Freeman Klopott

P.G. firefighters arrested on arson charges

Two Prince George's County volunteer firefighters have been arrested and charged with breaking into a Riverdale home and setting fire to it, authorities said. Investigators continue a wide-reaching probe into what they called a firefighter arson ring. Jerome Engle and James Martinez were indicted on arson and burglary charges, and taken into custody Thursday. The 46-year-old Engle is a firefighter with the Riverdale Volunteer Fire Department. Martinez, 24, is a professional firefighter with the Montgomery County Fire Department, but also volunteers with Riverdale. Both men have been suspended since April when the department began the arson investigation. According to authorities, Engle...

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Ex-owner of accounting firm gets 3 years for tax fraud

The former owner of an accounting firm with offices in the District, Maryland and Virginia will spend the next three years in prison after filing tax returns seeking more than $500,000 in fraudulent refunds for his clients. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the clients of Henderson Joseph's Triad Business Services who could not back up the deductions on their tax returns have agreed to return the cash plus interest after the clients lost lawsuits filed in civil court. Joseph directed employees at Triad's three offices in D.C., Baltimore and Richmond to inflate or fabricate the deductions in thousands of clients' individual tax returns, the 54-year-old admitted in his guilty...

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Police: Teens ended lives in suicide pact

Two Prince William County teens ended their lives in a suicide pact, police said Tuesday. Desiree Patrick and Quirinius Williams were found dead in their Triangle home Monday evening by Patrick's father, Prince William County police said. The 17-year-old Patrick and 18-year-old Williams both died from gunshot wounds in what police described as a suicide pact. Their bodies were found in Patrick's bedroom. Both were students at Forest Park High School, which was closed Tuesday for Election Day. The school counseling center was open, however, to address the needs of grieving students, officials said. An autodialer also sent out a message to parents Tuesday morning, and a letter is being sent...

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The Blotter

Cleveland Cavaliers guard indicted on gun charges Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West has been indicted on concealed weapons charges stemming from a September traffic stop during which police said they found a shotgun hidden in a guitar case strapped across his back and other guns in his possession. West faced a league suspension for the weapons charges, which a Prince George's County grand jury formally filed against him Tuesday afternoon. Police said West was speeding on his three-wheeled motorcycle Sept. 17 when he cut off a K-9 officer on the Capital Beltway. After he was pulled over, a search revealed the shotgun in the guitar case, a loaded 9 mm in his pants pocket and a...

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Ivey looks to higher office, but won't confirm congressional run

Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey wants a higher office, but won't confirm media reports that he is considering running against Rep. Donna Edwards for Congress. "I'm not going to run for re-election [for state's attorney] and I'm not looking to go into the Obama administration," Ivey said. "But there's a range of possibilities beyond those two." Ivey's supporters have called on him to run for the county executive seat being vacated by Jack Johnson next year because of term limits, and now some are getting behind Ivey to run against Edwards. "The speculation is very flattering," Ivey said. Ivey has been the state's attorney since 2002, but he also is a former...

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Halloween is over, but scary mask used in bank robbery anyway

Someone forgot to tell a Montgomery County bank robber that Halloween is over. A man wearing a black and white skeleton mask and armed with a handgun robbed a SunTrust Bank at 8510 Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase Monday morning, police said. It was the fourth time in recent weeks that bank robbers in the Washington region hid behind Halloween-style masks to hide their identities. The other robberies occurred in Northern Virginia, where authorities say two men are responsible for knocking off two Wachovia Banks -- one in Burke, one in Alexandria. A third man is believed to have operated on his own in Sterling. Montgomery County police are reaching out to police in Virginia to see if...

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Police: Unlicensed driver ran down dog-walking 81-year-old

A student driver has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after police say she jumped a curb and killed an 81-year-old man while he was walking his dog. Oneyda Boquin was driving without a driver's license in a parking lot on the 2800 block of South Fort Scott Drive in Arlington last month when she allegedly slammed into Marco Amoni, Arlington County police said. The 21-year-old Alexandria woman was held without bail Friday. According to police, Boquin was learning to drive the car without the guidance of a licensed driving instructor at the time of the Oct. 10 accident. - Freeman...

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The Blotter

University of Maryland student sexually assaulted A 21-year-old University of Maryland student was sexually assaulted while in her off-campus apartment early Sunday morning, police said. A man climbed into the girl's bed in her home on the 7500 block of Dickinson Avenue and sexually assaulted her, police said. The attacker ran off when she screamed. The suspect is a Middle Eastern or Hispanic man with a small build. Anyone with information is asked to call Prince George's County police at 301-772-4908. Suspicious substance at World Bank A package containing a suspicious substance was found in the World Bank's mailroom Monday afternoon, authorities said. A small portion...

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Cavaliers guard indicted on weapons charges

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West has been indicted on concealed weapons charges stemming from a September traffic stop during which police say they found a shotgun hidden in a guitar case strapped across his back and other guns in his possession. The Brandywine native returned to the basketball court Saturday night after a tumultuous offseason delayed his return. On top of his Sept. 17 arrest in Prince George's County on concealed weapons charges, West also has been battling bipolar disorder. Last week, as he missed the Cavaliers' first three games, his wife filed a domestic violence report against him. Now, West faces a league suspension for the weapons charges, which a...

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Stupid Crimes

Marked Men Anybody can use a ski mask as a disguise to pull off a heist. But two Iowa men took it a step further and painted their faces with a Sharpie marker before trying to rob an apartment. When police captured Matthew McNelly and Joey Miller, they were in blackface. Police weren't sure why McNelly and Miller went with the raccoon look, but guessed that they may have been trying to scare the apartment's occupant. Keeping it in the Klan Yelling racial slurs and death threats at a traffic cop is not the best way to talk your way out of a ticket. That's what one 44-year-old woman in Florida did after being stopped for making an illegal left turn. Police said Julie Hubbard of...

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The Blotter

Police investigate rape of housekeeper Montgomery County police are investigating the rape of a housekeeper at a Motel 6 near Gaithersburg. Police said the woman was cleaning a room at the hotel Thursday morning when she heard the door slam and saw a man inside the room with her. The man sexually assaulted her and fled. He was driving a green, four-door car. Thieves seeking gold in homes Police said burglars are going into homes during the day seeking gold. The crew hit four Fairfax County homes on Tuesday: the 5300 block of Poplar Valley Court, the 12700 block of Lady Summerset Lane, the 9300 block of Cumbria Valley Drive, and the 8400 block of White Haven Circle. The thieves...

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Ten-year sentence for man who sold more than 400 pounds of ecstasy

A Maryland man who distributed more than 400 pounds of Ecstasy after exchanging cocaine for the drug in Canada was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday. From September 2006 through August 2007, 33-year-old Bum Gu Kim and other members of his ring would buy cocaine from a source in Arizona and drive it up to Buffalo, N.Y., where they crossed the border into Canada, Kim admitted. While in Canada, they would exchange the cocaine for Ecstasy and bring it back to Maryland, where they sold it wholesale to area drug dealers. The cocaine was allegedly purchased from Leonardo Aldana, an Arizona man who is currently awaiting sentencing after being convicted of distributing cocaine and...

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Feds: Md. scientist turned over classified info to Israeli company

A Maryland scientist charged with passing documents to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer is also believed to have given classified information to a company owned by the Israeli government, prosecutors said. Stewart Nozette was held without bail Thursday after a federal judge concluded there was no way to ensure Nozette would not flee the country. During a six-week period that ended earlier this month, Nozette allegedly provided U.S. military secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer for $11,000. Nozette held top-secret clearance for more than 20 years and helped develop the anti-missile program known as Star Wars. On...

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Man enslaved young girls in Maryland hotels, sold them for sex, police say

A New York man enslaved young girls in Maryland hotel rooms and sold their bodies for sex on a prostitution track in Northeast Washington, prosecutors said in court documents. "While slavery was abolished in the United States in 1863, [Jermaine Moore] has continued to fuel the modern day version of slavery in the form of human trafficking of minors for commercial sexual exploitation," Assistant U.S. Attorney Karla-Dee Clark wrote in court documents. Moore "treated these victims as property, a mere commodity, to which he gave no respect," she wrote. Moore, 37, faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced Thursday, although prosecutors have asked that he receive 17 years. Moore...

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Stay clear of the tricks and keep Halloween a treat

Neighborhood streets will be populated by costumed children this weekend, threatening a trick if a treat isn't provided. And although trees may be in danger of receiving a heavy dose of toilet paper, the police are concerned that tricks far more dangerous might be lurking for the kids. Here are some tips compiled from Washington area police departments on staying safe this Halloween. 1. Only beg for candy in neighborhoods and at homes known to your family. The Montgomery County police advise parents that taking children to unknown apartment complexes or neighborhoods simply because there are not a lot of homes in their own area is not safe and should not be done. 2. That said,...

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Md. scientist accused of spying eligible for death penalty

A Maryland scientist is eligible for the death penalty because the information he's accused of providing an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli spy was so damaging to U.S. security, although prosecutors say he will likely only face up to life in prison. Stewart Nozette, who was taken into custody on espionage charges last week, was allowed to keep his passport and travel the world despite his pleading guilty to fraud in an unrelated case and an ongoing federal espionage investigation. The 52-year-old Chevy Chase scientist is accused of accepting $11,000 for providing military technology secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. On Tuesday,...

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Scientist accused of espionage kept passport after guilty plea

A Maryland scientist accused of attempted espionage was allowed to keep his passport and travel the world so he could help authorities with an ongoing government corruption investigation, court documents show. Stewart Nozette also pleaded guilty to overbilling NASA and other agencies, yet continued to have access to "secure government facilities," including NASA headquarters in Washington, prosecutors wrote. In January, Nozette admitted to overbilling the government $265,205 for work he and an employee did for NASA and the Department of Defense from 2000 to 2006, according to recently unsealed court documents. The 52-year-old Chevy Chase scientist, who worked on missile...

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Halloween masks all the rage for bank robbers

A bank robber in Loudoun County got into the Halloween spirit early when he slipped on a spooky mask, pulled out a handgun and demanded cash from tellers at a BB&T Bank, authorities said. "This time of year Halloween masks are more prevalent in bank robberies," said Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kraig Troxell. Earlier this month, two masked men robbed a Wachovia bank in Alexandria and another in Burke. During the Alexandria robbery, one man dressed as a construction worker, wearing a yellow hard hat and an orange vest. The latest masked caper took place around 9 a.m. Monday when the robber entered the bank on the 20920 block of Davenport Drive in Sterling, Troxell...

