member had been attempting to call Hoeck and when there was no answer, the family member decided to check on Hoeck.  The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Hoeck’s cause of death as homicide by stabbing.  During the ensuing investigation, police identified Hoeck as a suspect and he subsequently gave a statement to police.  Police also recovered his DNA from the scene.

            Hooper remains held without bail at the Baltimore City Detention Center.  Assistant State’s Attorney Tonya LaPolla of the Homicide Division prosecuted this case.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northeast Baltimore
        

Federal customs officials announced this morning that they arrested a Baltimore man returning from Ghana with more than 6 pounds of heroin hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase. The seizure was made at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport.

Here is a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection:

Customs and Border Protection officers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport arrested Baltimore resident Suleiman Zakaria on Tuesday after allegedly smuggling nearly seven pounds of heroin in a suitcase.

Zakaria, 26, had just returned from Ghana shortly after 6 p.m. when a roving CBP officer referred him for a secondary examination.  CBP officers routinely staff the passenger arrivals area and randomly select passengers for secondary examinations.

CBP officers discovered 3.08 kilograms, or six pounds, 13 ounces of heroin in hidden in a false bottom of a suitcase Zakaria allegedly possessed.  CBP officers also seized $5,980 Zakaria possessed. The heroin has a wholesale value of up to $430,000.

"This seizure significantly illustrates CBP’s multi-layered approach to combating narcotics smuggling in the international passenger environment," said Stephen Dearborn, CBP Acting Port Director for the Port of Baltimore. "Our officers frequently rely on technology to target smuggling trends and detect concealment methods, but this seizure shows that officer intuition remains one of our most potent enforcement tools."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Zakaria into custody.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Breaking news
        

Baltimore prosecutors today cleared a Johns Hopins University undergraduate student from New Jersey in the killing of an intruder near campus in September of last year.

The State's Attorney ruled that John Pontolillo, 20, reasonably feared for his life when he killed Donald D. Rice, who had 29 convictions that included breaking and entering and car theft. The case brought national attention to Hopkins, in large part because of the unique weapon that was used, and the student has never talked publicly.

Here is the letter from prosecutors:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Breaking news, Courts and the justice system
        

A new study released today attempts to use socioeconomic data to better compare big city homicide figures and determine whether a city’s crime is essentially better or worse than one would expect given poverty, median income, unemployment, race composition and female-headed households. In a nutshell, they're trying to determine which places may be overcoming demographic challenges through programs and policies, and which should be doing a heck of a lot better. Unfortunately for Baltimore, the study shows that we're basically right where the demographics suggest we should be.

Using data from 2008 and the first half of 2009, researchers from the Improving Crime Data program found that some cities, such as Detroit, Cleveland and Atlanta, end up falling down the list of deadliest cities, indicating those places have a lower homicide rate than would be expected based on its level of socioeconomic disadvantage. Detroit fell from No. 2 all the way to No. 53, indicating that, in other words, things in Detroit could have been a lot worse in 2008 given their demographics.

I’m not sure if that’s comforting for the city with the top homicide rate in the country, but one of the researchers, Robert Friedmann of Georgia State University, put a positive spin on it. "If you're a CEO flying out to Detroit considering whether to move your business there, the ranking shows you its not as bad as you initially thought," he said.

Other cities, such as San Jose, San Francisco, Albuquerque, N.M. and Colorado Springs, Col. shot up the list. Or in other words, according to the researchers, even though crime appears low, something isn’t going right in those cities. Friedmann told me San Francisco officials have been angered at the fact that each year their city soars in the rankings, an indication that they're dropping the ball given their favorable demographics.

There wasn’t much good news for Baltimore in the rankings. Along with St. Louis, the researchers determined our crime was about what would be expected - with both cities ranking at the top of either list. Baltimore fell from three to five between the unadjusted and adjusted lists in 2008, surpassed by Oakland, Calif. and Kansas City. In the first half of 2009, we fell from two to three, surpassed by...St. Louis.

It should be noted that the list featured 63 cities, with, from what I can tell, the main criteria being a population of at least 250,000 people. Cities that general FBI data showed were among the tops in murder rate, including New Orleans, La. (the top city), Birmingham, Ala., Jackson, Miss, Baton Rouge, La. and Flint, Mich. were not among those that were considered in this study. I wonder how including more cities in the analysis might have changed Baltimore’s ranking.

The study also fails to take into account some of the drivers of the socioeconomic data that they're studying, some of which has a lot to do with simply how a city's boundaries are drawn. For example, Los Angeles' city limits stretch far, gobbling up lots of more affluent areas that drive up the population and bring little crime with. Think Baltimore if it included Baltimore County. Baltimore and Washington DC, meanwhile, have tight boundaries drawn around the urban core.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Confronting crime, Crime elsewhere
        

The story out of Baltimore County is shocking: an experienced dog groomer and vet technician accused by police of being involved in a dog fighting ring. Police raided a home on Lange Street as part of a drug investigation and say they found more than they bargained for (picture at left):

They allege the kitchen had been turned into a virtual medical clinic with tubs of medication, gauze and other medical supplies. Most, they said, had been taken from the suspect's current and previous employers. Cops said they found a dog collar with bite marks and shackles with weights, and they said a treadmill was used to train the pit bulls. They said it appeared the fenced-in back yard was the arena as most of the grass had been torn up.

Police arrested three people, including the groomer, Nicole Marie Caruso, a popular groomer at the SoBo Dog Day Care in South Baltimore's Locust Point.

But colleagues there and at her former job, the Animal Medical Clinic in Timonium, had nothing but good comments about Caruso (at left) and expressed doubt that police had the story straight. Caruso, they told me, is an avid animal rights activist who took in strays and treated her six pit bulls as if they were her children. Customers from Towson drove to Locust Point just so she could take care of their dogs.

Police found a lot of questionable things in Caruso's town house (including, they said, drugs and evidence that her roommates were selling marijuana in the neighborhood) but they don't prove an organized dog fighting ring. They charged her and her boyfriend with possession of animals with the intent to train for fighting.

Friends and co-workers say Caruso at worst became entangled with some questionable roommates and a boyfriend with a criminal record and was trying to get them out of her home and herself out of the troubled relationship. Was the treadmill used to train dogs to fight or did Caruso buy it for $30 off Craigslis to lose weight? Was the address book police found in a kitchen drawer -- with names of people and names of their animals -- evidence of a dog fighting ring or simply Caruso's client list for grooming?

Friends said her dogs fought each other while playing in the backyard, and that Caruso used her medicine and skills to patch them up. But police seized a lot of drugs that seems to indicate a full-scale vet shop in the home indicative of more than treating a few scars. One suspect told police that Caruso would give dogs IV drips of saline.

Caruso and her family declined to talk. We'll see how this case unfolds.

Here is what Baltimore County police said they found inside the home, according to charging documents filed in court:

Three pit bulls.

14 small baggies of greenish brown vegetable matter suspected to be marijuana. They were in a white change purse on a dresser in the second floor master bedroom.

Several unused Ziploc baggies from a box in the top of the dresser in the bedroom. Police believe these demonstrate the intent to package drugs for sale.

Six Percocet pills in a jewelry box in the upstairs bedroom.

A large dog collar with several bite marks that was found in the basement.

An address book with owners names and dog names in quotation marks with phone numbers, found in a drawer to the right of the kitchen sink.

Several photographs of dogs fighting and injuries, inclduing one that showed the face of a pit bull with a wound to the face and back leg, and another with teeth marks to the face, and a third with a dog with scars. They were found on a desk in the kitchen and in a bedroom closet. Police also found photos of the same gos "in good health and not injured."

A makeshift collar made out of a set of leg irons and shackles wrapped with a 2.5 poound weight, found underneath the kitchen sink.

A bulk amount of dog vaccines (Corona virus Vaccine and K9 Distemper), found in the refridgerator.

A syringe containing an uknown clear liquid in the top right kitchen drawer.

Two large Ziploc baggies with a large quantity of Prednisone-Cortical Steroid, a peach colored pill, found in a drawer next to the kitchen sink and in the basement. The drugs are used as an anti-inflammatory.

One large Ziploc baggie containing Cephalexin, a green colored pill used as an Antibiotic.

One large Ziploc baggies with Lupin, a green colored pill.

One large Ziploc bagge of Metronidzaole, also an Antibiotic.

One large Ziploc baggies of Diphenhydramine, a seditive.

One gallon of Hydrogen Peroxide.

One large tup of miscellaneous medical supplies including IV needles and IV fluids used to rehyrdrade and provide nutrients.

A trash bag of more medical supplies, including a box of sterile syringes, latex gloves and IV solutiions.

A treadmill containing several muddy paw prints on the running surface.

Numerous kennels.

Police said: "The kitchen on the second floor was set up to operate as a makeshift dog supply area where medications and other supplies were being stored."

Police also said that patrol officers heard complaints from neighbors about fighting dogs, that one complained of being bitten and another said he saw a man beat a dog with a stick in the backyard. "All of the above informatin is evidence of the intent to train, use and heal dogs for the purposes of conducting an illegal dog fighting operation," police wrote in the charging document.

Police said that one of the suspects admitted to selling marijuana in what are called "nickel bags" that go for $5 on the street. The person said he makes about $215 per ounce.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

DISCLAIMER: Some of the photos contained within the link contain explicit language.  

In 1999, Peter Barry began documenting the memorial graffiti he was seeing throughout Baltimore while roaming the city streets.

"Troy was my first, across the street from the Sugar Hill Tavern on Druid Hill Avenue in 'Whitelock City,'" Barry told me. "I asked people, 'You know what R.I.P. means?' 'It's on tombstones!' they said."

"I started to record the images because I felt people were not aware of the scale of the graffiti citywide. I wanted to show the amount, the connection."

With a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, he bought film and scanned images from all over the city. Tombstones, names, birth and death dates, liquor bottle and teddy bear altars, short messages that he calls "utterances" ("Solider from cradle to the grave," "Death before dishonor," for example). He took before and after pictures, of the graffiti tags and attempts to cover them up. One of the photos was taken at a gathering following the 2002 firebombing of the Dawson house - the graffiti was in full view of a ceremony that involved community leaders and elected officials.

 One of the most striking to me, besides some of the messages left on the sides of buildings, was a collection of empty bottles of malt liquor. There must have been hundreds.

Barry said he wrote a note to himself in 2004 when he realized that many residents didn't even realize the graffiti was there: "We must hold the mirror up. There should be no bliss for those who choose to ignore."

"This is why I photograph, to tell stories," he said.

Click here to see Barry's slideshow of pictures. There's 72 in all.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Gangs
        

-Nick Madigan writes about a Baltimore County woman who is accused of scamming former classmates at Dundalk High School into thinking she had terminal stomach cancer. Prosecutors say Dina M. Perouty, who was convicted of a mortgage scheme a few years ago in Carroll County, took at least $12,000 from her victims, among them champion skateboarder and Dundalk native Bucky Lasek, who flew Perouty out to California and paid for her to go to Disneyland - one of the things that was apparently on her "bucket list."

-Peter Hermann profiles a bizarre case out of Newark, Del., where a man is believed to have been stealing shoes, pictures of men, and boxer shorts for the past six years. Two-hundred-and-fifty shoes turned up in Maryland on Sunday, in Elkton. In other news, the Newark Police Department's evidence control unit is seeking a grant to buy Gold Bond foot powder in bulk. (No, not really)

-Julie Bykowicz reports that Gov. Martin O'Malley who has proposed reforms to sex offender laws, has activated an advisory board formed four years ago that never met. Former Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., O'Malley's father-in-law, will serve as the chairman. Bykowicz reported the other day that many of the state's laws dealing with sex offenders aren't even being enforced.

-Over at the Investigative Voice, Stephen Janis has been reporting on the unraveling of an apparent scheme in which a convicted sex offender was able to continue to get paid by the city while serving jail time. Officials are exploring whether other Department of Public Works employees helped Dennis McLaughlin forge medical leave slips, the site reports.

-Tricia Bishop reports that attempted murder charges have been thrown out against two Baltimore men accused of trying to kill a former Black Guerrilla Family gang member. The victim changed his story last week. One of the suspects' attorneys had filed a rare appeal to the federal courts for intervention in the case, attempting to get his client freed pending trial.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County, City Hall, Courts and the justice system, Crime elsewhere
        

Today's story on Marine Pfc. Daurius Ray (at left) is one of redemption and sorrow -- a young man who overcame a rough start, being in foster care, to become a track star and then a member of the armed services who got killed at a party in a dispute not of his making.

Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton captures his life and death in today's paper; he's third member of the military to die a violent death in Baltimore since Dec. 20. The loss of Ray was not a typical loss for this city. The only glimmer seems to be his foster family who provided him a stable life.

(From Justin: It should be noted that it was readers of this blog who pointed out that more American service members had been killed here in the city than in combat in Iraq over the past month. I doubted it at first, but it's true - there have been four service members killed in Iraq in that time frame, but only one was combat-related. Yes, most of the casualties are in Afghanistan these days, but there's still more than 100,000 soldiers in Iraq, according to Reuters.)

Then, on Tuesday, we learned the Baltimore area lost another Marine, this time fighting in Afghanistan. Brent Jones reports:

A 22-year-old Marine from Towson was killed Saturday in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Lance Cpl. Jeremy M. Kane was assigned to the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. Kane died in combat in the Helmand province. He was the first armed-services member from the Baltimore area killed in combat this year. Kane joined the Marines in May 2007. He was serving his first tour in Afghanistan

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Heroes
        

A former city police officer is due in court this week after being charged last month with posing as an undercover officer at a Southwest Baltimore high school.

School police say 26-year-old Pierre Dorsey, of the 4400 block of Shamrock Ave., told an officer he was working for the principal of Edmondson High School on an undercover detail to investigate illegal activities occurring in the school and crimes that involved students at nearby Edmondson Village Shopping Center.

But Dorsey said he did not have any identification, and the principal said that she had not asked Dorsey to conduct any observation, according to records. She believed he had been assigned there by the Police Department. When she approached him, he had flashed a yellow Baltimore City license and said  he was not required to carry a badge in his undercover capacity, records show.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Schools
        

Baltimore police are investigating the rape of a woman inside her home in Reservoir Hill, and are trying to determine whether it's related to a series of other attacks in recent months.

As you might remember, police are still searching for the person responsible for a series of East Baltimore assaults in which women were attacked at bus stops and raped in public places. Police have told us that in those attacks, they found the DNA profiles of at least two suspects but have not been able to make a match. After this weekend's attack, The Baltimore Sun's Liz Kay reports that police are expediting DNA and other forensic tests in their efforts to find a suspect.

Police have created a 24-hour tip line, 888-223-0033, for anyone with information on the attacks.

Here is some of Liz's story that is now posted on the Baltimore Sun's web site:

The woman was sleeping in her first-floor apartment in the 2400 block of Callow Ave. when she awoke at about 7 a.m. and saw a man standing above her, according to Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman. The man apparently came in through an open window and made his way to her bedroom, Moses said.

