DC Crime Blog

Man calls Fairfax County cops to tell them he’ll be using a gun to shoot people, only to call back a little while later to say he had been joking, pranking, leading on the cops in an attempt at humor.   For anyone who might miraculously have wound up on this page without previously having seen a newspaper, the news home page of any internet search engine, a magazine, seen a television show or listened to a radio program, any one of those media outlets- police take bullets flying at them seriously, and so does the public.

Takoma Park PD searching for carjackers.

Teenage violence in Anne Arundel. 

Fairfax County is suing a doughnut company, that’s right, a doughnut company.  Round confectionary treats with holes in the middle, dripping glazed frosting.  Fairfax, it seems, has a sewage problem, and is availing itself of its legal right to blame Krispy Kreme for clogging sewers with, ahem, goo. 

Two less lawyers in the District.  Maybe they’ll have some success with the California Bar Association as a next step.  After looking at these charges, maybe not.

Privacy infringement, American soldiers in compromising positions.

Oak Hill juvey facility has finally gone the way of the dodo and the palm pilot, with the opening of new prison facilities for juvenile offenders in the District.

Pleas for release of murder suspect denied.

More video- local PD doing their jobs.

A week old, but worth mentioning in context is the possible DC police overtime corruption, a much better headline than the manner through which an off-duty police officer died last week in New York.  Comparing these two incidents is a stretch by any measure of analogy, but it gives us a chance to say rest in piece, NYPD Officer Omar Edwards.  Our thoughts go out to his family and all of New York’s Finest in their hour of mourning.   

Leading off our post today, from the City Paper, an investigative series by Jason Cherkis into the shooting of DeOnte Rawlings:

So what keeps this case from going away? We keep learning new problems with the police work on this case, and new holes in the narrative. Today we published a very long piece on the Rawlings shooting that’s simply taken from the depositions of those involved. In it you may find out things you didn’t already know. On City Desk, I will be presenting a series of documents and deposition testimony highlighting more screwups, questionable memos, and just sad little details. There’s a reason why this case won’t go away.

Who will be the US Attorney for the District of Columbia?  There are five primary candidates, and DC’s sorta-representative Eleanor Holmes Norton will be making her recomendation to President Obama.

Jeffrey Kroger, the Springfield Mall shooting rampagist, sentenced to 66 years in prison.  Odd number, that.  I mean, not literally odd, it’s an even number (duh), but sixty-six just seems a little random.

Ronald Cohen, a “once-prominent Arlington lawyer”, has been disbarred for triying “to lure a child for sex over the internet.”

Virginia v Krispy Kreme.

C’mon, Federal Grant!  To me, this is a no-brainer: I’d rather have convicts learning applicable work skills so they, y’know, don’t go back to a life of crime.

Jim Graham: Crazy?  Like a Fox!

Little late today … here we go:

Prison Break!  Up in Frederick, a dozen juveniles sprung themselves from a detention center. Never fear, they were all rounded up within two hours.

Murder in Waldorf.

Larry Deffenbaugh was convicted of fraud in the operation of his cemetery: now he might’ve gone on to fake his own death.

It’s a real headache for the District, differentiating between legal and illegal billboards!

A big motivator for whistleblowing?  $$$$

I can’t say it better than NBC’s headline: “Bullets and Nuclear Reactors Don’t Mix.”  Seriously.  WTF.

There’s a masked vigilante out there: Potomac Secret Agent.  What does he do?  Combat crime?  Cuff criminals, rap rapists and mollify murderers?  Nope, he “posted signs warning drivers about five speed cameras in Potomac over the weekend.”  Maybe, next, he could take photos of reckless drivers and post them to his super cool anonymous blog with snarky tips on how to drive safely.

A married Navy chaplain seems to have some trouble with his Ten Commandments.  Especially the “don’t fuck people other than your spouse” part.

The suspect indicted in the Chandra Levy case pleaded not guilty today.  Not only that, but his attorneys are pushing to move back the trial date from June  27 to better prepare.

Anabolic Steroids? The Nats and Caps?  Say it ain’t so!  Evidently the Florida-based married couple were “semiprofessional bodybuilders” (what on earth does that mean?) that kept tons of  ’roids around the house.  The man bragged that he sold them to DC sports teams.  No evidence, of course.

Are the Fort Washington slayings yesterday related?

Home invasions are on the rise in PG County, police warn “vigilance.”

Using new-media to combat speed cameras.  Here’s another way to combat speed cameras: don’t speed.  Just a thought.

Muriel Browser, of DC’s Ward 4, is pushing for more aggressive investigations into the District’s brothels.  But where will I get laid from now on, Muriel? Oh, the humanity.

This should be a crime.  I’m rolling my eyes.

Mayor Fenty apologizes.

Like, oh my god, a woman is attacked by a man she met through Craigslist?  It’s like people are surprised the internet isn’t a safe place anymore!  (Was it ever?)  Is any place truly safe?  Seriously, though … in any case, luckily this one ended okay: “the woman jumped out of the car and ran to the officer.”

Finally:

Thanks for the love, WaPo Express.  If crime is really such an issue in Adams Morgan, the council should look into shuttering the bars, curtailing their hours, or *gasp*, stationing a ton of police in the area.  I don’t think banning pizza slices is going to do anything, unless drunk college kids breaking into nearby homes to satisfy their sudden hunger is considered “solving something.”

Groundbreaking: construction starts on a $20-million police evidence warehouse in SW.

A man was shot on T Street early this morning.  Police are linking the killing to another in PG Co.

And, on a lighter note, what the hell is this?

There’s some rule-breakin’ going on in the District: non-DC employee behind the wheel of a city-owned SUV.

It’s sort of funny, Marion Barry calling others “despicable.”  Guess he hasn’t looked in a mirror for a long time.

PG Co.: two murders in Fort Washington.  And the County accounted for 21% of all traffic fatalaties in the state of Maryland.

Get your ‘Happy Ending’ on now: DC is moving to close brothels in the District.  (Well, I mean, where else would they be closing them?)

Slow down: speed kills.

A ban on pizza just seems very un-American, but Jim Graham thinks Jumbo Slice is part of Adams Morgan’s problems.

Man who breaks traffic laws regularly, complaining about traffic laws.

Kids who don’t understand what swastikas symbolize dispel swastikas.

Another Barry-related crime story, OR another crime-related Barry story?

Small steps.  Trial relocation requests.

Barry digs deeper!

A Prince George’s kid is going to jail.Pawn shop in Manassas, the movie.A murder case continues.

Don’t park near popular bar scene.

With such a position of power, how could you not be a prick?

Some good citizenship on the part of this girl.  Shameless exploitation on the part of the network.

Witness found in ’07 shooting death case.  

More on Tuesday’s quadruple shooting: gang related, and an 18-year old was the target.

Good news from the SE: police deliver a baby.

PG Co.: Boy, if it took this long to be arrested?  I’d be thinking I was going to get away with it!

Maryland will pay more attention to what its police SWAT teams are doing.

A teacher in Loudoun Co. has previously killed a child by laying on him.  Well, at least she wasn’t laying him.

Feds investigate serial killers in the DC area.

Police are still looking for the suspects in a foiler armored-car robbery.