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Gangs flee N.Va.for havens in Md., D.C., report says

Crackdowns on illegal immigrants and other law enforcement efforts are driving gangs out of Northern Virginia and into Maryland and the District, a report released Monday concluded. "Many gang members from Northern Virginia are moving or driving to Prince George's and other Maryland counties, into the District of Columbia or further south and west into Virginia to avoid dealing with police departments that are unrelenting in their efforts to keep gangs under control," authorities wrote in the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force report. The report said the task force's success is the result of Virginia law enforcement's use of anti-gang policing measures, including the...

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Va. rape suspect tracked down in Alabama

The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force tracked a man accused of a raping a 13-year-old family member in Manassas to Alabama, where he was taken into custody, Prince William County police said. Police started an investigation into 32-year-old Arturo Lopez Velasquez on Wednesday after receiving a complaint that he had raped the 13-year-old girl within the last year, police said. Marshals tracked Velasquez down in Alabama on Thursday, and police say the accused rapist turned himself in to local authorities. Velasquez has been charged with two counts of rape and is being held in Alabama awaiting extradition to Virginia, police said. - Freeman...

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Crime History - Teens kills himself to Ozzy Osbourne song

On this day, Oct. 26, in 1984, a California teen shot and killed himself while listening to an Ozzy Osbourne song about suicide, causing his parents to sue the heavy metal singer because they believed his music had driven their son to end his life. John McCollum had been listening to Osbourne's song "Suicide Solution" when he shot himself while in his bed in Indio, Calif. In the lawsuit, the 19-year-old's parents claimed there were hidden lyrics that urged listeners to "get the gun and try it, shoot, shoot." In a response, Osbourne said there were no hidden lyrics and it was actually a song meant to steer listeners away from suicide. A California court dismissed the lawsuit in 1988,...

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Two Va. men ran 'getting granny' scheme, feds say

Federal prosecutors have accused two Virginia men of swindling elderly women in Vienna and Fairfax by charging them for home repairs that were not needed and never performed. According to court documents, Donald Norcross and Donald Ray Best Jr. called it "getting granny" or "granny ripping." In this case, authorities say, Norcross and Best convinced at least two women -- ages 77 and 86 -- that they needed sewage and electrical work done on their home and charged them more than $20,000. They sometimes posed as employees of utility companies; the work was neither needed nor performed. On Jan. 19, Norcross and Best allegedly told a 77-year-old woman in Fairfax that they needed to...

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The Blotter: Man tries to abduct woman in Garret Park

Fairfax parents killed in crash A four-car piled up on the Fairfax County Parkway killed two parents and injured three of their children, Fairfax County police said. The children were treated and released from the hospital soon after the Saturday evening crash, police said. The names of the parents have not been released. The family was headed north in a Honda Pilot near Rolling Road when a Toyota Corolla heading in the same direction crashed into them, sending both cars into the southbound lanes, police said. The two vehicles then rammed into another car and a truck. No one in the other vehicles suffered serious injuries. D.C. police officer shoots and kills man Police say a...

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Crime History: Mother lies to cover up murdering her kids

On this day, Oct. 25, in 1994, a South Carolina mother told police she was carjacked and her attacker took her car with her two young children inside. For the next nine days, police searched for Susan Smith's 3-year-old and 1-year-old sons, but found no trace of them or the car. The search ended when Smith admitted to driving her Mazda into a lake and drowning her children. Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. She and her husband had an on-and-off relationship and at the time of the murders she was dating a man who did not want children. It's believed she drowned the kids in the hope that she could be with her new beau. Smith buckled and confessed under the...

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Caring for Fairfax's victims for 20 years

Carroll Ann Ellis heads the Fairfax County Police Department's victim services unit, where she has been working for the past 20 years. The unit provides a variety of resources and services to crime victims, helping find their way through the complexities of the judicial system and providing counseling for those who need it. What role does victim services play in the larger realm of law enforcement? We are police personnel. We don't carry guns, be we're on call and have county vehicles so we can get to any crime scene in a heartbeat. We are at homicides, bank robberies, burglaries, almost every crime scene and make ourselves available to the victims. We really are part of the police...

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Police search for bank robbery suspect

Fairfax County police are searching for a 43-year-old man they say robbed a TD Bank earlier this month. Quenten Sims, of no fixed address, has been accused of passing a note demanding cash to a teller on the morning of Oct. 10 at the branch at 6615 Richmond Highway in Alexandria. The 21-year-old female teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash, and police say Sims drove off in a dark-colored sport utility vehicle. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS (8477). -- Freeman...

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Judge: Pimp was child prostitute's foster father

A Temple Hills man accused of selling young girls for sex was the foster father for one of the girls who worked for him since she was 12 years old, authorities said. The girl, referred to only as "S.H." in court documents, also was raped by Shelby Lewis, a D.C. detective testified in Washington's federal court. She was one of several girls Lewis is accused of trafficking from Maryland to D.C.'s popular prostitution track at 14th and K streets Northwest. Lewis was arrested in May. On Thursday, a federal judge held the 42-year-old Lewis without bail, in part because Lewis' "role as a foster care provider to S.H. while also acting as her 'pimp' militate against pretrial release" U.S....

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The Blotter

Maryland man gets prison time for hiding ties to Saddam Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish was sentenced to 15 months in prison for not including his employment with an Iraqi government office in immigration papers, prosecutors said. Darwish was an accountant and driver for the Iraqi Interests Section located inside the Algerian Embassy in the District between 2000 and 2003, authorities said. But on immigration documents he claimed to only work for Saubhe Jassim Al-Dellemy, at Al-Dellemy's Gourmet Shish Kebab in Laurel. Darwish's job with Iraq was discovered following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, when U.S. soldiers found documents relating to Darwish in Iraq, prosecutors said. Ex-State...

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Another guilty plea expected in D.C. tech office kickback scheme

A former employee in the District's technology office is expected to plead guilty to receiving kickbacks in return for hiring employees from a contracting company he once worked for, court documents indicate. Farrukh Awan has been negotiating a plea deal since early September, court records show. He has now been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Awan is charged by information, a court procedure that typically means the defendant plans to plead guilty. His attorney, Robert Bonsib, declined to comment Thursday. Last spring, Awan and his boss, Yusuf Acar, were fired after federal authorities accused them of asking government contractor Sushil Bansal for cash so they would...

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Md. scientist indicted on espionage charge

A Maryland scientist who once worked in the White House was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday, accusing him of attempting to provide Israel classified information on satellites and early warning defense systems. Stewart Nozette was taken into custody Monday after authorities say he provided an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli spy with some of the nation's most guarded secrets for $11,000. The Chevy Chase resident held top secret clearance for 20 years as he helped develop satellite and other advanced technology for the U.S. military. According to the indictment, Nozette provided the undercover agent with information on "satellites, early warning systems, means of...

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Was he making coffee naked or exposing himself?

Man claims he didn't know mother, child were in his yard Erick WilliamsonA 29-year-old Springfield man has been charged with indecent exposure after a mother and son claimed he stood naked in his doorway and then moved in front of an open window as they walked down a path leading to an elementary school. But Erick Williamson tells WTTG Fox 5 that he was making coffee at the time and the mother and her 7-year-old son cut through his yard. He claims he didn't know they were there. Police say they've received additional reports regarding Williamson's nudity and they're distributing a flier in the neighborhood around the 8700 block of Arley Drive, where Williamson lives with...

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D.C. police kill 19-year-old man

D.C. police officers shot and killed a teenager in Northeast Washington early Wednesday, police said. At about 5:20 a.m., police were responding to a call of an unwanted guest on the 900 block of 21st Street when they were confronted by a man with a gun, a spokeswoman said. The two officers were "in imminent fear" for their lives and the lives of others and fired their service weapons, Officer Helen Andrews said. The teen, identified as 19-year-old James Broadus Miller, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The officers were placed on administrative leave with pay in accordance with departmental protocol, Andrews said. -- Scott...

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Source: NASA investigation opened doors to espionage probe

The espionage investigation of the Maryland scientist charged with attempting to pass the nation's most guarded secrets to Israel was triggered by a NASA inspector general probe into Stewart Nozette's technology company, a source with knowledge of the investigation said. Nozette was taken into custody Monday after he accepted $11,000 from an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer in return for classified information on U.S. satellite systems and nuclear weaponry, according to federal authorities. Nozette, a former White House employee, worked on the U.S. government's Star Wars missile shield program. The 52-year-old was held without bail in D.C.'s federal court Tuesday....

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Criminal database breach disrupted DEA investigation

A Maryland woman pleaded guilty to illegally accessing a Drug Enforcement Administration database of open cases and passed information she found there on to her lover and his drug-dealing friend, disrupting a federal investigation. Tanya Perry was a data entry contract employee for the DEA, court documents said. In that role, she had access to the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Information System, a national database of open drug investigations. In 2004 and 2005, the 30-year-old Waldorf resident accessed the database and provided details of a DEA investigation into her boyfriend and his friend Jesse Johnson, she admitted Tuesday as part of her guilty plea. In August 2004, Johnson told...

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Defense official wants his espionage conviction tossed

Attorneys for a Department of Defense official convicted of espionage say in court documents that testimony regarding James Fondren's relationship with a Chinese spy should not have been admitted at trial and Fondren should be acquitted or granted a new trial. Last month, a federal jury determined that the former deputy director of the Washington Liaison Office for the U.S. Pacific Command illegally passed classified defense publications to the sole client of a contracting business Fondren created. Prosecutors say Fondren's client, Tai Shen Kuo, eventually told Fondren that he was turning the documents over to Taiwanese generals, when in reality Kuo was handing them to Lin Hong, a...

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Armed men terrorize bank employees, customers

Fairfax County police say two masked men have terrorized two Wachovia banks, and they're concerned the violent duo could become more dangerous. The two robbers most recently stuck up a Wachovia Bank in Burke, sticking their handguns in employees' faces as they divided the group in half and demanded access to the vault, police said. One customer was inside when the robbers charged into the bank at 8900 Burke Lake Road around 10 a.m. Wednesday, sources said. Another customer entered the bank in the middle of the robbery and was ordered face down onto the floor. Some of the employees were forced into a side room near the front of the bank, police said, and were guarded by one of the...

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The Blotter

Va Tech student missing after concert Police are looking for a Virginia Tech student who has been missing since Saturday. Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, was last seen at a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. Police said Harrington was wearing a black T-shirt with "Pantera" across the front, a black miniskirt, black tights and black knee-high boots. She has long blond hair, blue eyes and is 5-foot-6 and weights 120 pounds. Police: Woman lights boyfriend on fire A 29-year-old Falls Church woman has been accused of dowsing her boyfriend with rubbing alcohol and setting him on fire, Fairfax County police said. Ingrid Herrera was arguing with her boyfriend when she lit him on fire early...