The woman told police that the suspect covered her mouth and sexually assaulted her, then forced her to clean herself. Police do not believe the man was armed, but Moses said the victim was unable to provide a detailed description of the suspect.

Sunday's incident seems similar to three burglary-rapes and one incidence of sodomy reported between May 2008 and November 2009, said the Police Department's chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Neighborhoods, West Baltimore
        

                                                                                       NEW DEVELOPMENTS 

Baltimore County Police say they have broken up a dog fighting ring in North Point. Here are some picture supplied by authorities of items taken during a raid and a statement:

Police Bust Dog Fighting Operation in Precinct 12/North Point

Violent Drug Dealers Involved in Other Illegal Activities

The Baltimore County Police Department will be holding a press conference on Tuesday, January 26, at 11 a.m. at the Public Safety Building, 700 East Joppa Road in Towson, to announce the arrest of several violent drug dealers discovered fighting dogs in Precinct 12/North Point. Chief Jim Johnson will discuss the investigation and the drug culture associated with dog fighting.

In November 2009, while investigating a first-degree assault in Precinct 12/North Point police officers were made aware of rival drug groups in the 7500-block of Lange Street, 21224. The two rival groups had been responsible for disorder in the neighborhood for months. After an extensive investigation, Precinct 12/North Point police detectives served two search warrants in the 7500-block of Lange Street on January 21, 2010. Found were numerous items indicating that illicit drugs were being sold.

Police detectives also discovered what appeared to be a dog fighting operation. Three aggressive pit bulls were residing at the two-story house in the 7500-block of Lange Street. The dogs were seized by police and taken into custody by Baltimore County Animal Control officials.  Also found were weights, chains, collars, and a treadmill used to train the dogs. A large quantity of veterinarian medicines, pills, steroids, medicated bandages, I.V.s, and veterinarian syringes were seized as evidence.

Police have charged three suspects in the case. They are all charged with possession of intent to distribute marijuana, possession of CDS, and cruelty to animals. They are identified as:

• Nicole Marie Caruso, 26 years old, of the 7500-block of Lange Street
• Romy Bolgier, 28 years old, of the 7500-block of Lange Street
• Michael Ecker, 25 years old, of the 7500-block of Lange Street

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news, Confronting crime
        

For years, the man stealing men's shoes from homes in Newark, Delaware, had gone undetected. Many people never reported the break-ins, and police didn't notice a pattern that seems obvious in hindsight -- the break-ins all occurred near a college campus, targeted mostly students and the only thing missing were men's shoes and pictures of men.

Now, after five houses were hit over Christmas, police in Newark have put the pieces of the puzzle together and are now investigating dozens of break-ins involving the theft of more than 200 pairs of shoes.

And this week, someone found three duffel bags with 200 wet and soggy shoes in a creek in Elkton. In Wednesday's Crime Scene column, I'll explore this case further. Here are some pictures of the shoes supplied by the Newark Police Department.

They are asking anyone with information to contact Det. Fred Nelson at 302-366-7110, ext. 136. Who knows, given the shoes apparently linked to this case were found in Elkton, maybe there's a Maryland connection? 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Crime elsewhere, Crime humor
        

News that a woman convicted of playing a role in a horrific witness intimidation case in 2005 is now suspected in a drug and money conterfeiting case only revives years-old pain.

Shakia Watkins played a small role in trying to drive Harwood community activist Edna McAbier from her home by making fraudulent 911 calls to divert police from the area so her associates could firebomb the house. They were angry with McAbier for refusing to back down in repeatedly calling police on drug dealers.

Many people went to federal prison for long periods of time, but Watkins served four years from a federal judge and got released on three years supervised probation. Then on Friday she was one of 10 people busted by city police in connection with a drug investigation that led to the discovery of $15,000 in counterfeit money.

In 2006, Baltimore Sun reporter Matthew Dolan interviewed Edna McAbier and wrote about her plight. She had done everything right, testified against everybody, but saddes of all, even with all the people who had attacked her in prison, she could not reclaim the home she had fought so hard to protect. Friends of her attackers made that impossible.

Here is just a part of Dolan's story (full story here):

She will never again sit alone in her rowhouse off East Lorraine Avenue and gaze at the framed Declaration of Independence that her niece boasted to friends was real. She'll never again admire the Tuscany Tan paint on her walls or the original tin ceiling in her kitchen or the fake brick wall that she says fooled everyone.

More than 18 months after her home was firebombed by drug dealers now in prison, she remains in exile.

She doesn't hand out a card anymore with her address and telephone number. The former community association president who shoveled rat feces out of a local playground at 6 a.m. on Sundays and shouted at drug dealers who preyed on her corners now won't even tell people her last name.

She has spent months in hiding, appearing only to testify against the men who threatened her. Earlier this month, a federal judge sent away the last of her tormentors, the people who plotted against her because she cooperated with police, the men who tried to silence her that awful January night.

At this point, she once thought, she'd be home.

But those men, those drug dealers, those gang leaders, have friends. And friends don't forget. So after 30 years, beloved and beleaguered Harwood has lost Miss Edna, its greatest champion.

"I think the only community life I wanted," the 60-year-old said in her first interview about the attack, "is the one I had."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Gangs, Neighborhoods, Witness intimidation
        

Three Baltimore men were ordered held without bail Monday morning after being arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the Saturday morning stabbing death of 20-year-old Marine Darius Ray at a house party in Northeast Baltimore, according to police and court records.

Police also confirmed that they located additional suspects by following a blood trail from the crime scene to a nearby home. A spokeswoman for the Marines said Ray was in training to become a member of the color guard.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Confronting crime, Northeast Baltimore
        

Police this morning identified the 10 people arrested last week during a drug investigation that led to the discovery of more than $15,000 in counterfeit money and which now involves the U.S. Secret Service.

Among those charged was 23-year-old Shakia Watkins, who is on federal probation stemming from her involvement in a gang's firebombing of a Harwood community activist’s home in 2005. The activist, Edna McAbier, survived and testified against her attackers, and most of those involved received long federal prison sentences.

Watkins, who made fraudulent calls to 911 to steer police away from the neighborhood, was sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit witness tampering.

It was Watkins’ home that police raided after following a vehicle that fled the scene of a suspected drug transaction early Thursday, according to police and court records. Officers were watching the vehicle in the 600 block of McCulloh St. and when they moved in to make a traffic stop, the vehicle fled. Police followed it to the 2300 block of Avalon Ave., where the occupants bailed out and ran into a home. Police obtained a search and seizure warrant after "observing drugs in plain view," and inside they found $22,245 in cash, $15,580 of which was counterfeit, as well as a half-ounce of raw heroin.

The others who were arrested have been identified as:

-Antonio Moore, 18
-Alfonzo Kennedy, 24
-Anthony Washington, 19
-Twamon Johnson, 19
-Neil Hunt, 19
-Janeah Lucas, 17
-Charles Douglas, 18
-Ezuki Abrans, 26
-Michael Kennedy, 24 34

All have been charged with various counts of drug possession and possessing forged currency. The U.S. Secret Service in Baltimore, which investigates counterfeit money cases, has assigned an agent to the case and federal charges could be forthcoming.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Breaking news
        

UPDATE (1/27): A profile of Ray and his journey from foster care to the Marines color guard, and the birthday celebration his family had without him the day after his death, can be found here. 

Private First Class Darius Ray, who turned 20 on Jan. 19, was fatally stabbed at a party early Saturday in North Baltimore when a group of people who had been kicked out came back with a knife. This morning, police announced the arrest of three people: 26-year-old Michael Wiggins; 22-year-old Vernon Hadley; and 27-year-old Nicky Woodward. More than 30 people were interviewed, and I'm trying to verify that police found the suspects by following a blood trail.

We're learning more about Ray, who was a 6-foot-5 three-sport standout in high school and joined the Marines, stationed in Southeast DC. So far, a DC television station has interviewed his former track coach in Potomac, Md. An article in the Gazette newspaper appears to have profiled Ray's foster mother just last month. 

When Lennice Hudson first suggested the idea of becoming foster parents almost 15 years ago, her husband thought she was "mad." But over time, by teaching them respect and setting rules, taking them to church, and exposing them to role models like their biological children and extended family, the Hudsons taught their foster children to overcome the emotional obstacles childhood had placed in their way.

"She instilled a greater sense of discipline and responsibility," said Darius Ray of his foster mother.

I also found what appears to be Ray's Twitter page. Just a few days ago he tweeted that he was "Stuck in Bmore" and talked about his birthday.  I wonder if the party in question was a birthday party. UPDATE: Since I posted his Twitter page, I searched for people referencing his Twitter name and there's a number of people leaving condolences.

@Stee301 R.I.P TO MY BROTHA @raysongz2010 I truly cant believe this. I love you son. this is to crazy killed right in front of my face smh

What do we know about the suspects? According to electronic court records, Nicky Woodward (whose name and birthdate are all over the map in court records) appears to have been charged with attempted first-degree murder in 2003 (and was found not guilty). Hadley has a handful of drug arrests and an assault charge, but nothing kicked up to the Circuit Court level and no major convictions. Wiggins is set to go on trial in February on charges of second-degree assault, harassment, and concealing a deadly weapon.

Ray is the third member of the armed forces killed in the past month in Baltimore. Army Private Clifford Jamar Williams, 22, was shot while coming from the grocery store during a brief return to Baltimore from Afghanistan, and former Marine Stephen Makia, 28, found dead by his brother in a house that had been ransacked.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
Categories: Breaking news
        

The NAACP Baltimore branch is asking for the FBI to review the Gerard Mungo Jr. case following the conclusion of a civil trial in Howard County in which a judge directed the jury to decide damages for the family against three of the six officers, with the jury deciding to award nothing. Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, president of the local NAACP, equivocates the judge's decision to a guilty finding and says that federal authorities need to step in since the police department and city prosecutors cleared the officers of wrongdoing (See both "updates" after the link). He also calls media coverage of the case "less than thorough."

Here's the entire text of Cheatham's email sent to media outlets this afternoon:

"Today the NAACP Baltimore City Branch both faxed and mailed a letter to the FBI requesting an investigation of the Baltimore City Police and the unlawful arrest of Gerard Mungo, Jr.  While much of the media has placed importance on the jury refusing to reward the family money for alleged damages the fact that the judge ruled that the detainment and arrest were unlawful seems to be lost in the less than thorough reporting.
 
Additionally, it was allegedly reported on WJZ-TV, after the trial, that the officers purportedly admitted that they were wrong.  If this be true how did the Police Department, possibly the IAD, substantiate their findings.
 
It is important to note that the judge found the police officers unlawfully arrested and detained, but it has been rumored that the Baltimore City Police Department completed their own investigation and unsurprisingly found the officers arrest lawful.  As usual, there is still no tranparency with the Baltimore City Police Department.
 
The concern of the NAACP is the fact that the judge found the arrest unlawful and unless outside pressures is asserted is it unlikely that the Baltimore City Police and the City of Baltimore will do anything regarding the judge's decision.
 
This is, by the way, not a new position by the NAACP for it is the same position of questioning the actions of the officers on the morning that we did the rally in March 2007 hours before the arrest of Gerard's mother."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Gerard Mungo
        

A group of about 30 police officers, elected officials and citizens crowded around the entrance to Arabian Nights, a hookah bar on Light Street in Federal Hill, at about 1 a.m. as Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III asked the owners what they were doing to help the community.

"Here's how I feel," Bealefeld said. "I want you to be successful, I want you to make a million dollars. We also feel you have to be a good neighbor, too."

Bealefeld was handing them a business card to set up a meeting, and one of the members of the crowd spoke up.

"If it's true what I heard [about your business], I don't want you to be successful," she said. "I want you to close."

As she walked away, one of the men asked the other: "Was that the new mayor??"

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake joined the group at 12:30 a.m. to walk through the Federal Hill bar scene, where police have been experimenting with new patrol strategies to counteract the hordes of drunken barhoppers who flood the streets at last call. They get in fights, they yell, they dent cars or urinate on houses. Girls in incredibly short skirts and guys fumbling around for cigarettes looked puzzledly on as our group walked through the area.

Arabian Nights has some unique problems, police and residents say. There was a stabbing there one night during a fight, and the owners locked police out another time as they responded to break up a fight.  

The area was one of several affected when Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III ordered police to stop moonlighting as bouncers or private security at bars. He feared that the officers were too beholden to whichever business was paying the bills that night, and now businesses pay into a pool to have extra officers in their general vicinity. Police have also set up roadblocks on Cross Street and Charles Street to try to manage the flow of traffic.

Residents and businesses alike say it has largely been a success. But some residents, like 41-year-old Bill Romani, also say the new set up has had unintended consequences. "What we're seeing is that instead of trickling out [from the Cross Street Market area], they're coming out in larger groups," Romani said.

Larger groups that make more noise, and an effort to quell violence and debauchery in a tight area has now led to quality of life complaints in a wider area. Bealefeld acknowledged the problems, and said he's not sure what the solution is. But he firmly believes that the system that is in place should be a model for other nightlife districts in the city, he told Rawlings-Blake and City Councilman Bill Cole, who also participated in the walk.

It was the first public appearance together for Rawlings-Blake and Bealefeld. I've now been on two Community on Patrol walks with Rawlings-Blake - the other in the Midtown-Belvedere nightlife district - and while she's friendly and approachable, from what I've seen she doesn't engage constituents much unless they approach her. Jack Baker, the well-known and longtime community leader who organized the walk, didn't realize she was coming until her black SUV pulled up.

But this time, she seemed more at ease, and there were plenty of citizens coming her way (some of them a bit tipsy, due to the surroundings), eager for a chance to greet the new mayor. Many bargoers yelled her name or jogged alongside to shake her hand. She addressed the patrol group before and after the walk, and her comments to the Arabian Nights ownership showed a flash of fiestiness.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: City Hall, Neighborhoods
        

Police were crowing this morning that 10 people had been arrested early Thursday in a bust that uncovered raw heroin and more than $15,500 in counterfeit cash from a West Baltimore home. But trying to find out more about the case has been a little difficult.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that he could not release the names of those who were arrested because the U.S. Secret Service is investigating. That's fine, but these suspects have either been charged or they have not, and our court system does not allow for arrests and criminal charges to be kept secret. He said his records showed that they were "in custody" but had not been charged. More than 30 hours after the fact? It's possible, but unusual.

Federal prosecutors were searching for answers and ultimately, the Secret Service said they were participating but had not yet filed any charges, so it appears that the charges, if there are any, were filed in state courts. A spokesman for the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office, Joseph Sviatko, as of 5 p.m. had not been able to determine what if any charges were filed.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

A short time ago, Mayor-to-be Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's office sent out a list of people who will sit on her transition committees. Of particular note to this blog is the roster for the "Public Safety and Essential Services" committee, which will be headed by former Police Commissioner Bishop L. Robinson. Police headquarters is named for Robinson, who is in his 80s and was the city's first black police commissioner, holding the post from 1984 to 1987. The committee as a whole is a very diverse group and includes the heads of the police and fire unions, the executive director of the local AFSCME, the city's first black fire chief (and father of talk show host Montel Williams), the head of the downtown partnership, community association leaders, and the head of the NAACP, among others.