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Md. scientist of accused of trying to sell U.S. military secrets

A Maryland scientist who once worked at the White House and had top secret clearance with the U.S. military has been accused of trying to sell U.S. nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft and satellite secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli spy, prosecutors said. Stewart David Nozette, 52, was taken into custody Monday at his Chevy Chase home. Over the last several weeks, authorities say Nozette accepted $11,000 in exchange for U.S. military secrets that he provided to the undercover agent from memory. For nearly 20 years Nozette had access to some of the country's best kept secrets, but he lost his security clearance soon after a NASA inspector general began an investigation into...

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Police search for Fairfax bank robbery suspect

Fairfax County police are searching for a bank robber who knocked off a United Bank in the Fair Lakes Shopping Center. According to police, the suspect approached a 53-year-old female teller Tuesday afternoon and demanded cash. He did not appear to be armed and the teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash. The robber ran off, headed toward the Best Buy store, police said. Police described the suspect as white and his 20s. He's about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs around 180 pounds. Anyone with information should call Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS (8477). -- Freeman...

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Metro transit officer helped provide security for Dirty Money,Kevin Money:39970347:39970347:Kevin Money0 summit

Lt. Greg Hanna has been with the Metro Transit Police Department for 15 years and recently headed a contingent of MTPD officers who went to Pittsburgh as extra security for the Group of 20 world leaders summit. Hanna also brought with him his knowledge of special event security. He wrote the department's security plan for President Obama's inauguration. What role did you and the other MTPD officers play in Pittsburgh? We were deployed as part of a mobile rapid deployment team. Our mission was to deploy to any protest hot spot where civil disobedience was a possibility. When we were not needed for that, we were linked with city officers who were responsible for securing PNC Park...

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The Blotter

Woman pleads guilty to mailing threatening 'voodoo' letters A 31-year-old Upper Marlboro woman pleaded guilty to sending letters threatening to inflict physical harm on a woman and her daughter through voodoo curses and spells, prosecutors said. Lakeisha Jones sent a package to the victims that contained a dead mouse and letters titled "Black Curse" and "Voodoo Spell" that described physical harm Jones would inflict on them. One letter described lewd sexual acts to be performed on the woman's child and contained a hand-drawn depiction of the child being shot. Man stabbed at Wheaton Metro A robbery turned bloody outside a the Wheaton Metro station when a man was stabbed by one of three...

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N.Va. woman accused of $50M mortgage scam caught in Turkey

A Loudoun County woman accused of running a $50 million mortgage fraud scheme was caught in Turkey, having fled the United States in July after she was indicted by a grand jury, authorities said Thursday. Diane Atari is accused of inflating clients' credit scores by falsifying their incomes and other financial records, causing her clients to go into foreclosure, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office said. She's charged with making false statements to obtain credit and money laundering. Officials said they notified Interpol when Atari left the U.S. in July, and the international police agency tracked her down in Turkey. Atari is being held in a Turkish prison awaiting extradition to the...

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Another massage parlor in Dupont spot

A massage parlor is again open for business at the same Dupont Circle location that has housed previous "spas" that were raided and shut down by the city, which claimed they were brothels. DuPont Circle Therapy Men's Spa is now open on the fourth floor of 1333 Connecticut Ave., a commercial retail space that has been targeted since spring 2008 when D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles sued to close Supra Spa, citing police raids and prostitution-related arrests. In November 2008, Kawk agreed to shut down the spa. But property owner George Thanos signed a new lease a month later with a new owner, who opened VIP Therapy, according to court documents. That new lease was signed as Thanos...

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The Blotter: Man gets 6 months in beating death

Man sentenced to six months in beating death A 19-year-old man was sentenced to six months in jail for throwing a punch at a gay man that resulted in his death. Robert Hannah pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault for punching Tony Hunter in September 2007 outside a gay club in the District. Hannah claimed Hunter had inappropriately touched him. The punch knocked Hunter to the ground and his head slammed into the sidewalk. Beltway chase ends in arrest A North Carolina man was taken into custody after he led police on a high-speed chase that started in Maryland and went around the Capital Beltway into Virginia, ending after the man allegedly rammed a Virginia State Police cruiser,...

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Monster the barking dog saves family from fire

A dog's loud barking awakened eight members of a Beltsville family just in time for them to escape their burning home, a Prince George's County fire department spokesman said. Monster, a 6-year-old Doberman pinscher, was in the backyard of the two-story house at 4600 Naples Ave. when he started barking and pounced on a sliding glass door to wake up the family around 6 a.m. Tuesday, the spokesman said. The fire burned through the roof and caused $250,000 damage to the single-family home, which did not have sprinklers. Inside were three adults and five children, authorities said. Typically, there are nine children in the house. One firefighter suffered a minor burn while fighting...

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The Blotter: Mother gets 13 years in prison for leaving baby to die

A District woman was sentenced to 13 years in prison for putting her baby in a plastic bag and leaving it to die behind a Langley Park auto repair shop, Prince George's County prosecutors said. Wendy Villatoro gave birth to her baby girl in a wooded area near the repair shop, wrapped the baby in a pink blanket and then discarded her in plastic bag, she admitted. The baby was found alive on Oct. 12, 2008, but later died at a hospital. Protesters try to plant hemp on DEA's front lawn Six members of a group protesting laws that make it illegal to grow hemp were charged with trespassing after they attempted to plant hemp seeds on the front lawn of the Drug Enforcement Administration's...

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Army major in Arlington accused of producing child porn

A U.S. Army major has been accused of videotaping and photographing himself raping an infant boy and disseminating the images on the Internet, federal prosecutors said. Daniel A. Woolverton was taken into custody Wednesday after the FBI said it found child pornography on an file sharing Web site and then traced the images to a computer in the 34-year-old's home in Arlington. When investigators searched Woolverton's home following the Army trial lawyer's arrest, they found a memory card with images of man having sex with an infant boy, prosecutors said. In those videos and pictures, a man wearing a wristwatch that matched Woolverton's could also be seen raping the infant, charging...

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Trucker delivered marijuana to Washington, cash to suppliers

A long-haul trucker based in Arlington has pleaded guilty to using his truck to traffic up to three tons of marijuana into the Washington area as a part of a Virginia-based $25 million drug ring, court documents said. Mark Cabey faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced Friday in Alexandria's federal court. He is one of eight defendants convicted in the drug ring that was taken down by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2003 and 2004, court records show. Cabey's attorney did not return calls Monday for comment. Cabey was implicated as a member of the ring by three of the convicted members and charged earlier this year. The group got its start shipping truckloads of...

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Lone robber nabs cash, sprints off in track suit

Fairfax County police are searching for a lone bank robber who was dressed for a quick getaway when he left a TD Bank in Alexandria with a bag of cash. It was around 10:30 a.m. Saturday when the man entered the bank at 6615 Richmond Highway wearing a black and white track suit, police said. He passed a note to a 21-year-old female teller who handed over an undisclosed amount of cash. The man ran out of the bank and took off in a dark-colored sport utility vehicle, heading north on Richmond Highway. Police described the robber as a black man in his late 20s to early 30s. He is about 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 210 pounds. The robber has an athletic build, was clean shaven and...

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Fairfax police search for home invasion suspect

Fairfax County police are searching for a 20-year-old man suspected of being one of three men who attacked a Herndon couple in their home. Police already have taken 18-year-old Rolando Miranda-Perez and 22-year-old Noe Eli Alvarado-Chopin into custody for allegedly beating and cutting the 62-year-old man and his 60-year-old wife early Wednesday morning. Now, police are looking for Raul Antonio Aleman Argueta, who they say played a role in the attack, which happened while the couple were asleep in their house on the 12900 block of Cinnamon Oaks Court. Argueta is believed to have lived at 13357 Parcher Ave. in Herndon with Alvarado-Chopin. Anyone with information on the case should...

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The Blotter: Man walking dog killed by novice driver

Man, 81, killed by novice driver An 81-year-old man was walking his dog when a truck driven by a woman who was learning to drive jumped an embankment and hit him, Arlington County police said. Marco Amoni died from the injuries caused by the Saturday evening accident, police said. After hitting Amoni, the truck slammed into a house, but no one else was injured. The driver and her teacher remained at the scene, but have not been charged. The dog survived. Police continue to investigate. Elderly man rescued from N.W. blaze A man believed to be about 70 years old was pulled from a burning building in Northwest Washington on Monday morning, the D.C. fire department said. Officials have...

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Man accused of threatening to blow up Metro trains

District police say a Bangladeshi man threatened to blow up Metro trains as he paced back and forth outside the Friendship Heights stop on the Red Line. The threats caused authorities to evacuate the Chevy Chase Pavilion mall, but did not disrupt train service during the busy evening commute Tuesday. Ahamed Pinto Ali was taken into custody around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after mall security guards told police they saw Ali walking back and forth in the malland near the Friendship Heights Metro station entrance saying, "I'm not scared to die," "I will kill people," and "I will blow people up and the Metro," according to charging documents filed in the...

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Crime History: Inmates rebel over conditions at D.C. Jail

On this day, Oct. 11, in 1972, 50 inmates at the D.C. Jail seized control of a cellblock and held 11 jail officials hostage, demanding improved jail conditions. The D.C. rebellion lasted 24 hours and ended when a federal judge stepped in and guaranteed the prisoners' demands for better conditions and speedier trial processes would be met. The hostages, including the jail's director, were released after the judge promised that none of the inmates would be charged for their actions. No one was seriously injured during the takeover. The daylong revolt grabbed the city's attention as a slew of negotiators, including then school board President Marion Barry, stepped in and attempted to...

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Past experience comes into play for Fairfax information officer

Officer Don Gotthardt has been a patrol officer, worked on a mountain bike patrol unit, and has rode with a motor squad during his 29 years of police work. Now, he brings all his experiences to the table as a public information officer in Fairfax County. What drew you to police work? I've always had a desire to help people and to serve the public, and give back. I've just found it easy to talk to people and easy to relate to people. I've been told that I'm easy to talk to and a good listener, so I've just kind of focused in on those skills and abilities and tried to put them to good use. Who do you work with as a PIO? I'll talk to anybody from the citizens all over the county to...

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One suspect behind string of D.C. crimes

District police say a man has been conducting a personal crime spree since the beginning of September, robbing a gas station and six taxi drivers. In three of the taxi driver robberies, the robber also made off with the vehicles, police said. He held up one gas station late last month with a knife and carjacked a taxi driver with a gun. But, police said, the thief only implied he had a weapon in the other robberies. Anyone with information should call 202-727-9099. -- Freeman...

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The Blotter: IMF employee shot in Bethesda

Man shot in Bethesda A 53-year-old man was shot by a masked suspect as he pulled into his garage in Bethesda, Montgomery County police said. Neighbors identified the man as Ashoka Mody, an employee of the International Monetary Fund. Police say the gunman was hiding in the garage when Mody arrived home Thursday evening. Mody is in critical condition. Police would not say where in his body he was struck. Police are trying to determine a motive and the identity of the suspect. Anyone with information should call Montgomery County police at 240-773-5070. Girl, 17, killed in Northeast A 17-year-old girl was shot in the head and killed in Northeast Washington during an exchange of...

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Man accused of killing pregnant girl, 17, over stolen drugs

Prince George's County police say McDonald Abraham III killed pregnant 17-year-old Stacey Seaton with a single gunshot to the back of her head because he believed she stole drugs and cash from his Bowie apartment. Seaton was found shot in the midafternoon of June 1, 2005, two days after learning she was pregnant. She was rushed from a wooded area a block from her Bowie home to a hospital where she died. For the last four years thousands of dollars in reward money have been offered to help find her killer. On Thursday, police charged Abraham with first-degree murder, based on findings by the county's cold case squad, which had renewed its focus on the case earlier this year....

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Feds: Taxi bribery schemer planned to kill informant

A key member of the D.C. taxi industry group charged with conspiring to bribe public officials was planning to kill a confidential informant and destroy evidence, prosecutors said in court documents made public Wednesday. On Sept. 24, D.C. Councilman Jim Graham's chief of staff, Ted Loza, was charged with accepting a $1,500 bribe from a member of the taxi industry. The next day, media reports named Abdulaziz Kamus as the informant who wore a wire as he allegedly passed the cash to Loza, part of a scheme in which members of the taxi industry are accused of funneling as much as $350,000 to a D.C. official turned FBI informant. Prosecutors say that after learning of Kamus' role in...

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Parents led police to their bank robbing, ex-executive son

A 35-year-old former business executive who robbed two Washington-area banks was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday, several months after Bruce W. Higgins Jr.'s parents identified their son from surveillance footage and helped police track him down. "We watched his face being broadcasted on the local news and we helped authorities to identify and capture him," Higgins' mother, Mary Higgins, wrote in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. By then, Higgins had fallen off the radar, his cocaine addiction leading him into Washington's underworld. When he was arrested in early March, Higgins "was staying in a 'crack house' in northeast Washington, robbing...

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Fairfax County police planner wins international award

The man who helps keep the Fairfax County Police Department strategies and operations on target was recognized as the "Planner of Year" by an international professional association. John Kapinos came to Fairfax County in 2005 as the department's first strategic planner, after serving 25 years with the Montgomery County police. Over the past four years, he has developed tools used to identify the county's crime fighting strengths and weaknesses. In a quickly urbanizing area, that means paying close attention to developing crime trends and shoring up soft spots in enforcement areas. In 2006, when robberies spiked, Kapinos worked with other officials to develop a strike force that slowed...

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FBI: Cocaine supply from Mexico to Virginia briefly disrupted

Cocaine supply lines running from Mexico to Virginia were briefly disrupted by a series of law enforcement crackdowns in Tijuana, according to an FBI recorded conversation between an alleged Virginia dealer and his supplier in Mexico. In late June, a wire tap recorded Apolinar Lopez Hernandez talking from his home in Virginia to his unnamed drug supplier in a small border town near Tijuana, the FBI said in documents filed in Alexandria's federal court. During the call, Hernandez told the supplier that there was no cocaine available for him to sell. "I'm taking a break because there is nothing," Hernandez reportedly said. Hernandez has been charged with conspiring to sell more than one...

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Police: Bank robber considered armed and dangerous

Arlington County police are urging anyone with knowledge of a bank robber's identity to "exercise extreme caution" if they come across the armed and dangerous man. Police say the man marched into a Wachovia Bank on the 900 block of South George Mason Drive. He pulled out a handgun and jumped over the teller counter, where he grabbed an unknown quantity of cash. Such hostile takeovers of a bank are relatively rare, authorities say, and those who perpetrate them have the potential to become increasingly violent. The thief in the Sept. 28 robbery was wearing a dark-colored head covering, green camouflage pants and tan work boots, police said. He was carrying a black book bag and a...

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Police: Silver Spring bank robber flees in cab, dropped off at home

This bank robbery suspect needed a better escape plan. Montgomery County police say a bank robbery suspect fled the crime scene in a cab and had the driver drop him off at home, where police found him soon after. Mohammad Reza Johnson was taken into custody at his home on the 700 block of Sligo Avenue in Silver Spring on Monday afternoon, police said. It was the same place where he had the cab driver drop him off after police say Johnson robbed an Eagle Bank by passing a note implying he was armed and demanding cash. The driver, police said, was unaware that his fare had just robbed a bank. Witnesses saw the robbery suspect flee in a green cab, authorities said. When police caught up...

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HIV misdiagnosis case could lead to more medical lawsuits

A three-judge D.C. Court of Appeals panel decision denying a District man the right to sue a clinic that misdiagnosed him as having HIV could open the doors for future success in suing doctors for emotional distress. For nearly 20 years the D.C. Court of Appeals has slapped down lawsuits seeking payments for emotional distress when a patient has been misdiagnosed for a life-threatening disease, citing a court ruling that a patient must be in a "zone of physical danger" in order to claim negligence. Late last week, a three-judge panel once again invoked the precedent and denied Terry Hedgepeth the right to sue the Whitman-Walker Clinic. In 2001, the clinic told Hedgepeth he was...

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Feds: Federal building guards didn't get required training

A private contractor has been accused of falsely certifying security company guards in lifesaving techniques before they were then sent to protect Department of Homeland Security and Department of Veterans Affairs buildings in Washington. Douglas E. Brown was an authorized provider of cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for the American Red Cross. According to an indictment filed in the District's federal court, Brown claimed to have trained at least 10 Blackhawk Inc. security guards in the life-saving procedures they were contractually required to know. In reality, the indictment says, Brown was submitting false training information to the Red Cross, causing the nonprofit to issue...

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Feds: Special-ed law firm employee stole $1.3M

A former payroll director has been accused of stealing nearly $1.3 million from a District law firm that makes its bank suing the city over special education. Tamika Beasley allegedly made false entries into the payroll records of James E. Brown and Associates to hide the cash she was skimming from bank accounts, according to court documents filed in the District’s federal court. She has been charged by information, a legal procedure that means she’s likely to plead guilty. James E. Brown said in a statement to The Examiner that Beasley drew on the firm’s line of credit to inflate her pay in a “scheme that defied two in-depth [Internal Revenue Service] audits,...

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Feds: Special-ed law firm employee stole $1.3M

A former payroll director has been accused of stealing nearly $1.3 million from a District law firm that makes its bank suing the city over special education. Tamika Beasley allegedly made false entries into the payroll records of James E. Brown and Associates to hide the cash she was skimming from bank accounts, according to court documents filed in the District's federal court. She has been charged by information, a legal procedure that means she's likely to plead guilty. James E. Brown said in a statement to The Examiner that Beasley drew on the firm's line of credit to inflate her pay in a "scheme that defied two in-depth [Internal Revenue Service] audits, annual bank inquiries,...

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A local drug dealer's quick rise

John Pollard wasn't flashy. He ran a construction business and drove a beat-up pickup truck. But over the course of 12 years, he sent $20 million in drug money to his supplier, Reuben F. Lopez, in Arizona. Pollard got his start with a Jamaican drug dealing ring in the District. It was through them that he met Lopez in the late 1990s. Lopez had been dealing since 1994, after a Jamaican he met while working for the U.S. Postal Service in Tucson introduced him to drug traffickers in Mexico. By the late 1990s, Lopez had grown tired of the late payments from the Jamaicans in Washington and Pollard stuck his neck out, promising timely cash deliveries if Lopez worked only with him. On the...

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Area's top drug kingpin busted after betrayal

The drug kingpin who federal law enforcement officials said supplied more cocaine and marijuana to the D.C. area than anyone in history is awaiting sentencing in a Maryland jail, arrested after being betrayed by his local distributor The Drug Enforcement Administration says it has dismanlted the vast network operated by Reuben F. Lopez who packed tractor-trailers with hundreds of pounds of cocaine and thousands of pounds of marijuana and then sent them to Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta and Maine. At the height of the 12-year operation, Lopez was responsible for delivering about 110 pounds of high-quality cocaine and 2,000 pounds of marijuana each month to Washington. While in...

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Feds: Army private used Craigslist to entice and sell prostitutes

An Army private stationed at Fort Meade has been accused of running a sex trafficking business out of an off-base apartment that used Craigslist to entice at least one underage girl into prostitution. Pfc. Craig Allen Corey II and three other men from Ohio allegedly brought from Ohio to Maryland the women they later sold for sex, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday. Among those brought east from the Midwest was a 16-year-old girl, prosecutors said. The sex business run from the 23-year-old's off-base apartment in Millersville "used Craigslist and other web-based services to persuade, encourage, entice and recruit females to serve as prostitutes and promote their prostitution...

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Crime Solvers -- decades of tips for cash

Since the late 1970s, Crime Solvers has helped bring criminals to justice by gathering tips from the public and turning the information over to police. Each police jurisdiction has a liaison officer who takes the tips and relays them to detectives in the field. Officer Shelley Broderick plays that role in Fairfax County. There seem to be Crime Solvers groups for every jurisdiction, but there's only one number. How does it work? We have created the National Capital Area Crime Solvers, which is an umbrella organization that handles all the calls from tipsters in the region. Because the region is so transient and each county has its own Crime Solvers board, we thought it would be easier...

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Police: Old Town serial burglar caught

Alexandria police say they have caught a serial burglar who has been targeting homes in Old Town over the last few months. Ralph L. Fowler, of no fixed address, was taken into custody Friday on the 600 block of South Alfred Street, police said. After identifying Fowler as the key suspect in the series of burglaries, police say they obtained 23 warrants for his arrest. Eight of those warrants for the 61-year-old man were for grand larceny with intent to sell. Fowler is being held at the Alexandria jail without bail. - Freeman...

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Gas leak at P.G. strip mall causes evacuation

Prince George's County fire officials say a gas leak has forced the evacuation of a Forestville shopping center that was the scene of a May gas explosion that injured nine firefighters. Fire officials say the leak was reported about 1 p.m. Sunday at the Penn Mar Shopping Center. Firefighters have evacuated the dozens of commercial establishments at the shopping center and shut off electricity and natural gas. No injuries have been reported. The May explosion destroyed several stores at the shopping center. -- The Associated...

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The Blotter: Seafood wholesaler headed to prison for illegal rockfish scheme

Seafood wholesaler headed to prison for illegal rockfish scheme The owner of Golden Eye Seafood was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to illegally harvest rockfish from the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, prosecutors said. Robert Lumpkins recorded low weights for the stripped bass, commonly known as rockfish, so fisherman could pull more of the fish from the water, he admitted. It was the wholesaler's job to check the fish and weigh them. His actions, prosecutors said, threatened the fish populations in local waterways. Bank employee pleads guilty to mortgage fraud scheme A 37-year-old District Heights resident used her position at an...