Here the full roster:

Public Safety and Essential Services Committee
Co-Chair:  Mr. Bishop L. Robinson, Retired Commissioner, Baltimore Police Department and Former Secretary of Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice.
Co-Chair:  Ms. Nancy Smith, Government Relations Officer, Maryland Food Bank.
• Mr. Ronald Addison, Retired Homeland Security and Emergency Manager Director, Baltimore City.
• Mr. Peter Auchincloss, President, Watermark Corporation.
• Dr. Marvin Cheatham, President, NAACP Baltimore City Branch.
• Det. Robert Cherry, President, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #3, Baltimore City Police Department.
• Ms. Brenda Clayburn, President, City Union of Baltimore (CUB).
• Mr. Tony Dawson, President, Bel-Air/Edison Community Association.
• Mr. Pierce Flanigan, President, Flanigan and Sons.
• Mr. Kirby Fowler, President, Downtown Partnership Baltimore City.
• Mr. Mel Freeman, Executive Director, Citizen Planning and Housing Association.
• Mr. Stephen G. Fugate, President, Baltimore Fire Officers Union, Local 964
• Mr. Edward Gallagher, Director, Department of Finance, Baltimore City.
• Ms. Gladys Gaskins, Director, Department of Human Resources, Baltimore City.
• Mr. Kenneth A. Goon, Associate Engineer and Planner, RKK.
• Mr. Ray Hannah, Protective Security Advisor, United States Department of Homeland Security Region III.
• Mr. Jim Marcinko, Waste Management Recycle America, Area Recycling Operations Director.
• Mr. Richard McCoy, Retired Civil Defense and Emergency Manager Director, Baltimore City.
• Mr. Glenn Middleton, Executive Director, AFSCME Maryland Council 67.
• Mr. Fred Mirmiran, President, Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson.
• V. Rev. Fr. Constantine Moralis, Cathedral Dean, Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation. 
• Rev. Msgr. Damian Nalepa, Saint Gregory the Great Parish.
• Mr. Samuel Redd, Executive Director, Operation Pulse.
• Ms. Mary Roby, Executive Director, Herring Run Watershed Association.
• Mr. Robert Sledgeski, President, Baltimore Fire Fighters Union, Local 734.
• Mr. Hector Torres, President, Prosaber Consulting.
• Mr. Ralph S. Tyler, Chief Legal Counsel, Food and Drug Administration.
• Mr. Ralign T. Wells, Administrator, Maryland Transit Administration.
• Mr. Herman Williams Jr., Retired Chief Baltimore City Fire Department, Chair Board of Directors MECU.
• Mr. Nathan Willner, General Counsel for the Shomrim of Baltimore, Willner & Associates, P.A.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: City Hall
        

Page Croyder, a former city prosecutor who supervised the state's attorney "War Room" and now blogs at Marc Steiner's Center for Emerging Media, has a pretty scathing take on the Guilford attacks that Peter Hermann has been writing about (See here, here, and here.) The crime happened in one of the city's more affluent neighborhoods, but as Peter and Page's articles point out, the issues transcend neighborhood boundaries and point to general concerns about the justice system in Baltimore - including the reliability of witness identification and how prosecutors approach plea deals.

Here's an excerpt from Page's piece:

So here comes Couplin wielding a knife again in 2008.  Prosecutors had to know how dangerous he was now, but they were afraid they would lose their case without evidence to corroborate Dolde’s identification.  So they took the conviction on a plea bargain and settled for probation. 

I get this.  While the position Jessamy has taken in the past is awful--that she won’t try cases based on a single witness--the fact is that it would have been a tough case to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.  That would not have excused failing to try the case if Couplin would not take a deal, but it does explain a plea bargain.  It may be upsetting to citizens, especially in hindsight, but prosecutors have to decide what would be in the best interest of public safety.  If they felt that Couplin would beat the charge, it made sense to take a bird in the hand.

But only if the plea deal provided some protection for the community.  And here’s where Jessamy utterly failed because she just continues to do business the same old way.  Once Couplin, this repeat armed robber, went on his merry way, the prosecutor’s office didn’t care about him any more.  He was just another person for the probation office to handle. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

The Sun's Don Markus is reporting that a Howard County Circuit Court jury rejected a civil lawsuit against six Baltimore police officers brought by the mother of a 7-year-old boy arrested for illegally riding a dirt bike and who was later handcuffed to a bench at police headquarters.

Judge Diane Leasure sent the case to the jury Thursday morning after determining that two of the officers acted unlawfully in arresting the boy because they didn’t witness the incident. Nonetheless, Lakisha Dinkins’ suit for more than $700,000 in compensatory damages was soundly denied. The jury said the family did not deserve any money.

Check tomorrow's Sun for more details.  Scratch that - online now,

UPDATE: With Leasure determining that two of the officers acted unlawfully, Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, is asking what will happen to the officers. In an email to the Mayor and City Council, Cheatham said, "We cannot and must not just go on as though nothing happened or go on with business as usual. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

I'm checking with the police department, but I believe that whatever punishment the officers were going to receive was likely long ago meted out. When officers are charged criminally, Internal Affairs waits until those charges have been adjudicated before moving forward with internal discipline. But since these officers were only sued in civil court, Internal Affairs did not have to wait and likely has closed the three-year-old case. All of the officers continue to work for the police department, though some have changed assignments. The two officers found culpable have moved on to detective and operations work.

UPDATE NO. 2: As I suspected, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tells me that the officers were cleared of wrongdoing by internal affairs years ago.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Gerard Mungo
        

City police are searching for a man who tried to rob a guest at a downtown hotel after gaining entry into her room by posing as a maintenance worker.

The attempted robbery occurred Wednesday at about 9:30 a.m. at the Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards hotel in the 100 block of S. Eutaw St., said Anthony Guglielmi, the department's chief spokesman. A woman was sleeping in her room when a man dressed in an outfit resembling a maintenance uniform knocked on the door and said he was there to fix a problem, he said.

The woman opened the door and the man went into the bathroom, Guglielmi said. She became suspicious and started asking him questions, at which point he pulled out a silver handgun.

"He told her, 'Don't yell, don't scream,'" Guglielmi said.

Read the rest of the story here.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Breaking news, Downtown
        

Two homicides, on opposite sides of the city. One is a 33-year-old who served federal prison time, owned a car shop in West Baltimore and loved to watch "The Young and the Restless" with his grandmother; another is a 38-year-old recently sprung from prison after serving nearly 20 years for a robbery-killing committed when he was 19, during which time he became a minister and helped with a scared straight program.

Sources tell the Baltimore Sun that police believe Darel Alston, 38, lent his car to the people who killed 33-year-old Marcal Walton on Jan. 3. Detectives linked the car to Alston, who then turned up dead on Jan. 10 - shot to death inside of a car.

Both men's histories involve cases that were in the news. Walton's phone had been tapped as part of an investigation into a theft ring that ultimately helped catch the killers of a Baltimore County police officer, while Alston's arrest in the killing of a tavern owner killed with an aluminum baseball bat made headlines in 1990.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Maryland State and Baltimore police are to announce this morning how they are using DNA to solve crimes. The database of available genetic material has expanded since a new law took hold in January 2009 that requires law enforcement to collect DNA from individuals charged with committing or attempting to commit violent crimes. In the past, authorities could collect DNA only after someone had been convicted.

Now, police are going to announce some of the results of recent violent crime arrests linked to the database. In June last year, city police arrested a man in two city rapes from 2000 and 2004, one of the first times the expanded database helped get a suspect.

Here is the announcement:

CRIMINALS IN BALTIMORE FEELING IMPACT OF DNA DATABASE
BALTIMORE PD REACHES ARREST MILESTONE DUE TO DNA
DNA GRANT FUNDS WILL RESULT IN MORE ARRESTS

(Baltimore, MD) – State Police Superintendent Colonel Terrence Sheridan will join Baltimore Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld to highlight how the use of Maryland’s DNA database has assisted in the fight against violent crime in the city.  Colonel Sheridan will announce that the Baltimore Police Department has reached a significant benchmark in the use of DNA to combat violent crime during the past three years.  Officials will also discuss how recent federal and state grant funding to the police department will increase their ability to use DNA in their fight against violent crime.  DNA experts from both the Baltimore Police and State Police crime labs will be available to answer specific questions about DNA analysis. 

WHAT: ANNOUNCEMENT OF:
-RESULTS OF VIOLENT CRIME ARRESTS DUE TO DNA
-USE OF GRANT MONEY TO ENHANCE DNA CRIMEFIGHTING

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system
        

Prosecutors plan to drop charges against a South Baltimore community leader who was arrested and later released and given a citation for impeding a police investigation.

Christopher Taylor, 33, president of the Union Square community association, was arrested Dec. 3 after police said he interfered with an investigation into an alleged sex crime involving a teenage girl, who ran down the street and asked Taylor to call 911.

Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, said prosecutors plan to drop the case Thursday morning because police incorrectly wrote a citation for “disturbing the peace” instead of “hindering a police investigation.”

“He was not disturbing the peace, according to the facts outlined,” Burns said. “This was a hindering case, and they cited the wrong criminal code as a reference point.”

Critics said the case was a clear incident of over-aggressive policing and misplaced priorities, though police were privately grumbling that prosecutors had again failed to back up the Police Department, which has not publicly wavered in its decision to cite Taylor.

Taylor said he was asking questions because he did not believe the officer was taking the case seriously, and said he was arrested when he refused the officer’s demand that he go into his home. According to police, Taylor was a nuisance, telling the officer, “I’m the president of the community association and have a right to know,” created an environment that upset the young abuse victim, and while being frisked called the officer a slur used against homosexuals.

Taylor was taken to Central Booking, though he was later released and taken to the Southern District, where he was given a citation. Some believe Taylor, who had days before the arrest helped raise money for the agency’s cash-stripped horeseback unit, got special treatment by being pulled from Central Booking and given a citation.

And that may also be why the citation is being dropped. Burns said prosecutors never had a chance to review the charge before Taylor was pulled, and a citation cannot be rewritten, she said. 

Taylor, who e-mailed an account of his arrest to The Sun the day after he was released and has appeared on television, radio and an Internet news site, the Investigative Voice, speaking out about the incident, chafed at any suggestion that he got a good deal.

“I was asking a simple question: What’s going to be done?” Taylor said. “I received [only] a citation not because of who I am but because they knew they had done wrong.”

Since the incident, Taylor has sought to mobilize alleged victims of police abuse and said his stance towards the police department has changed dramatically. “In my own personal perspective, I think we need a complete change of leadership,” Taylor said. "There's got to be a different approach."

EDIT: Included link to original Investigative Voice story.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Courts and the justice system, Neighborhoods, South Baltimore
        

Updating prior reports, Demetrius Smith, 26, was convicted today by a city jury of first-degree murder in the shooting of a man who had found and took Smith's drug stash while rehabbing an abandoned house. Smith located the man, Robert Long, 36, and took him to railroad tracks near Carroll Park in Southwest Baltimore, where he fatally shot him in the head.

We previously wrote about Smith in August 2008, when after being charged with first-degree murder, Smith was allowed by District Court judge Nathan Braverman to post bond. The next month, Smith was accused of shooting another man in the leg during a street robbery. The police union was angered by Braverman's unusual move to allow Smith to post bond on a murder charge, calling for an investigation, but judges said police and prosecutors were increasingly asking them to hold suspects without providing basic information about how the suspect was connected to the crime.

Braverman was back in the news again in May 2009, allowing another man accused of murder to post bail. That man, James Omar Clea, who is accused of helping a pastor kill a developmentally disabled man for insurance money, remains behind bars awaiting trial.

Prosecutors said Smith's trial lasted one week, and jurors deliberated for two and a half hours before reaching their verdict. Smith will be sentenced on Feb. 22 and faces a maximum penalty of life plus 20 years.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

The Sun's Tricia Bishop reported today that those members of the Tree Top Piru who haven't already pleaded guilty are going on trial in federal court. About 30 members of the gang were taken down in a sweeping indictment nearly two years ago. Among them is Ronnie Thomas, also known as "Skinny Suge" from the infamous "Stop Snitching" DVD that became emblematic of Baltimore's street code of silence and witness intimidation problems.

As Tricia points out, one of the great ironies of the trial is that most of those who took deals did so in exchange for their testimony against their fellow members. Here's the article from when the indictment was first announced in February 2008.  I'd link to the "Stop Snitching" video, but it's easily found on the web and I'm having trouble locating the police department's response, which was called "Keep Talking."

Recently, a man who police believed had assumed a larger role in the gang was shot and killed in an East Baltimore grocery store, and police were bracing for possible reprisals.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Gangs
        

Baltimore County Police have issued an alert for a burglar who has struck in Parkville and Whitemarsh since September 2009:

Baltimore County Police are searching for a cat burglar who has struck in the White Marsh and Parkville areas several times since September 2009. Although there are close similarities in appearance, detectives do not believe it is the same burglar who was entering homes in the Essex area in the past few months based on investigative information they have obtained. The victims describe the suspect as a light-skinned black male, with a medium to large build, 18-25 years old, approximately 5’11” tall. One of the victims was able to provide a sketch of the suspect.

In all of the cases, the homeowner left a window or sliding glass door unlocked, and the burglar was able to enter. In most of the cases, he was able to make his way to the rooms where women or teen-aged girls were sleeping. The victims woke to see him in their room, or after being touched by the suspect. When confronted by the victim, the man quickly left the home. He has taken no property, and there have been no violent confrontations.

The burglaries have been committed at the following locations:

• Unit-block of Cedarburg Court, 21234 in Precinct 8/Parkville on November 26, 2009 at approximately 5:30 a.m.
• 9100-block of Oswald Way, 21237 in Precinct 9/White Marsh on October 31, 2009 at approximately 4:48 a.m.
• 8200-block of Featherhill Road, 21128 in Precinct 9/White Marsh on September 10, 2009 at approximately 5:45 a.m.
• 7900-block of Belridge Road, 21236 in Precinct 8/Parkville on September 10, 2009 at approximately 5:05 a.m.
• 7900-block of Belridge Road, 21236 in Precinct 8/Parkville on September 10, 2009 at approximately 5:00 a.m.
• Unit-block of Fallon Court, 21236 in Precinct 9/White Marsh on September 10, 2009 at approximately 4:10 a.m.

All residents are reminded to lock their doors and windows, especially at night. Those who see someone lurking with no apparent purpose any time of day should call 911 immediately. Anyone with information about these crimes or the suspect is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP. To text a message to Metro Crime Stoppers, send to "CRIMES" (274637), then enter the message beginning with "MCS." Those contacting Metro Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and might be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Breaking news
        

Yesterday, I published the victim impact statement from Christine Dolde, who was attacked and robbed outside her Guilford home in 2008. Prosecutors worked out a plea agreement allowing her attacker to serve just the year he had spent in jail awaiting trial.