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DOD intelligence analyst admits to breaching classified program

A Department of Defense intelligence analyst has pleaded guilty to compromising a computer program that was being used in a joint FBI-U.S. Army terrorist investigation while working at Fort Belvoir. Brian Keith Montgomery was an analyst for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency when he disregarded a warning message and opened a program that could have "jeopardized an ongoing investigation," he admitted. The Bethesda-based National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency was created in 1996 to better provide the intelligence community with mapping information. In 1999, the highly secretive agency was blamed for providing incorrect maps to NATO war planners that critics said led to the...

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Crime History: Spaghetti House siege

On this day, Sept. 28, in 1975, three armed men set off to rob the Spaghetti House restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, kicking off what would become a six-day siege. Nine staff members were at the Knightsbridge restaurant that evening collecting the weeks' £13,000 of revenue when the gunmen, lead by Nigerian Franklin Davies, forced them into a storage room where they were held hostage. One man managed to escape and alerted police. Authorities then ambushed the building where the armed men refused to release anyone for two days, after which they set free two ill hostages in exchange for coffee and cigarettes. Once it became clear to the robbers that British authorities would not...

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Police: MS-13 member murdered pimp who refused extortion

Alexandria police have accused an alleged MS-13 gang member of gunning down a pimp for refusing to be extorted by the gang, court documents said. Claros Luna was found shot to death in the driver's seat of a silver 2002 Honda Accord on the evening of July 29, police said. According to court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court, he was lured to the 700 block of Manor Road in Alexandria by MS-13 gang members who planned to demand he pay "rent" for running prostitutes on their turf. Authorities say Eris Ramon Arguera placed a call to Luna earlier in the day and the two arranged for Luna to bring a prostitute from his home in Prince George's County to Alexandria. When they...

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Crime history: Warren Commission concludes Oswald killed Kennedy

On this day, Sept. 27, in 1964, the Warren Commission released its report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole gunman in the assassination of President Kennedy. The commission presented President Johnson its 888-page report 45 years ago, more than 10 months after Kennedy's death. The commission was named after Chief Justice Earl Warren, who headed the group established by Johnson. The commission faced much criticism for the methods it used to investigate Kennedy's death: It barred the public from attending almost all of its hearings, and the full commission was present during the testimony of only one of 94 witnesses. The report's findings remain in dispute to this...

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Md. man sentenced for ordering custom-made child porn

A 30-year old Greenbelt man was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison for ordering custom-made child pornography over the Internet. Jonathan Clark was caught by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's undercover Internet operation in 2007, when he requested from investigators posing as porn distributors a custom-made video of two girls, ages 8 and 11, getting sexually assaulted. He also ordered a premade movie in which a 7-year-old girl was raped. Law enforcement agents delivered the two DVDs to Clark's parents' residence, as requested. Agents then searched both Clark's and his parents' homes, uncovering more than 4,000 images and videos on Clark's computer documenting the sexual...

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The Blotter: Teen accused of sexually assaulting girl at school

Teen accused of sexually assaulting girl at school A 19-year-old student at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge has been accused of sexually assaulting another student in a school hallway, Prince William County police said. Lavone Richardson-Crosby allegedly grabbed the 18-year-old girl and forced her to touch him in an inappropriate spot, police said. He is being held without bond. The victim was not physically injured during the assault, police said. Riverdale rapist sentenced to 32 years in prison A 25-year-old man who raped a 57-year-old woman at gunpoint was sentenced to 32 years in prison, Prince George's County prosecutors said. Rafael Gonzalez Castro grabbed the woman in...

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Feds, police bust Fairfax County mortgage fraud ring

Federal and Fairfax County authorities have accused 20 people of running a mortgage fraud scheme involving 200 expensive homes that were sold to straw buyers with fake financial documents then leased or sold to illegal immigrants. The homes purchased illegally had a net value of more than $100 million, law enforcement officials said. In what authorities described as the largest fraud investigation in Fairfax County history, real estate agents and mortgage brokers conspired to inflate incomes and bank accounts of fraudulent home buyers. Those buyers, including eight illegal immigrants, then purchased multiple homes, according to an indictment filed in Alexandria's federal court....

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Former police chief speaks at jail, media barred

Alexandria's former police chief, David Baker, whose 40-year career came to a halt when he was arrested on a drunken driving charge, was the first speaker in a lecture series at Alexandria's jail designed to "motivate and inspire" inmates, officials said. The Alexandria sheriff's office invited the media to Thursday's event, but reporters who arrived were turned away at the door. Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne chose to bar the media at the request of Baker, Undersheriff Tony Davis said. Instead, the sheriff's office sent out a news release. According to the release, Baker spoke about how people create their own circumstances and are responsible for the choices they make. Baker...

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Feds: Terrorism suspects had maps of Quantico

Feds: Terrorism suspects had maps of Quantico Two North Carolina men accused of plotting to kill U.S. military personnel had maps of Virginia's Marine base at Quantico, federal prosecutors said. An indictment of Daniel Patrick Boyd and Hysen Sherifi said the two had specific targets in mind including Quantico. They and other suspects involved in the plot were allegedly training to gun down military personnel with armor-piercing bullets in the weeks leading up to their July arrest. Police make arrest in Safeway robberies D.C. police arrested a man suspected in connection with two robberies at a grocery store. Forty-eight-year-old Quinton Raymond Jones, of the District, was charged with...

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Two Quantico Marines received pounds of heroin in the mail

Two women have pleaded guilty to receiving pounds of heroin in the mail for $1,500 a package while they were active duty Marines stationed at Quantico. Maurissa Sanchez and Amanda Hall, both 24-year-old lance corporals, were discharged earlier this year after investigators learned of their roles in the heroin importation scheme, court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court said. Each received packages believed to hold more than two pounds of heroin before the scheme was disrupted by police in Peru, who intercepted a third package destined for Sanchez's home in Stafford. Both women were approached by a third, unnamed Marine who offered them the cash in exchange for receiving...

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Bethesda teen pleads guilty to stockpiling weapons

A Bethesda teenager pleaded guilty to possessing a destructive device after police found a stockpile of weapons in his bedroom last year. Collin McKenzie-Gude, 19, had assault weapons, armor-piercing bullets and more than 50 pounds of chemicals that could be used to make bombs. He also had a fake CIA badge and a map of presidential resort Camp David. Police found the weapons while searching his home after he attempted to steal a car from a 78-year-old man. In court Wednesday, McKenzie-Gude admitted that he was knowledgeable about how to make explosive devices and shape charges -- a method of building bombs so they can cut through hard objects like steel, prosecutors said....

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The Blotter: Two charged in Va. woman's murder

Two charged in Va. woman's murder Two men have been accused of stabbing a 22-year-old woman to death and leaving her body in the passenger seat of her car in Reston, Fairfax County police said. Michael Thomas was taken into custody Monday at his Bladensburg home. Marcus Williams was caught Tuesday in Michigan. Police say they killed Erika Yancey, of Herndon, in November 2008. Police: Md. woman punched teen in face A 40-year-old woman has been accused of punching a 16-year-old boy in the face because she believed he was part of a fight involving her daughter, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office said. Alice Frishkorn has been charged with second-degree assault from the Sept. 1...

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Montgomery Co. police start online crime reporting system

The Montgomery County Police Department has started an Internet-based program designed to handle the filing of certain crime reports by county residents. AT A GLANCE Requirements for filing online crime reports: » The incident is not an emergency. » It occurred within Montgomery County. » There are no known suspects. » It did not occur on a state highway. » The value of property stolen is less than $10,000. » The complaint contains a valid e-mail address. The system, called CopLogic, is already used by Arlington County police and other police departments around the country to "streamline the public's ability to receive information and...

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Parked cars in Potomac targeted

Thieves are targeting cars parked near the C & O Canal in Potomac, stealing wallets and purses and using the credit cards to run up charges at pharmacies and grocery stores, Montgomery County Council Vice President Roger Berliner said. The thieves typically strike during the day in parking lots along the 10800 block of MacArthur Boulevard, he said. The car owners are typically walking or kayaking at the time. Most of the thefts, which started in March, have been between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Berliner said. Police have identified a suspect who uses the credit cards at CVS pharmacies and Giant grocery stores in Virginia and Maryland. The suspect is in his early 30s and has a...

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Authorities hunt for bank-robbing partners

Federal and local authorities are searching for a bank-robbing duo: the woman who cases a bank and the man who robs it. According to law enforcement officials, the thin, blond-haired, tanned woman enters a bank and gets a blank bank deposit slip. Then, while ostensibly filling the slip out, she looks around the bank and leaves without making a transaction. Soon after, authorities say, a man enters the bank, approaches a teller and slides a note written on a deposit slip demanding cash. He has a cloth draped over one hand and implies he has a gun. After obtaining the cash, the male suspect walks out of the bank and flees the area in a pickup truck driven by the woman. The two are...

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Heroin dealer linked to ring that stuffed zucchinis with cocaine

An Oxon Hill man sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling about four pounds of heroin in the Washington area had ties to an alleged Dominican Republic drug lord who was recently accused of stuffing 60 pounds of cocaine into zucchinis. According to court records, 54-year-old Ronnie Rogers met Guillermo Minier while in a New Jersey prison. It was Minier -- nicknamed Tony Montana after the drug lord main character played by Al Pacino in the 1983 movie "Scarface" -- whose drug ring provided Rogers with the heroin. Rogers reportedly told authorities that he picked up the drugs on visits to New York City and brought them to Washington. Minier was accused late last month by Dominican...

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FBI begins probe into federal stimulus fraud

The FBI has begun a wide-ranging probe into fraud and corruption stemming from the $787 billion stimulus package pushed by President Obama earlier this year. "Experience tells us that there's a good chance that some of the money could end up in the hands of a few unscrupulous government officials and others seeking to line their own pockets," the agency said in a statement Thursday. As a result: "The FBI and the Department of Justice are working now -- in concert with our federal, state, and local partners including the inspector general community -- to get out in front of possible fraud and corruption associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," the...

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Man, 84, attacked in Alexandria supermarket parking lot

A 30-year-old Alexandria man has been accused of attacking an 84-year-old as the elderly man finished loading groceries into his car, Fairfax County police said. Isaac Gray turned himself into authorities hours after the Wednesday morning attack outside the Shoppers Food Warehouse at 7660 Richmond Highway, police said. According to authorities, the 84-year-old had just sat in down in the driver's seat when Gray jumped in the back seat, grabbed him around the neck and demanded cash. When the elderly man bit the suspect, police say Gray punched him several times in the face and then ran off. The victim was not treated for his injuries, police said. -- Freeman...