Now, police say that same man returned to Guilford this month, held up three women at gunpoint and then forced a college student into the trunk of his car and withdrew money from several ATMs (photo at left). Today, I have a full account of the interview with Dolde, who was told her ID of the suspect was not enough to take the case to trial.

Now, the 15-year resident is center-stage in a familiar argument between cops and prosecutors:

Christine Dolde wanted to testify against the young man who put a knife to her throat as she walked up the front steps to her Guilford home in the middle of the afternoon.

The 43-year-old said she would have easily and unequivocally identified the man who attacked her, the man who took her purse containing the nearly $300 she was planning to take on a trip to celebrate her grandmother's 90th birthday.

But Baltimore prosecutors told her not to bother, that her testimony and picking the suspect from a police mug shot she was shown were not enough by themselves to ensure a conviction. There was no other evidence - just her word - and without more from police, there was no way to take the case to trial. Witness IDs are inherently unreliable, they told her.

Christine Dolde has a doctorate in biology. She did postgraduate work in human genetics at Johns Hopkins. "I am a careful observer," she said. "I do not make quick judgments or statements. I gave the police a meticulous description."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Testimony continued today in Howard County Circuit Court in the $40 million civil lawsuit brought against six city police officers by the parents of Gerard Mungo Jr., who was 7 years old when he was arrested, handcuffed and fingerprinted for sitting/riding a dirtbike in 2007. Officers who have testified said that they were within the department's protocols to arrest a child, though one officer testified that he told internal investigators that his supervisor told him to arrest the boy if his mother called in a complaint about police seizing the dirt bike, which is illegal to operate in the city. Three other officers who later arrested Gerard's mother, Lakisa Dinkins, vehemently deny that they knew anything about the case or that it influenced their decision to arrest her for impeding a police investigation. Overall, the defense argues that regardless of the plaintiff's allegations, the officers did not break the rules.

Stricken from evidence was a conversation between one of the officers and a dispatcher, in which they appeared to be joking about arresting the boy. The Sun's media partner WJZ reported on the conversation in 2008, when the suit was filed.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the case was that attorneys for the plaintiff had planned to call former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm as an expert witness, but that idea was shelved a few days into trial.  

We're told that testimony could wrap up as earlier as today, with closing arguments and then jury deliberations Thursday (The court is taking a break Wednesday). Check back then for updates.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Gerard Mungo
        

Gary D. Maynard, the secretary of Maryland's Public Safety and Correctional Services, is testifying in Annapolis today on a bill to turn having a cell phone in a prison into a felony worth up to five years more behind bars. At the moment, it's only a misdemeanor.

The issue has been a priority especially since the Carl Lackl case which a man behind prison walls was able to put a successful hit on a witness while using a pilfered cell phone. Since then, authorities have stepped up their fight against smuggled phones and there are attempts to change the law to allow police to block cell phone signals at prisons.

Last year, officials confiscated more than 1,600 cell phones from prisons across the state. Maynard is appearing before the House Judiciary Committee. Here is his testimony:

HB 78 - Criminal Law - Contraband - Telecommunication Devices – Penalties
House Judiciary 1/19/10 at 1:00 pm

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee.  I am here today to support HB 78, a bill that will enhance the penalties for individuals smuggling cell phones into our correctional facilities. 

I have been involved in corrections for 39 years, working at the Federal Bureau of Prisons and in five states, serving in four of those as head of the corrections system. 

For those of us in this field, one of the most important functions is the security of our prisons and the overall safety, not only of the institution and the people inside, but of the community at large.  
 
One of the leading contributors to criminal behavior within our prisons has been gang activity.  Often times, these individuals seek out ways to continue to operate their criminal activity from prison – most often through the use of cell phones.    The introduction of cell phones within our prisons is growing at an alarming rate.

Phones can be brought into prisons in a variety of ways.  They are smuggled on or within an inmate’s body, by compromised staff, by visitors, tossed over the fences or walls, concealed within deliveries or shipments of food and supplies, or through contractors. 

Two years ago, a detainee who was housed within our Division of Pretrial Detention and Services was convicted of ordering the death of a young man in Baltimore.  He made the call from a smuggled cell phone within our facility. 

Victims and public officials are being threatened, harassed, and even killed by prisoners with access to cell phones across this country. 

Over the past 3 years, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has recovered over 3,600 phones in our institutions.    This is a result of a combination of enhanced security processes and the implementation of technology.  We have strengthened our screening process investing in Secure View Scanners, BOSS chairs, and X-Ray machines. We have developed stronger protocols for staff screening at entrance and have invested in a K-9 unit to detect phones. 

We have also looked to cell phone jamming, detection, and interference technologies to assist our security units. We hosted a demonstration in September, which received national attention to see how detection and interference technologies could assist our efforts. This past December, we followed up with another demonstration, piloting cell phone detection technology in three active prison facilities.  

We know this is not enough. We need to be able to more effectively punish those individuals who seek to circumvent the law and give these inmates the ability to communicate with the outside world and continue their criminal behavior. We can not allow another murder, or give them to ability to plan escapes or institutional violence any more. 

Under the current law, an individual caught smuggling a cell phone, or in possession of an unauthorized cell phone in our prisons is subject to a misdemeanor charge and up to three years imprisonment. 

This is just not a strong enough deterrent. We need to treat this as the serious crime that it is.  It is should be a felony like it is in other states like Florida and New Jersey who recently passed similar legislation to HB 78.

The passage of this bill, in addition to our enhanced security protocols will give us the tools necessary to continue to protect the public’s safety, as well as our staff members, and the offenders and detainees under our supervision. 

The panel here today will be able to speak directly to the security threats that cell phones present in our prisons, and the need for passage of HB 78.  We would appreciate your consideration of this important bill. 

Thank you.

Here is the bill:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Prisons
        

Christine Dolde was held up at knifepoint in 2008 outside her Guilford home. Police arrested a young man but he served just a year in prison after pleading guilty to the crime.

Now authorities say he's responsible for two recent attacks in the Guilford neighborhood -- the Jan. 6 holdup of three women at gunpoint and the Jan. 12 abduction of a college student was forced into the trunk of his car and driven to ATM machines on York Road.

The sentence from Dolde's case is being met with outrage, with judges, prosecutors and police blaming each other. I sat down with Dolde in her Guilford home and a full report of that interview will be in Wednesday's Crime Scene column. She shared with her her victim impact statement:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

UPDATE, 8:36 PM: Police say the shooting victim is 19 years old and is in critical condition. The crime scene has also been determined to be the 600 block of W. Hoffman St.

A man was shot in the face and two men were arrested on drug charges after fleeing police in separate incidents that occurred near the route for Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, according to Baltimore police.

About 2:30 p.m., after the parade had finished but with roads still shut down, an off-duty officer near the 1000 block of Pennsylvania Ave., about two blocks from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, heard gunshots.

Officers found a man inside an apartment suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, the most serious being an injury to his jaw, and he was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said. Authorities were looking for a silver Toyota with a driver wearing a ski mask last seen heading east on Preston Street. The victim’s age and condition were not immediately available.

Earlier, about 1 p.m., two men were sitting in a vehicle on Lombard Street just west of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard when a traffic officer approached. Donny Moses, a city police spokesman, said the driver “got spooked” and put the car in reverse.

Moses said the driver sped east on Lombard, then turned onto the 800 block of West Baltimore St., all while in reverse, and struck a parked University of Maryland police car. The occupants ran but were caught and arrested, Moses said. He said about two ounces of marijuana was found in the vehicle.

Charged in the incident were Antonio Wilkens, 31, and Corey Wilkens, 30, of the 5900 block of Fenwick Ave., Moses said. Moses denied a report broadcast on WBAL-Radio that several people had been hurt while trying to get away from the car. “We’re thankful that only property was damaged,” he said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Breaking news, Downtown, West Baltimore
        

Throughout 2009, with the homicide rate largely unchanged but shootings way down, I heard a lot of people - both police officers and readers - joking that the criminal element must be better shots. So I decided to see if there was any data that might actually explain this phenomenon.

As it turned out, they were right. With the number of shootings falling 40 percent and homicides down 9 percent in the past decade, Baltimore saw a rise in the number of people killed by gunshot wounds to the head. As a raw number, it rose some 68 percent from 1998, while as a percentage of total killings, headshots went from about 17 percent of the total killings in 1996 to about half of the city's total last year.

"I don't think they all got to be better shots over the years," said Maj. Terrence McLarney, chief of the homicide division. "Not only are they hitting them in the head, but we can tell from the transference of gunpowder and other indicators that they're getting close enough to effect that shot."

So what does this mean? In a nutshell, it means that more killings are occurring up-close and execution, reducing the chance that the victim's life can be saved. But it also indicates possible decline in street robberies and spraying of bullets, which are more likely to involved bystanders or "innocent" victims. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke is condemning the release in 2008 of the suspect in this week's Guilford abduction and said the victim of the attack two years ago had no idea prosecutors had agreed to a lenient plea:

Dear Editors,

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Neighborhoods
        

In a rare move, the judge, who approved the deal for the 19-year-old who has allegedly admitted to abducting a Guilford man, is discussing the case.

Judge John Addison Howard told The Sun's Peter Hermann:

"If I had to consider what somebody is going to think about this, that's not doing my job," Howard said. "I have to go with the information I had when this was done. If I were provided with the benefit of hindsight, I'd bat 100 percent, and so would other judges.

"We're human," Howard said. "The system is operated by humans. The fact is, there are recidivists. There are also people I expect to come back before me who don't come back."

Prosecutors said the case was flawed and they had "no choice" but to take a plea deal because the only evidence in the 2008 robbery was the victim's identification from a photo array and said a detective included the suspect's picture in the array only because he thought he recognized Couplin from a previous case.

"There was no evidence gathered from the crime scene that could link the suspect to the crime," spokeswoman Margaret T. Burns said. "The likelihood of securing a conviction at trial was very slim. ... The photo array was based in part on the investigators' thought about who might have done the crime."

Police condemned the sentence:

"We are well aware that we have our own fleas, ticks and moles to deal with," Gugliemli said. "We get that. It's our responsibility to make sure detectives investigate to the best of their ability and we present perfect cases to the state's attorney.

"But in this case, the system didn't work," he said. "There were clear signs that this individual had a criminal history. He's a repeat offender for the same crime, and now here we are again in 2010. ... We're recycling the same people here."

Guglielmi added: "We wish this was 'CSI New York' or 'CSI Miami,' where we had DNA in 30 minutes and holograms and fancy equipment. But we don't. Sometimes we have to [make] do with what we have. In this case, a victim identified the suspect who robbed her."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

For the third year in a row, the Single Carrot Theatre on North Avenue in the Station North Arts District hosted a reading of the past year's homicide victims, using Anna Ditkoff's weekly homicide roundup in the CityPaper, called "Murder Ink." It's a deliberately cold, straightforward, and methodical recounting of the week's victims - no one gets more than a line or two, and it's basically the who, what, when, where, with a tidbit or two about a trend thrown in for good measure.

A steady crowd of about 60 people sat on chairs and benches on the sidewalk as the Single Carrot ensemble and guest artists read from the Murder Ink archives, neatly arranged on music stands. They didn't miss a beat as loud city buses roared by, or cars blaring rap music blared at a nearby stop light. For a newspaper column that draws its impact from being distant, that seemed appropriate.

It took about two hours to get through all the names and facts, and to my surprise, most people stuck it out till the very end, hearing about 238 people who in 2009 were shot, beaten, stabbed, burnt, strangled, maimed, tortured, or in some cases, no real explanation at all. 

Afterwards, the attendees went inside the theatre, a small space with a black stage, black walls and black floors, and sat in a semi circle for a discussion of the city's crime problems. If there was a theme from their comments, to me it was that the city and its residents need to be mindful of crime and the toll on the community, while not letting it scare them from living in a place that has much to offer. These are sometimes difficult views to compromise.

Ditkoff, who started writing the column in 2004 and continues every week along with her duties as food editor at the CityPaper, said the impetus for the feature was a sense that not every killing was being covered by the local press.

(An aside:  At least in the past several years, The Sun has covered every homicide and done so in ways ranging from a Murder Ink-style police blotter item to a front-page, in-depth story, and that's crimes in the city's most troubled neighborhoods to those that shock the communities that are considered generally safe. They're just not in a single repository, with the exception of a database we keep and have displayed on an interactive map on our website. Off my soapbox.)

Ditkoff said that with murders down over the past two years to levels not seen since the late 1980s, "people aren't talking about it." But, she noted, "a good year for Baltimore isn't a good year anywhere else. Compared to DC, Philly, we're just out of whack," she said. "Other cities are seeing significant decreases, and we're just not."

She said she loves the city and has made it her home, but whereas some cities (she noted Boston) have bad areas, Baltimore "has pockets of good neighborhoods, as opposed to the other way around."

A 51-year-old man, who made a point of noting that he was one of three African Americans in the crowd discussing a majority black city's crime problem, said young men have no hope. "They're strapping on bombs, metaphorically. Faced with survival or death, how much would I do just to survive?" he asked.

One woman griped that the city is consumed by a "boys will be boys attitude that's applied to the entire city," and that in her hometown in Colorado, a single killing would be splashed on the news and cause people to move out of the neighborhood.

But another woman offered a different take, asking Ditkoff why Murder Ink isn't offset by a column listing good things happening in the community. She said she lives in the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello community, which has seen an increase in homicides this year, and feels that the good things that happen there aren't being reported, in favor of reports of isolated crimes that deter people from fixing up vacant houses or taking part in neighborhood activities.

Then the conversation turned towards illegitimate fear of crime in the city, from people afraid to ride the light rail to folks who make a face at the founders of the Single Carrot Theatre when they hear its location (an area that is increasingly home to hip bars and art galleries but which in many ways remains in transition).

The dialogue encapsulated a real dilemma for the city's residents, politicians and the media: Some were condemning what they see as a lack of comprehensive reporting on homicides, saying the problem needs to be pushed to the forefront and that the city has few generally safe neighborhoods. But then there was frustration, and even mocking, the notion that people from outside the city are afraid to go beyond the Inner Harbor or come to the city at all. It's a great city, and people need to venture outside their comfort zone, they said.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

The Chicago Tribune this week profiled a group called Youth Advocacy Programs Inc., which works in 120 communities across the country to help troubled youth and is poised to begin working in Chicago Public Schools. To see what the group does, reporter Azam Ahmed spent time with workers in Baltimore, where about 100 youths are accepted into the program each year as an alternative to jail.

The piece is a great look at the tough work being done in the city to curb youth violence. But there's also an apparent allusion to the 2008 kidnapping of an alleged drug lord's younger brothers, which law enforcement authorities believe touched off a wave of violence and retaliatory killings. Here's the reference:

"But danger is always lurking. Kidnappers snatched two brothers in the program for ransom for a time, hiding them in a U-Haul truck guarded by a pit bull."

That would be the first time we've heard about pit bulls or a U-Haul in connection with the abduction of Stephen "J.R." Blackwell's younger brothers, Stephon and Sterling. The Sun reported last summer, citing federal court documents, that 10 people had been bound and gagged and held at gunpoint for hours in a Catonsville home, prompting an Amber Alert until rival drug dealers negotiating a $500,000 ransom. No one has been charged in connection with the kidnapping or the killings, though Terrell Allen, a man alleged to be connected to the kidnapping, recently pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

We've received charging documents in the arrest of a man accused of robbing and abducting a man in the Guilford community on Tuesday and a robbery of three women a week earlier, offering details on the crime and insight into how police found the suspect.

Court records also show that 19-year-old John Couplin was convicted of robbing a Guilford woman at knifepoint in 2008, but took a plea deal, receiving 10 years in prison with all but about a year and a month suspended. Or in other words, time served.

Here's the account from police:

The victim, Daniel Bauman, was exiting his house in the 400 block of Bretton Pl. at about 10:15 a.m. when he saw a black male wearing a black-hooded sweatshirt and a ski mask approaching him. Immediately sensing something was wrong, the victim tried to run, but the suspect indicated he had a gun and told him to stop.

He ordered the Bauman to empty his pockets, then asked where his car was. "Once Bauman and Couplin approached the vehicle, Couplin opened the trunk and told Bauman to get in. Bauman pleaded with Couplin to please don't put him in there, but Couplin just told Bauman to shut up and get in," Detective Albert J. Rotell wrote in charging documents.

Couplin began driving around, asking the victim, who was in the trunk, what the PIN number on his bank card was. The victim tried to knock the tail lights out of his car from the inside, using a piece of concrete that was in the trunk.

"Is this how it's going to be?" Couplin allegedly told him.

Couplin drove to a bank and came to the trunk, upset and saying that the PIN number was not working. The victim pleaded with him, insisting that the PIN number was correct and that he just needed to try again. After several minutes, the trunk was opened, and Couplin threw the keys inside.

The victim kicked out the armrest from the back seat and cut his way into the cabin of the car, according to documents. He climbed into the driver's seat and drove around until he found police. Police said the victim was not injured.

Rotell relayed surveillance camera images of the suspect to officers on patrol in the neighborhood, who stopped a man that matched the description in the 3200 block of Greenmount Ave. Rotell visited the scene and recognized the man from the footage, and according to charging documents, he later admitted to his involvement. Couplin, of the nearby 700 block of Chestnut Hill Ave., has been charged with more than 18 counts including armed robbery, possession of a felony with a firearm conviction, and assault.

Police were also able to then connect Couplin to a robbery that occurred Jan. 6. Police say Couplin approached three women at about 9:30 p.m. as they got out of their vehicle in the 300 block of Suffolk Rd. He pointed a revolver at them and struggled with them for their purses.

"When he was unable to get [the purse], he stood over them pointing the gun at them with what [victim] Catherine Chissell described as a blank stare," documents show. They screamed loudly, and one of the women ran to a nearby house and began banging on the door. No one answered.

The suspect then began walking towards her, gun in hand. She dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball, crying and screaming. He took her purse and fled south on Suffolk Rd. One of the victims was able to pick Couplin out of a photographic lineup, police said.

Records show Couplin has a history of arrests, charged in 2007 with armed robbery. The charges were dropped. In 2008, he was charged with armed robbery again, pleading guilty in May 2009 and receiving 10 years in prison with all but a year and a month suspended, but Couplin had been held without bail since his arrest and was essentially freed upon striking the plea deal. Since then he's been arrested for theft in Towson and trespassing in Baltimore.  We're combing through the court records now.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Breaking news
        

A rash of startling crimes in the Guilford neighborhood prompted a community meeting last night, with more than 50 residents gathering in the middle of the street outside of a home where a man was robbed and abducted.

Police kicked off the meeting with good news - after broadcasting a picture of the suspect, extra officers who were deployed to the area stopped a suspicious person and have now linked him to the abduction and an earlier robbery. Charges are pending. 

That drew a huge sigh of relief from the crowd, but their relief quickly gave way to lingering concerns, including dissatisfaction with police response times, private security that the community pays for, and police disclosure of crimes.

Maggie Smith, who helped organize the meeting and offered up her living room until the crowd grew too large, was exasperated: "I'm terrified to leave my house. I feel as though I've been robbed of my freedom. When my neighbor said good morning to me today, I almost had a heart attack."

For Smith, the crimes hit home. She rents a room in her home to the man who was abducted and left locked in a trunk in "East bumfiddle Baltimore." She said word spread throughout the day that someone from the street had been a victim of such a crime, and when the man returned home, she asked if he'd heard of it.

"It was me," he said matter-of-factly, according to Smith. "I'm alive and I'm hungry." They gave him food, Tylenol and coffee.

"He was calm, cool and collected, but he was probably in a state of shock," Smith said. The man, who had been in the city for just four months and who Smith said "fiddles" at the Maryland Institute College of Art, was brought home by his parents to Bethesda. She doesn't expect he'll return.   

Residents urged each other to be more diligent, to not change their way of life but be more aware of their surroundings. "That's the way we're going to beat these bastards," said Bill Robertson, 62. "By working together and keeping an eye on each other."

As people relayed incidents that they had experienced, others spoke up, saying they were concerned that it was the first time they were hearing of the crimes. Most expressed disgust with the private security patrol residents there pay for. An alert about the robbery-abduction only mentioned the robbery, and one man accused of police of obscuring the more gritty details.

Another man turned his gripes on the court system. "Where's the state's attorney's office? When are we going to start holding Pat Jessamy's feet to the fire and hold her accountable?"

"The man has been arrested..." City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke began to say. 

"And he'll be back on the streets," the man retorted. 

Tom Hobbs, president of the Guilford Association, stressed to neighbors that the recent crimes were abnormal for the area. "Street crime, assaults of this type are virtually not heard of," he said. 

In Friday's Sun, Peter Hermann has a report of the crimes through the eyes of one fearful resident. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Neighborhoods
        

Baltimore police released this photo of a possible suspect in the robbery and abduction of a Guilford man who was attacked outside his home in broad daylight this week. It's one of a series of attacks in the North Baltimore neighborhood, and I'm writing a more detailed account in Friday's Crime Scene column.

Here are some details from police:

Northern District Detectives are looking to identify the individual pictured in the attachments. On January 12th at approximately 10:15am, this suspect approached an unsuspecting victim in the 400 block of Bretton Place. While armed with a silver revolver, he took the victim's wallet and then forced the victim into the trunk of his own car. The suspect then drove around with the victim in the trunk until the victim gave the suspect the pin number to his bank card.

UPDATE: A police source says that the victim was left in the trunk and the car was abandoned. He was able to free himself by kicking through the back seat.

The suspect attempted to withdraw money from the following ATM locations: M&T Bank located at 5234 York road, #1 Express located at 5211 York Road, BP Gas Station located at 5320 York Road and Corner Carry Out located at 5401 York road.

The suspect is a black male who stands approximately 6' tall and weighs approximately 160 lbs. He was wearing a black nylon Under Armor ski mask, dark blue hoodie, light blue jeans, purple New Balance sneakers, black gloves, and a long brown belt.  Detectives believe the suspect frequents the 5200 through the 5400 block of Greenmount Avenue.

Anyone who recognizes this suspect and or has information regarding this incident is asked to contact detectives  at the Northern District at 410-367-3105.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news
        

Attorneys for the family of Gerard Mungo Jr., the 7-year-old boy who was arrested in 2007 for sitting on a dirt bike, have apparently abandoned plans to call former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm to testify as an expert witness for the plaintiffs. When the story hit the news nearly three years ago, Hamm said the officers could have acted differently and "had other options," a comment that the defendants in the suit believe is inaccurate. Attorneys had planned to call Hamm to testify at the civil trial, being heard this week in Howard County Circuit Court after a change of venue motion was granted, but that apparently will not happen, attorney A. Dwight Pettit told me. Hamm has made few public appearances since being replaced as police commissioner later that year.  We'll update if that changes.

During today's proceedings, two of the officers involved in the arrest 11 days later of Gerard's mother, Lakisa Dinkins, said they had no idea who she was and that the arrest had nothing to do with a rally for the family that occurred earlier that day. Detectives Calvin Moss and Jermaine Cook, members of the plainclothes Violent Crimes Impact Division, testified that they saw two men engage in what appeared to be a drug transaction and then take off running after seeing the officers in an unmarked patrol car. One of the men ran into a home, and the detectives pushed open the door and followed him inside.

Dinkins and one of her sons have testified that the officers did not identify themselves, and that they believed the men were "robbers." The officers did not end up searching or arresting the man they chased into the home, but instead Dinkins, who they said created a disturbance, calling the officers "white [expletives]" and impeding the investigation.

"Let me get this straight: you chase him, apprehend him, don't ask him any question and don't search him?" Pettit asked.

"Ms. Dinkins wouldn't allow us to do our job," Moss said.

Pettit was also incredulous that the detectives could end up in a home with Dinkins the same day as a protest held by the NAACP in the neighborhood to condemn Gerard's arrest.

"Of all the houses in Baltimore, you're telling me it was a coincidence that you went into the same home as Ms. Dinkins?" Petit asked.

"I seem to be a very lucky fellow," Moss joked. "Yeah, it was a coincidence."

One of the attorneys for the officers, James Fields, said the officers were just doing their job. "If the suspect had run into [the house next door], would you have run into that house?" Fields asked. "Absolutely," Moss responded.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Gerard Mungo
        

In light of a Baltimore police horse named Slurpee after its new corporate 7-Eleven sponsor, I've started a contest to come up other ways to help pay for the city cops.

This police chase brought to you by ... has already been taken.

Here's a few more from a city cop: foot patrol officers can wear sandwich boards. The helicopter could drag banners. What about decals on the police dogs?

Keep them coming!

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime humor
        

The boy arrested sitting atop a dirtbike back in 2007 is back -- his family's lawsuit against the Baltimore Police Department is underway in Howard County Circuit Court.

Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun reports that the officer who slapped on the cuffs and caused such a stir testified that he not only followed proper procedure, but he got advice from a prosecutor and he denied arresting the boy to retaliate against his mother for filing an earlier complaint against the department.

The arrest drew criticism from Mayor Shelia Dixon and the police commissioner at the time, Leonard Hamm, and sparked a community debate over how to deal with misbehaving children. Wednesday was the first time we've heard from the cops involved in the arrest of Gerard Mungo Jr.

Justin writes:

"Officer Charles Grimes testified that he was on patrol when he saw a man ride down the block on the dirt bike. When the man turned the corner, he said, he saw "little Gerard" on the bike with the engine idling, and put his foot behind the wheel and asked the boy to climb off. Grimes said the boy hopped off without incident, and Grimes turned off the ignition.

"He called Detective Donald Hayes, who at that time was a neighborhood services officer leading an initiative to confiscate dirt bikes, and Hayes took the vehicle to be impounded. He said Gerard's mother, 33-year-old Lakisa Dinkins, was angry, and he called his supervisor, Sgt. William Colburn, to inform him that a complaint was likely to be filed.

"Hayes testified that Colburn told him, "If she calls, I'm going to order you to come back up there to lock him up."

"The two debated whether it was legal to arrest a 7-year-old, and Colburn testified that he called an unidentified city prosecutor and asked, without providing details of the case, whether it was allowed. The state's attorney told them they could proceed, the officers testified, and Colburn ordered Hayes to make the arrest."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, East Baltimore, Gerard Mungo
        

I'm being assured that the new corporate sponsor of Baltimore Police horse Slurpee (yes, 7-Eleven) won't mean that the police cars will soon be adorned with ads for bails bondsmen and TV dramas about law enforcement.

But the idea that a convenience store chain can buy a police horse and get the naming rights seems both odd and innovative. So, as the city cops raise money to save the threatened Mounted Unit, the horse Blackie suddenly becamed the horse Slurpee.

At left, is police horse Barney, in a photo by The Sun's Kenneth K. Lam. For some reason, we don't have a pic in our files of Blackie, a.k.a. Slurpee.

The newly named horse will participate in a ribbon cutting Friday at 11 a.m. at a new 7-Eleven opening in Market Place downtown. First the horse can run down a few criminals, then has to go to a ribbon cutting. Such is the life. It's a find partnership between police and business (7-Eleven's already have police substations, and as long as they don't get preferential treatment and extra protection on the public dime, it should be OK).

So send me your ideas for other ways Baltimore Police can take advantage of corporate sponsors:

The Mounted Unit's Sgt. John Ambrose already came up with one: "This car chase brought to you by Nabisco."

How about a bar sponsoring the commissioner's campaign to padlock troubled taverns? Or Bad Guys with Guns brought to you by Glock? Bail bonds promoting themselves on the backs of squad cars?

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Crime humor
        

A Baltimore man, whose 1984 murder conviction was overturned and set a legal precedent that a defendant's statements made pursuant to a plea bargain were not admissible after the state rescinded the agreement, has been arrested in the western Canada town of Saskatoon in connection with the shooting of a man and a woman nearly four years ago.

George M. Allgood, 45, is charged there with murder and attempted murder. Allgood was in Canada under the assumed name of Reno Trevor Hogg, police said.

According to clips provided by the Sun's crack library team, Allgood was a 23-year-old former Navy cook when he pleaded guilty in Oct. 1984 to a brutal beating of a 77 year old man who he called his godfather and had sheltered him and his mother when he was a teenager. His conviction was overturned, with his attorneys saying that a statement made as part of a plea bargain was used against him at trial after the state's offer was withdrawn.

Still, five months after his conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeals in 1987, Allgood again pleaded guilty and received 30 years in prison. It was unclear when he was released.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Crime elsewhere
        

There are at least two dozen Baltimore Police Citizen On Patrol walks scheduled for this evening. City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake plans to be in Belair-Edison; Mayor Sheila Dixon will be in her neighborhood of Hunting Ridge.

Steve Herlth of Southwest Baltimore sent this detailed schedule. It's not comprehensive but it covers much of what's planned:

This is our neighborhood, take a walk!
Taking back the City, One Community, One Walk at a time.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hi my Friends,

Well, tonight is the night of the Big City Wide Walk. If there is any doubt in your mind, please come out and be seen. We cannot expect the Baltimore City Police to solve all our community problems without us as individuals being involved. So, make the decision and join us.  Look at the following communities that are walking and pick one. We sure can use your help.  Oh, do not forget to dress warm, have comfortable walking shoes, and bring a flashlight, and most of all, have fun and meet new friends. 