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Feds: Former D.C. cop part of drug, gambling operation

Federal prosecutors say a former District police officer and 11 others were part of a criminal ring that flooded Southern Maryland with cocaine for the past three years. Darrell Alphonso Carter hasn't been a police officer for more than a decade. During some of the time since leaving the force, prosecutors say he ran a gambling operation in St. Mary's County that catered to the drug dealers he also did business with. The gambling was high stakes, with as much as $80,000 bandied about. Carter's attorney did not return calls for comment Wednesday. Carter was arrested and has been released, but remains on 24-hour surveillance via an electronic monitor, court records said. "It was a...

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Fairfax neighborhood program organizes to the max

Some neighborhood watch programs are just getting started and have yet to create an organized structure. Others are set up with a focus on bringing a community together, with less attention paid to the details of policing. Led by Beth Velkoff, the neighborhood watch program in Fairfax Station's 500-home Barrington Community is a prime example of an organized group that coordinates regular patrols. How is it structured? Barrington is divided into 12 zones covering about 40 homes. The zones are headed by a block captain who coordinates with 10 patrollers. Each zone is assigned one month a year to patrol the entire community. What does the coordinator do? The coordinator is a liaison...

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Teacher accused of filming sex with student

Scott Howe A 33-year-old Virginia teacher is accused of filming himself engaged in sexual activities with a 15-year-old male student while in their middle school, according to court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court. Authorities first went to Scott Christopher Howe's home after his landlord called police claiming Howe was growing marijuana on the back deck. When Howe came home, he allowed police to search his home, documents said. In his bedroom, authorities found a computer and a video camera, and they started asking Howe questions about contraband on his computer, charging documents said. Howe told the Fauquier County sheriff's deputies that on the computer and camera were...

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Ticketed drivers head to court to fight speed camera fines

Stefano Fina is facing seven speeding tickets issued by a camera he didn't know was catching him as he broke the speed limit near his unpaid internship in Germantown. Now, the Frederick resident is facing a $280 fine, plus more than $70 in court costs, he estimated. "I feel like it's a scam," Fina said after District Court Judge William G. Simmons knocked $10 off each of the $40 tickets. "Most people don't get seven," Simmons said. Fina said he stopped speeding after he received the first wave of citations in the mail. "If I had been pulled over by a cop, I would have stopped speeding there right away," he said. Fina was among about 30 drivers who...

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D.C. teacher pleads guilty to having sex with student, 14

A teacher at a District charter school has pleaded to sexually abusing a 14-year-old student. Ricardo Antonio Cuaderes was immediately sentenced to nine years in prison with all but one-and-a-half years suspended by a Howard County judge for bringing the boy to his Ellicott City home for sex. Cuaderes turns 44 on Tuesday. According to charging documents, Cuaderes met the teenage boy at the beginning of the 2008 school year at Young America Works. At the time, Cuaderes was filling in for one of the 14-year-old's teachers. Even after that teacher returned, however, Cuaderes and the student continued to meet in Cuaderes' classroom at the end of the day. At some point, the two began...

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Silver Spring bank robber hopes for luck of the Irish

He walked into a Chevy Chase Bank in Silver Spring, his white Notre Dame hat tipped low over his head concealing his eyes from the security camera. The mustached man stepped up to a teller's counter and passed a note demanding cash, police said. The camera picked up the bright-green lettering on his hat and locks of hair billowing out the cap's sides and back. It was a little after 4 p.m. Sept. 1, close to closing time, when the man ran out with the cash in hand. Police said they're uncertain of the robber's race -- he was either a dark-skinned white male or Hispanic. He's about 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds. Authorities noted that robbing banks, even with just a note,...

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The Blotter: Man arrested in P.G. school break-ins

Man arrested in P.G. school break-ins A tip to Crime Solvers led Prince George's County police to a 33-year-old man now charged with breaking into seven county schools 11 times and stealing coins from vending machines, police said. Charles Clayton, Jr. was taken into custody Friday and police say he later confessed to the break-ins, which started Aug. 17 and ended Sept. 9. Police: District officer found dead linked to pizza shop killing A District police officer who hanged himself in his mother's house is believed to have had a relationship with a woman accused of murdering a pizza shop owner in Northeast, police said. Detective Terrence Green was found dead in the Prince...

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DOD intelligence analyst accused of breaching classified program

An employee of a Department of Defense intelligence agency has been accused of compromising a computer program that was being used in a joint FBI-U.S. Army terrorist investigation while working at Fort Belvoir. Brian Keith Montgomery was an analyst for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency when he used his top-secret clearance to gain access to a computer program he was not cleared to view, charging documents filed in Alexandria's federal court said. Court records did not list an attorney for Montgomery. Based in Bethesda, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, originally called the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, was created in 1996 to better provide the...

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Two D.C. shootings leave teen, man dead

A 16-year-old boy and a 32-year-old man were shot and killed in two separate incidents in Northeast over the weekend. Police say they found teen Antonio Ward suffering from a gunshot wound on the 5000 block of Just Street on Saturday night. The Southeast resident died at the scene, police said. Two other gunshot victims at the scene were taken to the hospital and are expected to recover. The second victim, Bowie resident Jason Liser, was gunned down on the 4000 block of Minnesota Avenue early Sunday morning. Liser was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. Anyone with information about the incidents should call 202-727-9099. Police are offering up to...

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Crime History

On this day, Sept. 14, in 1901 President McKinley died from wounds caused by an assassin's bullet that went through his stomach and lodged in his back eight days earlier. McKinley's death was followed by the elevation of then Vice President Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency. McKinley was in Buffalo, N.Y., delivering a speech on tariffs and foreign trade when he was shot by anarchist Leon Frank Czolgosz. On the second day of McKinley's visit, Czolgosz approached the president with a revolver hidden in a handkerchief. His first shot grazed McKinley's shoulder, but the second ripped through the president's stomach. Czolgosz was later convicted and executed by electric chair. -...

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Crime History: Man shoots 20 at Canadian college

On this day, Sept. 13, in 2006, a 25-year-old gunman opened fire at Dawson College in downtown Montreal, killing one and wounding 19 before turning the weapon on himself. Kimveer Gill, a native Canadian, began his shooting spree at 12:41 in the afternoon outside the school's main entrance and proceeded toward the cafeteria where students were eating lunch. Gill, who was carrying three firearms, killed an 18-year-old woman and injured 19 people. He then shot himself in the head after being cornered and shot in the arm by police. The tragedy marked the fourth deadly school shooting in Canadian history. -- Violeta...

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Md. mother accused of murder pleads guilty to child abuse

A Maryland mother accused of murdering her two adopted daughters and then traipsing across the state with their bodies in a freezer has pleaded guilty to abusing her third adopted daughter. Renee Bowman entered the plea in Calvert County, where the discovery of the surviving daughter covered in mud and blood by a neighbor led police to the freezer and the bodies the 44-year-old allegedly kept in her home. Authorities believe, however, that she killed the two girls while she was living in Rockville, and she has been charged with murder in Montgomery County. Bowman faces up to 25 years for the child abuse. - Freeman...

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The Blotter

Girl, 17, attacked in Vienna The teenage girl was attacked as she sat on the front steps of her apartment on the 2500 block of Chain Bridge Road, police said. The attacker, who police do believe to be the same man attacking women near Fair Oaks Mall, walked into the building early Friday morning. When he came out a short time later, he grabbed the girl from behind. The victim broke free and the man ran off. The attacker is a Hispanic male in his late 20s. He is about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs about 170 pounds. He was wearing shorts and a purple, polo-style shirt. Anyone with information should call 866-411-TIPS(8477). Md. mortgage fraud conspiracy leader gets 6 1/2 years...

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Coast Guard exercise on Potomac sparks panic

A Coast Guard training exercise on the Potomac River caused a panic Friday morning after CNN broadcast the details without first checking to see whether the scenario was real. The media reports that shots had been fired on the Potomac sent law enforcement and federal agencies scrambling. The Federal Aviation Administration briefly shut down flights at Reagan National Airport, the FBI sent agents to the river, as did District police. The confusion started when CNN first reported that shots had been fired by the Coast Guard at a suspect vessel between the Memorial and 14th Street bridges, not far from the Pentagon where President Barack Obama and hundreds of others were gathered to...

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Crime History: The French Blue diamond

On this day, Sept. 11, in 1792, the French Blue diamond, eventually cut to be the Hope Diamond, was stolen along with other French crown jewels. A group of bandits broke into the royal storeroom while King Louis XVI was under lock and key during the early stages of the French Revolution. The French Blue diamond was a 67-carat stone cut in 1678 at the orders of Louis XIV. The Hope Diamond was cut down to 45.52 carats and currently resides at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History on the National Mall. The Hope Diamond gained its name when it appeared in the 1839 catalog of Henry Philip Hope's gem collection. For the next 100 years, the diamond was passed down through the Hope family...

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Burglar targets Prince George's schools' vending machines

A late-night burglar has targeted vending machines' coin deposit boxes at seven Prince George's County schools, police said. The burglar has entered the seven schools 11 times by breaking a window. He first cropped up Aug. 17, when he broke in Crossland High School. He hit Crossland again on Sept. and most recently busted into the Surrattsville High School bus area Sept. 9. Friendly High School is his favorite target, police said. He has smashed into vending machines there four times between Aug. 22 and 27. The 40- to 45-year-old burglar is white and has a thick mustache and beard. He carries a pickax or crowbar. Anyone with information in the case should call Crime Solvers at...

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Police: Man attacking women near Fair Oaks becoming more violent

Fairfax County police worry a man attacking women walking alone in the dark just north of Fair Oaks Mall is becoming more violent. The attacker has gone from assaulting with just his hands to wielding a knife, and investigators say the quick escalation is a dangerous sign of what might come. In this week's two known attacks, the man approached women and tried to talk to them, police said, but neither victim understood Spanish and both ignored him. But as they walked by him, the attacker grabbed the women from behind and forced them to the ground. Both women were able to fend off the 5-foot-3-inch, 130-pound man. However, after his failed attempt Sunday night, the man brought a...

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The Blotter

Police: Man arrives at Obama speech with gun in car A Falls Church man was taken into custody outside the U.S. Capitol during President Obama's speech after police found a shotgun in his car, authorities said. Joshua Bowman drove up to a security checkpoint near the Cannon House Office Building on Wednesday night and told U.S. Capitol Police officers he wanted to park. The timing of the request raised an officer's suspicion and led to a search of the 28-year-old's car, a police spokeswoman said. Inside they found an unregistered shotgun and ammunition. Clinton man gets 17 years for 3 bank robberies Dewayne A. Edwards stole more than $84,000 from three banks in Northwest D.C. and...

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Feds: Granny drug dealer turned Va. ring into 'big-time'

A Virginia grandmother has been accused of being the primary distributor and sometimes financier of a drug distribution ring that sold more than 20,000 pills of powerful narcotics and left one woman dead. Donna George sold methadone and OxyContin in front of her "young grandchildren" and cared for her co-conspirator's children in exchange for pills, according to testimony in court documents. The 46-year-old's attorney declined to comment. George is the fourth person to be busted in the ring that authorities say sold more than $500,000 in narcotics between February 2007 and September 2007, court records show. According to prosecutors, even after the three others were arrested, George...