Community Group Location Time
Better Waverly Marian House Courtyard (949 Gorsuch) 6:00pm-7:00pm
Carrollton Ridge  The Samuel F.B Morse Recreation Center Parking Lot. 424 S. Pulaski St. 6:30pm-7:30pm
Patterson Place Association  NE corner of Baltimore St. and Patterson Place Avenue 6:30pm-7:30pm
Greektown Community Development Center Byzantio Bar (corner of Newkirk and Eastern Ave) 6:30pm-7:30pm
Evesham Park Neighborhood Association Corner of 701 E. Lake Avenue @ Clearspring Ave 6:30pm-7:30pm
Highlandtown Community Association's Corner of Gough and Conkling (In front of the Laughing Pint) 6:30pm-7:30pm
Bolton Hill 1419 Jordan Street 6:30pm-7:30pm
Upper Fells Point 140 S. Ann St. in front of Ann's Grocery on the corner of Ann and Pratt. 7:00pm-8:00pm
North East Citizens Patrol Northeast Police District, 1900 Argonne Dr. 7:30pm-8:30pm
Westfield Association / WNIA Corner of Pinewood & Sefton 6:30pm-7:30pm
Waltherson Improvement Association (Driving Patrol) Northeast Police District 1900 Argonne Dr. 7:30pm-10:00pm
1st District Human Service Center 3306 Garrison Blvd. 6:30pm-7:30pm
Morrell Park St. Paul  Dunkin Donuts Washington Blvd at Wicks Ave. 6:30pm-7:30pm
Patterson Park Neighborhood Association Patterson Park entrance at Baltimore & Linwood 7:00pm-8:00pm
Violetville Community Association 1000 Haverhill 6:30pm-7:30pm
Concerned Citizens for a Better Brooklyn  226 Washburn Ave. (St. John Lutheran Church-Parking Lot) 6:30pm-7:30pm
Federal Hill South Neighborhood Association East Cross Street and Riverside Ave. (Federal Hill, at the old Porters Pub) 6:30pm-7:30pm
CTAC ALLIANCE/BIA Front of the Senator Theatre 6:30pm-7:30pm
Pigtown/Camden Crossing/Barre Circle  Washington Boulevard and Scott Street 6:30pm-7:30pm
Ridgely's Delight Association  Pickle's Pub (Washington Blvd.) 6:30pm-7:30pm
HollinsRoundhouse Neighborhood Association  Black Cherry Puppet Theater (1115-1117 Hollins St.) 6:20pm-7:30pm
Sandtown-Winchester  Western District Police Station (1134 N. Mount St.) 6:00pm-7:00pm
Curtis Bay  1630 Filbert St. (Curtis Bay Recreation Center Parking lot)  6:30pm-7:30pm
Hunting Ridge  4640 Edmondson Ave. Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church (Parking lot)  6:30pm-7:30pm
Riverside Neighborhood Association 400 blk E. Randall St. (Riverside Park Gazebo) 7:00pm-8:00pm
Westgate Community Association  Westgate Community Park at North Bend Rd. 6:30pm-7:30pm
The Old Homeland Community Front of the Senator Theatre 6:30pm-7:30pm

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Neighborhoods
        

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy is heading to the General Assembly session to push for tougher gang laws. In the past, legislators have weakened her efforts to tighten laws and penalties to go after witness intimidation cases.

Here is a brief statement from her office, followed by a more detailed list of her legislative priorities:

Baltimore, MD – January 13, 2010 – State’s Attorney Jessamy is scheduled to attend the opening of the Maryland General Assembly’s 2010 Legislative session today.  Of critical importance to Baltimore is to gain support for revising the 2007 gang statute.  Specifically:

            °           Removing complex language from the current gang definition

            °           Establishing a statewide gang member validation criteria

            °           Adding additional gang related offenses to the list of underlying crimes

            °          Making the penalty for a violation of the statute a true enhancement     sentence. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Gangs, Witness intimidation
        

We've written a lot in the past few weeks about efforts to punish convicts who violate the terms of their probation and parole. Maryland has a program called Violence Prevention Initiative that flags the most serious offenders to hold them to the letter of their release.

That means people identified for special treatment can be arrested and violated for even the most minor, technical infraction, such as forgetting to call or check in with a probation agent or failing a single drug test. State officials say their efforts have sent strong signals to convicts to stay straight and helped reduce crime.

But as Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton reported recently, not every judge is plays along. Judges are independent folks and they'd rather weigh the merits of each case without siginig on to a law enforcement program wholesale.

A New York Times magazine story uses an example of a judge in Hawaii trying to find common ground -- punish probation offenders but not send them back to prison to finish their full terms for minor transgressions.

It's an interesting piece that adds another point to an already complicated discussion on how to treat prisoners, and the idea that in Maryland the judicial system is far too lenient. Here's the opening of Jeffrey Rosen's story, which can be read in full here.

"IN 2004, STEVEN ALM, a state trial judge in Hawaii, was frustrated with the cases on his docket. Nearly half of the people appearing before him were convicted offenders with drug problems who had been sentenced to probation rather than prison and then repeatedly violated the terms of that probation by missing appointments or testing positive for drugs. Whether out of neglect or leniency, probation officers would tend to overlook a probationer’s first 5 or 10 violations, giving the offender the impression that he could ignore the rules. But eventually, the officers would get fed up and recommend that Alm revoke probation and send the offender to jail to serve out his sentence. That struck Alm as too harsh, but the alternative — winking at probation violations — struck him as too soft. “I thought, This is crazy, this is a crazy way to change people’s behavior,” he told me recently."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

The Washington Post has an interview with an FBI agent who oversees a gang task force of FBI agents, DC police and U.S. Park Police officers. Among the questions posed was where the District's drug supply originates:

Where does [the drug supply] come from?

[FBI Agent Dave] LeValley: Regionally, heroin comes from Baltimore. Heroin is a little different. Some heroin comes off the Southwestern border. Some heroin comes from Asia. Some heroin comes from South America. Primarily, it comes into New York City and filters down to Philly and Baltimore, and then to D.C.

Usually, couriers go to Baltimore to pick it up. In terms of cocaine, the Colombians get it to Mexico, and the Mexicans smuggle it into the United States, like Atlanta, Chicago or Los Angeles. D.C. is primarily affected by Southern [and] Eastern routes.

We are typically a secondary market. We don’t see smuggled loads of multi-hundred kilos, like some large cities. We are primarily a consumer market here. But our focus is less concerned with drug smuggling routes and more concerned with the crew or the organization that has impact, or dominion, over a particular area in the city.

The amounts of drugs doesn’t matter a whole lot. Down at the street level, and a little bit above, is where a lot of the chaos and violence comes into play because [gangs] have to control the real estate.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Crime elsewhere
        

A new study from a doctor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine questions whether immobilizing some victims of stabbings and shooting is not only unnecessary, but may contribute to their deaths because of delays in getting them to a hospital.

Baltimore Sun reporter Meredith Cohn reports on the findings by Dr. Elliot R. Haut in today's paper (first published in the Journal of Trauma). He notes that the protocal for immobilizing trauma patients to protect against spinal injuries came about for victims of car accidents, but shouldn't always be used to treat people who are shot or stabbed.

Anyone who has been at a crime or accident scene notices that the ambulance remains at the location, with the patient inside, for what seems a long time before rushing to the hospital. Paramedics inside are stablizing the patient, talking on the phone to doctors at the emergency room and preparing for transport. Many ambulances have state-of-the art equipment that in many ways duplicates what can happen in an emergency room.

The study also is interesting in that it renews the discussion on whether Baltimore's advance medical care is in part responsible for keeping our alread too-high murder count even lower than it could be.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

The Sun's Nicole Fuller filed an update on Matthew Haarhoff, the troubled son of serial con woman Cindy McKay. I profiled McKay in a three-part series in 2008 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), tracking her lifetime of crimes across three different states. At one time a Prince George's County police cadet, McKay was a brazen thief, convicted of embezzling $250,000 from the St. Mary's Seminary in Roland Park, faking her own suicide in Ocean City, changing her name and appearance and stealing from an elderly woman in Delaware. After her release from prison, she was arrested and charged with killing boyfriend Tony Fertitta, who she had been stealing from and whose body was found burning on a roadside in Millersville. Her sons - two of her six children - were implicated in the crime. Fire was somewhat of a common theme - earlier, an Annapolis business she had been stealing from burned down, and in 2002, she escaped a house fire that killed her then-husband.

Haarhoff was one of the major factors in pulling that series together. Not long after I took over the Anne Arundel County courts beat, I did a short piece on his brother, Christopher, who had pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact. The case intrigued me - a mom accused of having her sons help her dispose of her boyfriend's body. A little digging revealed that some of her other exploits had been covered - briefly - in the media, but no one had spun a complete tale.  That's when a letter arrived in the mail.

"My name is Matthew Haarhoff. You wrote an article on my brother Christopher Haarhoff, it was pertaining to his role in my mother's boyfriends killing. I'd like to meet with you, only you. No cameras or recorders. However, you may take notes. I completely understand that your [sic] in a position in which the police and prosecutors are being "hush hush" with certain things ... I've yet to contact any of your rival newspapers. I will throw a nice piece of bait out there, that no doubt you will bite at. I will keep you updated with inside information I get from my lawyer. "

"...Furthermore, Ms. McKay didn't escape from the fire in 2002, I saved her life before she ever told me she murdered him."

Attached to the letter was the first several pages of the Anne Arundel County Police homicide unit's investigation into Fertitta's death - the comprehensive notes turned over to a defendant before trial. 

Haarhoff's initial note to me was chilling, from referring to his mother as "Ms. McKay" to mentioning my "rival newspapers" and the whole "throwing a nice piece of bait out there that no doubt you will bite at" part, to calmly slipping in at the end an allegation that his mother had killed her previous husband.

That letter began a series of meetings at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center. Sometimes we'd meet often, other times, weeks went by. He turned over more than 500 pages of discovery, and notes his mother had written to him while they were both locked up. He was hopeful that I'd write a story that would free him (he spent two years in jail awaiting trial), but his story was troubling. I pressed him aggressively, trying to pin him down in a lie, sometimes waiting weeks to go back and ask the question a different way. I've told people privately that I have no idea whether he was involved, but what's clear is that his mother had a powerful grip on him even from the women's prison in Jessup.

When he was finally released from jail following the plea agreement, I went with Haarhoff and his half-sister and her family to a park in Dundalk, where the 20-year-old with a lost childhood played on the jungle gym. I won't go into details, but it was painfully obvious that Haarhoff was going to have a tough time getting his feet set and getting on the right track. He told me he wanted to start a family.

"Having the chance to establish who I am and where I want to be in my life, I think that'll help me," he said. "I plan on doing right for myself and the family I want to have, and if I can't be there for them, then I'm going to look at myself as a failure."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

Mayor-to-be Stephanie Rawlings-Blake stopped by The Sun's editorial board this morning, and gave some thoughts on policing strategy. Rawlings-Blake has a different perspective as her predecessors, with her background as a former public defender whose day job was helping accused drug dealers, thieves and others beat charges brought by city police.

Here's what she had to say when asked where her crime-philosophy fits in after years of strategies that included community policing and zero-tolerance:

"I worked as a public defender for 10 years, and using that experience helps me understand its got to be somewhere in the middle. When you say zero-tolerance, the problem is you get these abhorrent situations where someone's kid who was home from spring break fro msome college, comes home and was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and gets roughed up by officers that are focusing on keeping the corners clean. It's not a one-size fits all proposition

"You have to focus on keeping corners clean, because people have to feel safe going outside in their community. But to say full-out zero-tolerance ... I don't think that works for the long-term.

She endorsed the current mantra of the Dixon administration and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III:

"So, if we focus on our most violent offenders, focus on partnerships with the state and federal government - I know for a fact that the work of Project Exile, the federal gun prosecutions change behavior. You work that in with parole and probation - it's not guesswork. People that are shooting and being shot are in the system. And community policing. I spent a lot of time walking with neighborhoods on patrol, and you get a sense of what matters in the community, and you work with police to make sure their standards of public safety are met."

Rawlings-Blake visited roll call in the Eastern District on Monday morning:

"They are the face of public safety for our city. I can come in with grafs graphs and charts about crime reductions, but if people who encounter our offices don't feel that they care about them, the numbers don't mean anything."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: City Hall
        

This morning, U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Douglas Roseby, 47, of Baltimore, to 35 years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and heroin, possession of a gun to further a drug trafficking crime and possession of a gun by a convicted felon. Federal prosecutors said Judge Motz enhanced Roseby’s sentence upon finding that he was both a career offender and an armed career criminal based on two previous convictions for drug offenses. It's another example of why city and state law enforcement officials have been pushing U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein to take on more cases, and there's word that incoming Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake wants to persuade him to take on even more.

According to a press release from federal prosecutors:

Baltimore Police officers searched Roseby’s residence on November 20, 2009 and seized: gelatin capsules of heroin weighing 24.65 grams; plastic bags containing empty gelatin capsules; 33 zip lock bags of cocaine base weighing 10.91 grams; two digital scales; hundreds of empty zip lock bags; $550; a gun box for a .25 semiautomatic FIE handgun containing a box of 44 live Winchester .25 caliber semi automatic cartridges; and a loaded .25 caliber FIE handgun. Roseby was on parole for a felony drug conviction and advised officers in an interview that he obtained the drugs and gun from his drug supplier, who had given him the gun for protection.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

On Friday, Jan. 15, the Single Carrot Theatre is putting on its third annual Muder Ink, a production of reading the names of homicide victims taken from lists compiled by the City Paper column of the same name.

It will take ouside the theater, 120 W. North Ave., at 7 p.m.

"Murder Ink is heartbreaking, and admittedly doesn't offer solutions," the theater says. "Single Carrot believes that the best way to solve the problem is to first recognize the enormity of it. Murder Ink allows audience members and participants to look the dilemma right in the face, experiencing what it feels and soulds like to recount 235 murders." (the city ended 2009 with a tally of 238)

Audience members will be able to read passages, and There will be a discussion of the problem inside the theater after the reading.

Sunday night, Baltimore recorded two more killings -- one in East Baltimore, another in Northeast Baltimore -- the third and fourth of the year.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In a speech yesterday in Cambridge, Gov. Martin O'Malley told state lawmakers and county employees that public safety must remain a priority, even as Maryland faces a nearly $2 billion revenue shortfall this year.

According to The Sun's Julie Bykowicz, O'Malley, a Democrat, touted improvements in public safety, calling it a "great shame" that Maryland was ranked the country's fourth most violent state three years ago. With two years of 11 percent reductions in homicides statewide and a more than 50 percent reduction last year in Baltimore's juvenile homicides, O'Malley said, "it's undeniable that we are doing things right."

So how much have things changed? Well for starters, O'Malley misstated and actually undersold the state's violent crime ranking - Maryland was the fourth-most violent state in 2005, not three years ago. So the improvement was occurring during the last year of Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich's tenure - although, Baltimore largely drives the state's crime rate, and O'Malley was mayor then.