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P.G. man indicted in child sex trafficking case

A Temple Hills man has been charged with selling girls as young as 11 for sex on the District's popular prostitution track at 14th and K streets NW. Shelby Lewis was indicted on five counts of child sex trafficking. Authorities say the 42-year-old has been running his pimping operation since 2006. He was taken into custody after District police arrested two of his alleged victims - ages 14 and 16 - while they walked the prostitution track in May. The two girls pointed to Lewis as their pimp. The charges come as anti-human-trafficking groups plan to post advertisements on Metro buses, shelters and train stations designed to fight what they call modern day slavery as part of D.C....

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Feds say they've busted major Internet music piracy group

Federal authorities have busted a major Internet music piracy group that ripped off thousands of songs from popular artists such as Jay-Z, Eminem and U2, according to an indictment. Among those charged was Adil R. Cassim, the alleged leader of the group known as Rabid Neurosis. He and others conspired to copy and release songs, often before the production companies had put them on the market, the indictment said. The stolen songs were held on computer servers and garnered the group a reputation that enabled it to trade music with other piracy groups that had massive libraries, authorities said. The indictment was unsealed in Alexandria's federal court Wednesday, the same day...

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Doctors' receptionist guilty in $2.1M ID theft ring

A former receptionist for two medical doctors in downtown Washington has pleaded guilty to stealing the personal information of 37 patients as part of her role in a $2.1 million identity theft ring that included Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke among its victims. Makieta Leake worked for Drs. Stanley Lugerner and Marc Shepard from January 2008 through that December, court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court said. During that time, prosecutors say, the 36-year-old Maryland woman's co-conspirators used the patients' information she sold them to steal $849,197. Calls to the doctors' office at 2021 K St. NW, were not returned Tuesday. The nationwide conspiracy often...

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Reston gang crackdown a success, police say

For the past four weeks, a 12-member Fairfax County police team roved the Reston area, netting 42 arrests as it cracked down on gang activity, police said. Dubbed "Operation Summer Heat," the campaign targeted gang activities and filed criminal charges from larceny to prostitution to participation in gang activity. Much of the task force's attention was focused on Reston's trails and pathways, sending plainclothed officers to often patrol the area on bicycles. In one instance, "there was an attempted malicious wounding, but Summer Heat officers were nearby and quickly intervened to protect the victim and arrest the suspect," Lt. T.J. Rogers said. But traditional police work was...

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The 3-minute interview: Helen and John Taylor

Last month, this Australian couple crushed their own fuel efficiency record when they ended their 9,505-mile trip across the United States in Ashburn, driving a Volkswagen Jetta and getting a world record 67.9 miles per gallon. Just last year, they made the same drive and set a record with 58.8 mpg. The difference, they said, was better weather and their tires. The feat was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records. What made you try this again? Helen: We were challenged by Goodyear to use their new Fuel Max tires and took them up on it. The tires made a big difference, but there were others as well. John: We had fewer head winds, and we weren't pounded as much by rain. How...

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Crime History: California woman sentenced to death in slaying

On this date, Aug. 30, in 1989, Cynthia Coffman became the first woman sentenced to death after California reinstated capital punishment in 1977. Coffman and her husband James Marlow, who also received a death sentence, were convicted of killing Corinna Novis in Redlands, Calif. According to media reports, authorities believe the couple raped and robbed at least three other women before killing them, although the two have been convicted only of killing two women. Novis disappeared after using an ATM on Nov. 7, 1986 and her body eventually was found. Her checkbook was found four days later in a garbage bin, along with papers containing Marlow's and Coffman's names. Meanwhile, on...

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Sheriff's spokesman: Judy Miller organized Alexandria jail library

Harry Covert is the voice of the Alexandria sheriff's department, a job that grants him access to the city's jail and the high-profile inmates who are sometimes kept inside awaiting trial at the nearby federal court. He came to the job after years of being a bail bondsman and briefly a magistrate. Before that, he was reporter. Which of the high-profile inmates stands out the most? I'd have to say (former New York Times reporter) Judith Miller. She was not only a great reporter, but also a great inmate. She was a dignified lady. She helped install a computer New York Times donated to the library. She also organized the library. Being in jail is never pleasant, but can be acceptable....

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Man who killed pregnant woman gets 40 years in prison

A 49-year-old man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing a 21-year-old pregnant woman and leaving her body behind a public swimming pool in Laurel, prosecutors said. A passerby found Christen Hawkins' body in a wooded area behind the Laurel Municipal Swimming Pool in May 2008. Hawkins was stabbed 25 times. Two days later, Robert Headley was stopped for a traffic violation while driving her car in Frederick. When questioned, Headley told police a man he didn't know had given him the keys to the car while at a bar the day Hawkins was killed, Prince George's County prosecutors said. But blood found on Headley's shirt matched DNA samples from Hawkins. Headley pleaded...

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Two charged with stealing $120,000 in money orders

A former Woodbridge-area post office supervisor and his bowling buddy have been accused of stealing about $120,000 in money orders from the U.S. Postal Service, court documents said. Jimmie L. Chatmon was a supervisor at various Woodbridge post offices from August 2004 through May 2008. His friend Philander Y. Jordan, whom Chatmon met in the mid-1990s through bowling, is currently serving time for an involuntary manslaughter conviction in the Prince William County jail. In April 2008, Jordan, who is originally from North Carolina, was driving with a blood-alcohol content of nearly twice the legal limit when he slammed into another car on Interstate 95, killing the other driver. One...

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Financial analyst pleads guilty to stealing $500k from patent office

WE HAVE A PIC OF REID A former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office employee has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $500,000 with the help of a Fort Washington-area clergyman. Karen L. Parish was a patent office financial analyst. Michael Reid, who pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy earlier this month, runs a company, Redeemed Music House LLC, that works with churches to develop their musician staffing, sound and management. He also is the minister of music at the Ark Safety Christian Church. Parish, a 39-year-old Woodbridge resident, managed accounts in which patent office customers deposited funds used to pay expenses that later could be drawn down to pay applications'...

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The Blotter

Former Georgia cop gets 15 years for drug trafficking in Va. A 44-year-old Gwynn Oak man whose lawyer said he was a former police officer from Georgia was sentenced to 15 years in prison after Fairfax police found a cache of drugs in his car. Federal prosecutors said Gregory McGhee also was an ordained minister. According to court documents, McGhee was on his way from Atlanta to Washington when he was pulled over in April. Inside his car, police found 1.5 pounds of methamphetamine, a gallon jug of the substance commonly known as the date rape drug and a loaded handgun, all in a bag with "Police" on the side. Armored car robber gets 32 years in prison Carlic Darnell Brown, 26, was...

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Fed chairman victim of nationwide identity theft ring

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke fell victim to a nationwide identity theft ring after his wife's purse was snatched from the back of her chair while she sat in a D.C. Starbucks, court documents show. The purse held her Social Security card and checkbook. The alleged thief, who has been charged with being part of a ring that has stolen more than $2.1 million, used the information to cash $12,500 in checks from the Bernankes' bank account. "Identity theft is a serious crime that affects millions of Americans each year," Bernanke said in a statement to Newsweek, which first reported the chairman's link to the ring. "Our family was but one of 500 separate instances traced to...

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Two Va. Tech students found slain in forest near school

Two Virginia Tech students were found slain at a Jefferson National Forest campground Thursday, authorities said. The park is a popular hangout for students from the campus that's still recovering from the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history two years ago and a beheading at a campus cafe earlier this year. The bodies of 19-year-old David Lee Metzler, of Lynchburg, and Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, of Forest, were discovered by a passerby, police said. Both appear to have been shot, Metzler inside a car in the parking area of Caldwell Fields and Childs just outside the car. The campground is about 15 miles from the campus. No suspect has been identified. Both students were...

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Former cop caught with meth in 'police' bag by Fairfax officers

A former Georgia police officer was caught by Fairfax County police carrying more than a pound of methamphetamine, a gallon jug of the substance commonly known as the date rape drug and a loaded handgun in a bag with "Police" on the side, court documents said. Gregory McGhee has pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute the 1.5 pounds of meth and faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced Friday in Alexandria's federal court. His attorney has requested McGhee be placed in a drug and alcohol treatment program near Washington so he can be close to home with his family. On April 11, McGhee was pulled over by Fairfax County police on Interstate 95 as he returned from a...

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Mail carrier steals golf survey from mail, gets job at course

Golf has been both William Seville's downfall and his savior. In March, the Ashburn-based mail carrier stole an erroneously addressed golf survey, filled it out and mailed it in, delivering evidence of his crime into the hands of the inspector general agent who created the survey. He has since pleaded guilty to embezzling five inspector-general created parcels -- including the golf survey -- and resigned from his U.S. Postal Service job as part of his plea agreement. Now, Seville works for Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, "performing a variety of functions in the day-to-day operations of the golf course," his attorney wrote in court documents filed in Alexandria's...

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FBI: Task force cutting down D.C. carjackings

Carjackings are on the decline in the District, running at about 200 this year compared with the approximately 600 in all of 2008, the FBI said, crediting a joint police FBI task force for the success. The task force has been a "tremendous asset in fighting violent crime across the region," said Joseph Persichini Jr., FBI assistant director for the Washington field office. He credited the task force and other recent initiatives, including a joint FBI and Prince George's police squad that can operate across jurisdictional boundaries, with the dropping rate of violent crimes. Launched in January, the carjacking task force combines one District police sergeant and five detectives...

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Man charged in stabbing of woman, 2-year-old girl

Fairfax County police have charged a 42-year-old man with stabbing a 68-year-old woman and a 2-year-old girl. According to police, Jose Argueta ran with the knife in his hand from the apartment building on the 3400 block of Glen Carlyn Drive after he stabbed the woman and child Tuesday He knocked loudly on a door in a nearby building, police said, and a 55-year-old man answered to reportedly find Argueta still wielding the knife. The man told police Argueta forced himself inside his apartment where the two struggled. The 55-year-old subdued Argueta and waited for police. The woman and child are in serious, but stable condition at Inova Fairfax Hospital, police said. Investigators...

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The Blotter

Prince William man shot, stabbed during robbery A 47-year-old Prince William man was shot and stabbed while walking with two other men near a Woodbridge apartment complex, police said. The man is in stable condition, and the other men, ages 29 and 26, were unharmed. The three were walking between Marumsco Plaza and the Bayview Apartments late Sunday night when they were approached by three men who robbed them. The robbers opened fire before fleeing. The robbers are described as black men in their 20s. Anyone with information should call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Cigarette trafficker pleads guilty Bing Feng Mai pleaded guilty to buying more than $2 million in contraband...