Anyway, despite improvements, Maryland since 2005 has stayed in the top eight states as its rate of violent crime per 100,000 people fell 11 percent. Nevada, Louisiana, Delaware, Alaska and New Mexico have surpassed the state during that time.

Here's a breakdown of where Maryland has ranked nationwide, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports:

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

If anyone thinks Baltimore residents celebrating holidays with gunfire is new, check this out from the Baltimore Sun in 1931, noting an order by the mayor a century earlier, in 1831:

"No person shall fire or discharge any gun, pistol or firearms or cast or throw or fire any rocket, squib or cracker or cumbustible within the city of Baltimore under penalty of $5. Officers and night watchmen shall go on tudy on sunset December 24th, 25th, 25th and 21st and patrol their respective wards, especially in the vicinity of Houses of Worship."

Columnist Josephine Tighe Williams, writing in 1931, asked, "Does that city ordinance, signed by Baltimore's Mayor, strike terror to your soul? Or do you think the Mayor has confused the Fourth of July with Christmas?" Williams writes that the law as "intended to quench the gunpowder ardor or the flaming youth of 1831, when fireworks were the order, or apparently the disorder, of the day."

Today, discharging a firearm in the city limits carries an 18 month jail term and a $500 fine.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

As I was putting together a blog post to address questions regarding whether City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake might seek a shake-up at the Police Department when she takes over as mayor Feb. 4, Rawlings-Blake just answered the question directly during a press conference, saying she will not seek to replace Frederick Bealefeld III with her own appointee. 

Here's what she said:

"Commissioner Bealefeld's numbers speak for themselves. We have made great strides. If you look at the last 10 years of the last century, and the first 10 years of this century, you will see a safer Baltimore, a city where in many communities, when I was graduating from college, you wouldn't walk in those neighborhoods. Now they're some of the biggest rent districts in the city. We've made progress, and I want to protect and work off that momentum."

So the bigger storyline to watch - from a crime perspective - then becomes whether Rawlings-Blake has any policing ideas that she'll move to implement. Mayor Sheila Dixon and Bealefeld, from all public accounts, have been on the same page as far as police strategy, with Dixon never urging Bealefeld to change course or implement rushed policies in response to spikes in crimes. But Rawlings-Blake may have initiatives, large or small, that she wants to install once she inherits the keys to the city.

We know that she's spoken out about crime cameras, including in a letter to the editor to The Sun just this week, saying she wants to "expand and enhance" the city's existing network, and last February summoned Bealefeld to City Hall for a briefing about the effect of overtime spending on the homicide rate (it spiked in November 2008 amid a cutback in overtime spending). She also urged the police department to make better use of text messaging to alert citizens of crime in their neighborhood, something that department moved to do but hasn't made much use of.

Today, I was cleaning up my desk, a semi-annual ritual, and came across a letter that she and Councilman Bernard "Jack" Young sent Bealefeld one year ago today, urging transparency in terms of naming officers who shoot or kill citizens. For decades, police have released the name of officers involved in shootings, but reversed course in late 2007, opting to withhold the names except when, essentially, the officers is deemed to clearly have acted heroically and appropriately. Amid controversy, Dixon ordered Bealefeld to rethink the policy, but nothing has changed. Could Rawlings-Blake order Bealefeld to reverse this policy?

Here's the text of the letter:

Dear Commissioner Bealefeld:

This morning, the Baltimore Sun reported that the Baltimore Police Department has instituted a significant policy change regarding the release of names of officers who kill or injure civilians. We are deeply troubled by the fact that the City Council was not informed of this major policy shift.

The new policy change presents a difficult challenge at a time when our rank-and-file police officers are working so diligently to build trust with the citizens of Baltimore. Respectfully, we do not believe that such a significant policy decision that affects the entire Police Department should have been delegated to the Department's public affairs office.

We would like to take this opportunity to request a full written explanation of this new policy from your office. Specifically, what exactly is the Police Department's policy going forward? Why was the policy changed? And, are you absolutely certain that this is the best way to protect the safety of our dedicated police officers while maintaining an appropriate level of public transparency?

The simple truth is that the members of the Baltimore Police Department are among the best in the nation and have earned the trust of an overwhelming majority of the citizens of Baltimore. Any action that clouds the transparency of the Baltimore Police Department could undermine the hard-earned, sacred trust between our police officers and the public they serve. There is no doubt that by continuing to build this trust we can improve the safety of our officers and our citizens.

Thank you for your continued efforts to improve public safety for the people of Baltimore. Please provide the policy guidelines to the Baltimore City Council's Public Safety and Health Committee for review. We look forward to receiving a complete and thorough explanation of the new policy. If you have any questions regarding this request, please do not hesitate to contact our offices.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
President, Baltimore City Council

Bernard C. "Jack" Young (District 12)
Chair, Public Safety and Health Committee

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: City Hall, Police shootings
        

When I posted murder totals from cities across the country the other day, one key city was absent: Detroit.  Detroit misreported its murder count to the FBI last year, something The Baltimore Sun first reported, and the FBI's Uniform Crime Report continues to reflect that Baltimore had a higher murder rate. But in terms of cities with 500,000 or more people, Detroit was actually just barely ahead of Baltimore with a rate of 37.8 killings per 100,000 people, compared with 36.9 for Baltimore, in 2008. With Baltimore seeing one of the only increases in the country in 2009, the city was in danger of overtaking the grim No. 1 ranking among large cities.

But the Detroit Police Department reported today that they finished the year up 6 percent, from 342 to 364, a rate of 40.2. Officials said murders in the first half of 2009 were up 150 percent, at 200 compared with 133 in 2008. A new chief was installed at midyear and the city saw 18 percent less killings in the second half. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced today that Salisbury is getting a Safe Streets program. The program was rolled out in Annapolis in 2008 as part of an effort to curb a crime spike there. After less than a year, the program looked like it was already paying off. And through the first 11 months of 2009, police there were reporting a 40 percent drop in "Part 1" crimes - including homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny - the lowest crime rate since the city started tracking number this way in 1975. Salisbury is the next stop to receive the influx of resources.

The new program coincided with the appointment of former Baltimore police commander Michael A. Pristoop to head the Annapolis city police. Using money from Safe Streets, Pristoop implemented a number of strategic changes, such as assigning senior commanders to street duty during periods of peak crime, increasing patrols around "hot spot" problem areas and creating a street enforcement unit consisting of canine, drug enforcement, intelligence, traffic and foot patrol teams. Safe Streets helped the police department with technological advances such as CCTV and crime-mapping, and helped the city foster a stronger relationship with the Division of Parole and Probation to target known offenders in the community.

Also, on Thursday, O'Malley plans to give a "State of Public Safety" speech in Cambridge, to address public safety improvements statewide under his tenure.

Here is the announcement:

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY ANNOUNCES MARYLAND SAFE STREETS IN SALISBURY

SALISBURY, MD (January 6, 2010) - Governor Martin O'Malley announced today that Salisbury is a recipient of $156,261 in grant funds through the Maryland Safe Streets Program, making it the second site in the public safety program.  Citing 25 year lows in the state homicide levels, the Governor highlighted the Safe Streets program as part of a comprehensive crime strategy aimed at reducing violent crime in Maryland.

"Salisbury demonstrates a measurable need to reduce crime as well as strong interagency commitment, collaboration, and focus," said Governor O'Malley.  "Our most solemn obligation as public servants is to preserve and protect the public's safety.  These funds go a long way in these tough economic times to provide the resources local law enforcement need, and they will help facilitate the local, state, and federal partnerships that are vital to driving down crime."

The City of Salisbury's Safe Streets program addresses high incidences of crime in the city and surrounding areas. Utilizing a security integration model of multi-agency collaboration with federal, state, local law enforcement, public safety agencies, and community partners, the program aggressively tracks offenders to reduce drug, gun, and other major crimes.  Grant funds provide salary, fringe, and overtime support for law enforcement, a Safe Streets Program Coordinator, a Community Prosecutor, and both a Project Hope Coordinator and Facilitator. Grant funds also provide computer software and equipment.

"Governor Martin O'Malley has picked the right place, at the right time, for funding the Maryland Safe Streets Grant.  I am pleased to engage the City of Salisbury in the use of Governor O'Malley's Security Integration Model of multi-agency collaboration," said Mayor James Ireton of Salisbury. "This strategy will be used to meet the goal of reducing Part 1 crimes in Salisbury by 25 percent.  I am grateful to all the partnering agencies that collaborated with Salisbury, including:  Salisbury Police Department, Maryland State Police, Wicomico County States Attorney Davis Ruark, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Wicomico County Board of Education, and the 10 neighborhood associations that pledged support."

Through its Safe Streets Program, Salisbury will:

1. Develop a strategy which deploys Local, State, and Federal resources to identify repeat offenders who are engaged in gun and drug crime. This includes a commitment to sharing information in accordance with Federal and State law and pooling of resources to prioritize workloads.

2. Coordinate Local and Federal prosecution strategies so that they are focused on the most violent and repeat offenders, with an emphasis on reducing gun and drug-related violence.

3. Enhance information sharing, data analysis, and use of technology in accordance with Federal and State law to identify crime trends and to proactively address community conditions leading to crime.

4. Identify laws and regulations - such as code enforcement - that can be utilized to support public safety efforts.

5. Ensure that social services and drug treatment programs are a part of the coalition to reduce recidivism, support victims, and improve offenders' chances of successful re-entry to the community.

6. Include the community in the work of the Coalition by seeking to implement alternative dispute resolution, community-based crime prevention programs, diversion initiatives, and other appropriate community-based crime prevention initiatives.

7. Commit to share data at regular meetings, in accordance with Federal and State law, and to evaluate progress among the State and Local public safety agencies working within the coalition.

Annapolis City's Capital City Safe Streets program has put innovative policy into action. Through a combination of improved police tactics and practices, modern and enhanced technology, and the integration of expanded community partnerships, Annapolis has benefited from a remarkable reduction in serious crime since the program's inception in April 2008. In 2009 the City of Annapolis with assistance from the Capital City Safe Streets Coalition achieved a 35% reduction in total crime compared to 2008.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Mapping crime, Neighborhoods
        

The year's first slaying victim in the city, Marcal Walton, 33, who was found dead in an alley in Northwest Baltimore on Sunday, apparently unwittingly helped put down a case involving the killing of a Baltimore County police officer.

Back in 2000, the Baltimore Sun's Justin Fenton reports that Walton got a call from a man offering to sell stolen jewelry, and that called helped detectives track the killers of Sgt. Bruce A. Prothero, who was killed while moonlighting at a Baltimore County jewelry store.

The killer is serving a life sentence and the case got linked to a theft ring that was being tapped by the feds at the time. They caught suspects talking about the stolen jewelry and that helped put it down. Walton, meanwhile, ended up receiving 37 months in federal prison in 2002 for possession of a firearm by a felon. Here's an old Baltimore Sun story I wrote in 2000:

A suspect in the killing of a Baltimore County police sergeant during a jewelry store robbery last month was arrested after federal agents investigating an unrelated case overheard him on a wiretap trying to sell stolen watches, according to law enforcement sources.

The secretly recorded telephone conversation not only led to the arrests of three other suspects, it helped police break up a suspected drug ring in raids on 49 houses, 23 arrests and the seizure of nearly 15 pounds of cocaine and heroin and $813,000.Drug agents investigating the drug organization intercepted the call two hours after Sgt. Bruce A. Prothero was shot in the parking lot of J. Brown Jewelers in Pikesville, the sources said.

The recipient of the call had been under surveillance for several months by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force whose agents had tapped telephones and were looking for evidence.

The call was instrumental in leading police to a West Baltimore rowhouse a day after the Feb. 7 slaying, where they arrested their first suspect, Troy White, 23, federal and county police sources said. There, police reported finding a stash of stolen watches stuffed between cushions of a living room couch.

Details of how the first of the suspects in Prothero's killing was caught have been a closely guarded secret. The DEA issued a news release last week on the arrests of the suspected drug gang, but did not note any connection to the slain officer's case.

Court documents say only that the four men charged in the officer's slaying were named "based on information from a reliable source."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Pyne, who is prosecuting several of the drug defendants, would not comment on any connection with Prothero. Special Agent Bill Hacker, a spokesman for Baltimore's DEA office, said he knew nothing about a link.

Bill Toohey, a spokesman for the Baltimore County Police Department, declined to comment yesterday.

It was unclear how members of the drug ring and the jewelry thieves knew each other, but police sources said the sergeant, a 12-year veteran who was moonlighting as a store guard, was caught up in a robbery designed to outfit drug dealers flush with cash and anxious to flaunt their wealth with fancy jewelry.

"These drug dealers created a market," one federal agent said. More than $438,000 worth of watches were taken from J. Brown's, including Rolexes, Cartiers and Omegas -- some worth up to $7,000 each.

Police described the robbery as violent and well-planned. The holdup men bought two wooden mallets days before the holdup. At least two armed men walked into the jewelry store, ordered customers to the floor and grabbed Prothero by the neck.

While holding him, they went around the store smashing glass jewelry cases. One gunshot rang out in the store. Sources say that some customers, prone on the floor, dialed 911 on their cell phones, and police were able to record the sounds of the robbery as it happened.

The robbers let go of Prothero and ran out of the store. He chased them, drew his weapon and was shot twice in the chest and head. The holdup men escaped in two cars, both of which have been recovered.

Two hours later, law enforcement sources said, federal drug agents intercepted a detailed telephone call from someone trying to sell the stolen watches. White was arrested less than 24 hours later at a friend's rowhouse on North Ellamont Street in West Baltimore.

His arrest led police to quickly identify three other suspects in Prothero's shooting. All are in custody, charged with first-degree murder.

Within days of White's capture, police arrested Donald Antonio White Jr., 29, of Baltimore; the men are not related. Both were indicted Monday. It could not be learned yesterday whether either had an attorney; none was listed in court filings, and the Baltimore County public defender's office said it had not assigned anyone.

Two others -- Richard Antonio Moore, 29, and his brother, Wesley John Moore, 24 -- were arrested Feb. 19 in Philadelphia and are fighting extradition to Maryland. A hearing is scheduled March 20.

Authorities said they are trying to determine whether the Pikesville holdup was part of a larger pattern of area-wide smash-and-grab robberies of jewelry stores with the end customers being drug dealers.

Police said a man with possible ties to the suspects in the Prothero shooting was recently arrested on a West Baltimore street corner with a gun and two watches traced to a jewelry store robbery in Tysons Corner, Va.

The expensive tastes of the suspected dealers involved in this case can be seen in police seizures over the past several weeks: a $120,000 silver Mercedes-Benz, $490,000 from a Columbia home and cocaine seized by the pound.

Police said that the drugs were sold in depressed West and Southwest Baltimore neighborhoods but that there are ties that stretch from New York City to suburban Howard County. Authorities said they arrested two men about to deal a pound of pure heroin outside a hotel at the Inner Harbor.

The federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force had been investigating the alleged narcotics traffickers months before Prothero was killed, starting a year and a half ago when Maryland State Police arrested Ronald Joseph Hamilton.

Hamilton, 27, was arrested Oct. 19, 1998, when police said they intercepted a 4-pound package of cocaine that had been sent from Marina Del Rey, Calif., to a house in the 6100 block of Encounter Row, in Columbia's Stevens Forest neighborhood.

Police raided Hamilton's house on Good Hunters Rise and reported finding an additional 1.5 pounds of cocaine, a loaded .22-caliber handgun on the kitchen table and $490,000 in a gym bag.

Hamilton posted $250,000 bail, but local prosecutors dropped state drug charges against him last year. He was then indicted on federal narcotics charges but remained at large until Feb. 3, when DEA agents said they chased his silver Mercedes from Baltimore to Prince George's County and arrested him.

Court documents and federal agents describe Hamilton as the person who "controlled most of the drug trafficking in West and Southwest Baltimore City and County." He was in custody when Prothero was killed, but police allege that members of his crew were the ones buying the stolen watches.

Hamilton's lawyer, Harold Glaser, denied that his client was involved with drugs or ran a drug organization. He said allegations that a suspected drug group run by Hamilton was to buy watches stolen during the Prothero killing was news to him.

"I have not heard anything about it," he said.

The days after Prothero's killing led to a flurry of arrests and raids throughout the Baltimore area that netted several pounds of drugs, money, cars and high-powered assault weapons.

On Feb. 11, federal agents arrested a man from Queens, N.Y., outside the Harbor Court Hotel as he allegedly tried to deliver a pound of raw heroin. From there, police raided several homes and a store on West Pratt Street.

On Feb. 16, police arrested Raymond Bourne, 32, and Lucilio Gonzales, 26, of Hyattsville, at a house in the first block of S. Beechfield Ave. in Southwest Baltimore. Inside, they reported seizing 4 pounds of cocaine, 5 ounces of heroin and five cars, including a 1999 Corvette.

In other raids connected to the suspects, police said they confiscated several more cars and $218,000 -- including $63,976 hidden in a electronically controlled trap in the floor boards of a Toyota Camry.

Police on Feb. 22 arrested Charles Oliver in the 100 block of Collins Ave., also in Southwest Baltimore, and reported seizing 2 pounds of cocaine. Three days later, police said they made another arrest in Gwynn Oak and seized eight cars and eight handguns.

Oliver and Bourne are scheduled to be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Both are in federal custody and neither has retained an attorney. Other defendants are being held on state drug charges in various jurisdictions.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Breaking news
        

Last month, I wrote two columns about the state's Violence Prevention Initiative and how authorities are using it to identify and lock up serial offenders. Officials single out the worst of the worst offenders who are out on parole or probation and keep them under strict scrutiny. At left, VPI agents knock on a door in East Baltimore in a photo by the Sun's Jed Kirschbaum.

The idea is that if they violate the terms of their release even on such a minor infraction as forgetting to call their agent, they will be sent back to prison to finish out their term. I spent time with supervising agents who told me detectives found the program helpful to lock up suspects before they could be charged with new crimes and with agents on the street who served arrest warrants.

But for the program to be successful, it needs judges to recognize that even a minor, technical violation, one that ordinarily wouldn't mean more jail time, must be treated with greater significance. Agents kept telling me that judges need to "get with the program" but judges of course revere their independence and tend to look at the facts of each case presented to them. The best the agents can do is plead their cases and hope they convince judges that the people in their program deserve, because of their background, to held to a higher standard. Below, agents gather on an East Baltimore street to discuss a case. Photo again by Jed Kirschbaum.

The Baltimore Sun's Justin Fenton highlights with very issue in today's paper. Chauncey Jones was in the VPI program but District Court Judge C. Yvonne Holt-Stone refused to revoke his probation for technical violations, despite four pleas from his probation agent, Beverly Mattingly.

Later, and still on the street, Jones got charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a man on Oct. 10. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

Former state Del. Clarence "Tiger" Davis sent us this on the death of a former Baltimore man:

The link is an LA Times article on the murder of Ben Bradley, Longtime East Hollywood theater director and 1968 graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.  Other links will contain his photo.  He was an excellent student who earned a scholarship to Carroll College in Wisconsin, where he studied theater.  He later moved to LA where he pursued theater arts in all its forms.
 
Should you decide to write an obituary, please do not hesitate to contact me. The LA Police called his mother at 3:30 am Sunday to inform her of the tragedy. She is waiting for the coroner to release the body which will then be shipped to March Funeral Home-East. Once the body is released, plans will be made for his funeral and internment.  I hope its soon; his mother is devastated and need closure of some kind ASAP.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Crime elsewhere
        

A sex offender who was released from prison last April has been charged with fondling an 11-year-old girl in a Southwest Baltimore church, according to court records.

Police said Rodney Earl Key, 46, was in the sanctuary at the St. James Church in the 200 block of S. Augusta Ave. with an 11-year-old girl on Jan. 3 when he put her on his lap and put her hand up her dress, records show.

Key is a registered sex offender in Baltimore County, police said. Court records show that, in 2001, Key pleaded guilty in Talbot County Circuit Court to child abuse by a parent for crimes that occurred between 1990 and 1998. He received 30 years in prison, with all but 14 years suspended.

David Blumberg of the Maryland Parole Commission said Key was twice turned down for parole but was released in April and placed on mandatory supervision until 2015.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news
        

Baltimore police and the FBI are asking for help finding this man:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news
        

Residents throughout Baltimore are being asked to take to the streets Wednesday, Jan. 13 in what seems like a full-scale implementation of the city police department's Citizen On Patrol walks.

Typically, community groups in each of the nine police districts set up a schedule of walks; next week it appears that there will be simultaneous walks throughout Baltimore. It comes as Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is making the media rounds to explain last year's crime stats and his plan for the coming months. He had some interesting thoughts on Monday's Dan Rodricks show on WYPR.

Here's the e-mail being forwarded from Cliff Sawyer, associate director of the city's Office of Neighborhoods:

To all neighborhood leaders,

The City of Baltimore would like to motivate residents around the city referencing public safety efforts and ask that you galvanize residents and COP Coordinator’s to schedule a Winter COP Walk in their neighborhood.  We know people go to sporting events, take part in parades and participate in other outdoor events this time of year with the weather we have (or below) Go Ravens. We want residents to start the New Year off with this showing of unity.  The City of Baltimore is calling to action residents to join their local COP on next Wednesday, January 13th from 6:30pm-7:30pm to answer the call, volunteer their time and serve ones community.  We would like to strongly encourage all Police Council Presidents and COP Coordinators to schedule a walk on Wednesday, January 13th from 6:30pm-7:30pm at a meeting location within their neighborhood.  The time will be standard for all walks, 6:30pm-7:30pm citywide.
 
We would like to start posting the information for walks ASAP as they come in leading up to the end of the week.   We will post the meeting location, community group and standard time from6:30pm-7:30pm at www.baltimorecity.gov/citiesofservice  or residents will be able to call 410-396-4735 to find out their COP Walk location for the 13th.  This will be a citywide effort for the average resident to get involved.
 
When time permit today, can you start to rally your COP Coordinators, community leaders, Safe Neighborhood Ambassadors, etc. to get all active COP's to take part on this day to unite and continue to sustain the, City and residents hardwork, 20 year low of violent crime as we appreciate all efforts.  Officer support will be coordinated for each walk with BPD that night when locations and groups submit them.
 
Please have your COP Coordinators or Safe Neighborhood Ambassador if they would like to coordinate a COP Walk to provide their:
•        Meeting location-where residents can call us or go online to join the walk www.baltimorecity.gov/citiesofservice 
•        Group Name-The name of the community group or organization
•        Time-6:30pm-7:30pm (will be the standard time for all walks on Wednesday, January, 13th)
 
Groups will need to email their information (3 bullets points above) to Neighborhood@baltimorecity.gov  so we can post.
 
Please feel free to email or call me at anytime as we hope to get a good turnout and effort from our city stakeholders.
The City of Baltimore would like to motivate residents around the city referencing public safety efforts and ask that community groups galvanize residents to schedule a Winter COP Walk in their neighborhood.  We know people go to sporting events, take part in parades and participate in other outdoor events this time of year with the weather we have (or below) Go Ravens. We want residents to start the New Year off with this showing of unity.  The City of Baltimore is calling to action residents to join their local COP on next Wednesday, January 13th from 6:30pm-7:30pm to answer the call, volunteer their time and serve ones community.

The Southwestern District council already had a walk scheduled for Wednesday. And it's in Carrollton Ridge, where the little girl got shot and wounded last year:

"I received this SPECIAL REQUEST concerning a CITY WIDE WALK on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.  As it so happens, we have a walk scheduled for that day and guess what, it is in Carrollton Ridge.  So please read the following correspondence addressed to all the community leaders.

Our group will walk the scheduled walkin:

Carrollton Ridge, Wednesday, January 13, 2010, at 6:30 pm.  Meet up will be on the Recreation Parking Lot located at S. Pulaski and Ashton Streets. 

So let us show everybody our Team Community Spirit, so please, come join us, even if you have not walked with us before, come on out!  Dress warm, wear good comfortable warm walking shoes, and bring a flashlight."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

The year is over, and many cities have released preliminary homicide statistics. Some of these were gathered through news reports, others through phone calls to the police agency in question. There's a host of reasons why comparing cities against each other is flawed, but nevertheless, it gives a look at what happened in some cities with the highest rates.

These are the cities with the top 10 homicide rates in 2008 (with a population of more than 100,000, based on FBI estimates from 08), followed by their results in '09. Cities with an increase are bolded: 

1.  New Orleans - 281,440 - 179 (08) - 173 (09) - Old rate per 100,000: 64 - New rate:  61

2.  St. Louis - 356,204 - 167 (08) - 147 (09) - Old rate:  47 - New rate:  41

3.  Detroit - 905,783 - 339 (08) - Did not provide 09 total - Old rate:  37  - New rate - ??

4.  Baltimore - 634,549 - 234 (08) - 238 (09) - Old rate:  36 - New rate: 37.5

5.  Birmingham - 228,314 - 82 (08) - 66 (09) - Old rate:  36 - New rate:  28.9

6.  Jackson, Miss - 174,734 - 63 (08) - 40 (09) - Old rate:  36 - New rate: 22.8

7.  Washington DC - 591,000 - 186 (08) - 143 (09) - Old rate:  31 - New rate:  24

8.  Baton Rouge - 226,920 - 67 (08) - 63 (09) *Through October - Old rate:  30

9.  Oakland, Calif. - 401,587 - 115 (08) - 107 (09) - Old rate:  29 - New rate:  26.6

10.  Flint, Mich. - 113,462 - 32 (08) - 36 (09) - Old rate:  28 - New rate:  31.7

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

On a rainy, raw New Year's Eve, I found myself in front of a bar at Monument and Luzerne, the site of 2009's first killing. Mario Williams had been gunned down here, allegedly by a relative, during a dispute at a party on Jan. 1. Pictures by Sun photographer Karl Merton Ferron.

Nearly a year later, his friends and relatives had returned for a vigil; they put out 237 candles (they didn't know that at that very moment police were adding a 238th victim to the list) and mourned not only for Mario but for all the others this year.

As Justin Fenton pointed out on Sunday, Baltimore remains at an historic low for murder but we couldn't beat out last year's 234 killings, nor could we show historic drops seen elsewhere in New York and Washington. I met two people at the vigil -- Mario's brother, Michael, who had just gotten out of prison in November for selling drugs, and another man named Thomas Brown, who recited a poem he had written and also had just gotten out of jail, a week earlier, and also for selling drugs.

Michael (left) told me it was the death of his brother that helped turned him around. Thomas told me he saw too many men like him in jail and decided enough was enough. The vigil was his first attempt at going straight.

I wish both men luck. Baltimore has already seen it's first murder of the year, near Druid Hill Park, and the city's police commissioner, Frederick H. Bealefeld III, was scheduled to be on WJZ and WBAL TV stations between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. this morning to discuss plans to fight crime this year.

Mario's cousin Tierra Smith wrote a poem about the killing and she gave me a copy. Here it is:

Losing a love one causes some type pain
Pain that surface in different ways
I don't  know about yours but mine is unbearable type pain
I walk around hating your killer type pain
Mmm, when I see your picture I have the same type pain from when we were writing ya obituary
The type of pain that causes constant anxiety and repetitve tear
Or the fact that this pain is drying my tears up into balls of anger
The type of pain that I just may share with some of you
The pain of knowing my family will never be complete
Going to sleep peacefully to wake up to some type of pain
Or the fact that I keep asking you to come to me in my dreams but you won't type of pain
Your voice is withering away type of pain
Wish I could put this type pain on the person who didn't check ya killers pockets
But if your'e here don't take it personal because Im quite sure you have ya own type pain
I fall to my knees and keep asking Him why type pain
I never get an answer cause mommy keep telling me no to Question God
But can I ask Him why I have this type pain or
Did he think of the type pain it would cause to lose my cousin
But I realize Mario is free from pain
I'll come close that I, we will always have this type pain
So I look to the sky and throw up my I Owe U and Smile
Stop the violence and maybe this can stop the pain for others!

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Baltimore's homicide rate is the focal point in the city's fight against crime, and the year to year figures will show that killings rose in 2009. On the surface, with most other large cities recording declines, it looks like the city took a step backwards.

But digging deeper, nearly all of the indicators that law enforcement authorities look to to understand crime trends showed significant improvement. From our story that ran today:

-Four more people were killed, yes, but that's basically the same as last year's 20-year-low. But adding non-fatal shootings, all told about 130 fewer people were shot compared with 2008.

-Total gun crime dropped by 16 percent, including homicides by gun, non-fatal shootings, aggravated assaults involving guns, street robberies and carjackings.

-For years, victims under age 25 have represented as much as half of the city's homicide victims. But in 2009, they made up just 37 percent, the lowest figure in at least 12 years, according to available figures compiled by the Police Department's homicide unit.

-15 juveniles were killed, down from an average of 25 per year between 2004 and 2008. Overall, 40 percent fewer juveniles were wounded in shootings.

Check out this graphic for an array of statistics related to the year in crime, including data on the day and time that homicides occur.

With all those encouraging numbers, Baltimore's progress is muted when compared to other cities. Every city I called, with the exception of Newark, NJ, saw a decline. (Newark, like Baltimore, had a large drop last year and is still generally down).  New Orleans and St. Louis remain in a class by themselves in terms of murder rate (among cities with a population over 250,000), but it remains to be seen whether Baltimore will overtake Detroit as No. 3 in the next tier. After Detroit misreported its homicide total to the FBI last year, they refused to give The Baltimore Sun a preliminary figure this year. 

Another statistic worth noting:  There were 15 people in 2009 who were victims of violence in a prior year but died this year. That is far higher than the typical number of prior year deaths, which was 7, 6, and 5 the past three years.  You could argue that had that number not been so high, the city would have been down, albeit slightly.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Confronting crime