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Alexandria appoints city's first black police chief

Earl Cook officially became Alexandria's first black police chief Tuesday, a job he acquired in the wake of former Chief David Baker's resignation following his July arrest on a drunken-driving charge. Cook has been the city's acting police chief since Baker smashed into another car in Arlington. Baker has pleaded guilty to being intoxicated while behind the wheel. Cook has been with the department since 1979, a city spokesman said. In a recent interview, Cook told The Examiner he chose a law enforcement career because "it's a job where you can make a tangible difference in someone's life. Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's dramatic, but you can help." In 1971, Cook was a...

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Md. group provides training to police, neighborhood watch

At a time when a so-called police training program in Montgomery County is the subject of a fraud investigation, there are some law enforcement and community safety training programs that clearly provide a legitimate service. One of those is the Maryland Crime Prevention Association Inc. Since 1983, the group of law enforcement officials from around the state has run seminars on community policing. It has also worked to inform citizen groups -- like neighborhood watch organizations -- of how to prevent crime in their neighborhoods. In recent years, the group, headed by Baltimore police Maj. Ronald Schwartz, has added homeland security training to its curriculum and sends out security...

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Army officer charged in $4M government contract scheme

It was Dejuan Fountain's job to protect U.S. Army communication systems. But prosecutors say he instead used his knowledge of military communications to steal $4 million from companies that handle payments for federal contract accounts. Fountain, an Army officer in Georgia, and two Washington-area civilians represented themselves as a communications company with multimillion-dollar military contracts, according to an indictment filed Monday in Maryland's federal court. They then persuaded two companies -- one of them in Bethesda — that hand out the dollars for federal contracts to provide partial advance payments on their allegedly fake contracts. Laurel resident Rafael Simmons is...

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Posing as customer, suspect robs three Prince George's banks

Some bank robbers pull guns from waistbands as they announce their intentions, sending fear through customers and employees alike. That sort of ruckus just isn't this suspect's style. At least three times this month, police say he's entered Prince George's County banks like any other customer. He calmly waits in line, at times holding a cell phone to his ear, and then passes a handwritten a note to a teller. But the note is not a deposit or withdrawal slip; it's a demand for cash and he quickly leaves the bank with what police say has been an undetermined amount of cash. All three robberies took place between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., generally the busiest time of day for bank heists...

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Parole officer works with former inmates, police

The federal Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency overseas a standing population of 16,000 on probation or parole. And it's Tom Williams' job to help them integrate into the community. But as an associate director of community supervision services, Williams also must work closely with law enforcement to track down the one-third who end up back behind bars. Before coming to D.C. 10 years ago, you were the director of Maryland's parole and probation. Why did you make the move? The main reason was the amount of resources available. A lot of states have tight budgets. ... In D.C. there was an opportunity for more resources and an opportunity to help reduce crime in violent...

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Police bust Manassas counterfeit bag store

A sign at Luxury Fashion Accessories at the Manassas Mall told customers the bags labeled with names like Coach and Chanel were fake, but that didn't keep police from busting the store owner. Taoufik Lamharhar was charged Thursday with copyright infringement. The 35-year-old Manassas man is facing up to five years in prison. Prince William County police estimated they seized $53,000 worth of counterfeit goods in the form of hundreds of purses, earrings, sunglasses, scarves, wallets and necklaces. Police said the store crossed a legal line when it slapped the brand-name labels onto the fake items. Virginia law prohibits using such labels without the consent of the copyright holder...

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$240K to be paid back by Washington-area ATM skimmer

A Hyattsville man has been ordered to pay back the $240,000 he stole by skimming personal information from more than 150 victims as they used Washington-area automated-teller-machines. Konstantin Sintsev, 24, will also spend more than four years in prison for the scheme he ran with Latvian immigrant, Vitalijs Balsevics, a judge in Alexandria's federal court ruled Tuesday. Balsevics, 26, was in the country legally but will now be sent back to Latvia for violating his visa, court documents show. He will be deported after serving a 3-and-a-half-year prison term. Both men pleaded guilty to targeting Chevy Chase Bank ATMs in six locations in Maryland and Virginia Between April 2008...

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Prince William teacher accused of molesting student

A Prince William County teacher turned himself in after being accused of molesting a 15-year-old male student and sending inappropriate text messages to a second student, police said. Shannon Arnold Patterson was placed on administrative leave without pay last week after school officials became aware of the charges pending against him, a school spokesman said. The 32-year-old is a language teacher at Beville Middle School, where police say both of the boys are students. Patterson is accused of inappropriately touching one boy between November 2008 and July 2009 while off school grounds, police said. The text messages were allegedly sent to the second 15-year-old male student during the...

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Crime History: Officer gunned down in Savannah; controversy continues

On this day, Aug. 19, in 1989, off-duty Savannah, Ga., police officer Mark MacPhail was shot and killed. A controversy still exists today over who killed him. In 1991, Troy Anthony Davis was sentenced to death for killing MacPhail, but he continues to claim his innocence. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a federal district court in Georgia to rule on whether new evidence "that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes [Davis'] innocence." On the night of his death, MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King. According to some witnesses, a homeless man was being harassed by Sylvester Coles, when MacPhail responded to the...

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Minister pleads guilty to stealing $500K from U.S. patent office

A Fort Washington-area clergyman has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal nearly $500,000 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Michael H. Reid is the minister of music at the Ark of Safety Christian Church, the church confirmed. He also runs a company, Redeemed Music House LLC, that works with churches to develop their musician staffing, sound and management. Neither Reid nor his attorney Jason Levine returned calls for comment. Reid coordinated with a patent office employee, referred to as "K.L.P." in court documents, to have $451,252 transmitted from patent office accounts to a Redeemed Music House bank account, he admitted. A patent office spokeswoman declined to...

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Firefighter: 16-year-old tried to save struck pedestrian

Lt. Darryl Robb has been with the Montgomery County fire department for 12 years. It's a profession he came to in his mid-20s, first working as a paramedic for a hospital and then as a paramedic/firefighter for the county. On Friday he saw a 16-year-old passerby attempt to breathe life into a man struck and killed by a car on Colesville Road near the Beltway overpass. What happened? The 16-year-old did not see the pedestrian get hit, but saw him in the road. He ran out and began CPR on his own. We showed up and took the patient away. We reached out to him, and it turned out he had some training and knew people in the service. He's apparently thinking about a career in...

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THE BLOTTER

Fairfax County wrestling coach caught in online sex sting A 26-year-old assistant wrestling coach has been accused of soliciting sex from a sheriff's deputy posing online as a 14-year-old girl, authorities said, Between July 10 and 14, Gary Anthony Debrielle had a series of online conversations with a Spotsylvania County sheriff's deputy posing as a 14-year-old girl that "turned sexual in nature," a sheriff's office spokeswoman said. Police traced his screen name to Debrielle's Chantilly home, learned he was a part-time wrestling coach at Woodson High School and arrested him. Employee found dead in pizza parlor District authorities say the body of a man who died of...

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Crime History: BTK Killer sentenced to 175 years in prison

On this day, Aug. 18, in 2005, Dennis Rader — better known as the BTK Killer — was sentenced to 175 years in prison before the possibility of parole. Between 1974 and 1991 Rader murdered 10 people in Sedgwick County near Wichita, Kan. The serial killer acquired the nickname BTK for his modus operandi: It stands for "bind, torture and kill." He was known for sending boastful letters to police and media during his murderous reign. He stopped communicating in the early 1990s. But in 2004, Rader started sending letters to police, taking credit for a murder that authorities had not previously linked to the BTK killer. Police continued to exchange letters with Rader and...

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D.C. police capture cross-dresser accused of stealing $2K dress

The verdict is in: Montgomery County police say it was a man dressed as a woman who sprayed a Saks Fifth Avenue security guard with pepper spray to get away with a Chanel dress. Jonathan Bradley was also dressed as a woman when he was pulled over in a routine traffic stop by District police Thursday and arrested on a warrant for theft and assault from Montgomery County. The 20-year-old is accused of stealing the $2,000 dress from the Chevy Chase store the evening of July 30. The security guard was attempting to stop him from leaving when Bradley allegedly sprayed the guard with pepper spray. Police were initially unsure of the suspect's gender, noting the broad shoulders and tall...

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Traffic stop leads authorities to six pounds of marijuana

Authorities say a pound of marijuana was found inside Andrew Kugler's car when he ran a red light and an additional five pounds were found in his College Park home, the same house where police discovered 50 pounds of pot two years ago. The 33-year-old College Park man was pulled over Aug. 3 after blowing through a red light to turn right from University Boulevard onto Metzerott Road, a few blocks from the University of Maryland on a route Kugler might travel to his home at 9130 Bridgewater St., court records show. Attorney information for Kugler was not listed in court records. Kugler was on probation for the two-year-old arrest when he was pulled over. In 2007, Kugler nearly lost the...

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The Police Blotter

Prince George's home-builder gets 12 years Leon Coleman promised 11 would-be-homeowners he would build their $1 million homes in the Kings Grant Subdivision, but instead he kept the cash for himself. On Monday, a Prince George's County judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay five of the victims $100,000 each, prosecutors said. He's already required to pay all the money back after losing a 2005 civil suit. The loans for the houses he never built went into foreclosure. One dead, one injured in College Park stabbing Prince George's County police said one man was killed and another injured in an apparent domestic dispute. The 19-year-old injured man is...

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FBI: Bank robberies double in Virginia

Bank robberies in Virginia have nearly doubled in the first six months of this year over the same period in 2008, likely the result of an expanding bank presence in Northern Virginia and a number of heists believed to be committed by serial robbers, the FBI said. Between Jan. 1 and June 30, 60 banks were robbed in Virginia, 27 more than in the first half of 2008, when 33 banks were hit, FBI statistics released Monday show. The number of bank robberies in the District fell from 13 in 2008 to six in 2009 during that same period and rose only slightly in Maryland from 71 in 2008 to 76 in 2009. Joseph Persichini Jr., FBI assistant director for the Washington field office, said the jump in...

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Alleged music pirate charged with copyright conspiracy

An alleged member of a high-profile music piracy group known for illegally copying and then pre-releasing albums to the public has been charged with conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. Patrick L. Saunders, known by the screen name "Daliveone," is accused of being a member of "Rabid Neurosis." Known commonly by its tag "RNS," the piracy group stopped identifying itself with illegally copied music in 2007 after MTV News listed it as the source of an Eminem album released a week earlier than scheduled by producers. RNS is believed to have released its first ripped-off album -- Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" -- in 1996, according to news...

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Woman, 63, charged with murder

A 63-year-old woman has been accused of shooting to death a 34-year-old man in her Centreville apartment. According to Fairfax County police, Maria De Las Mercedes Tizon was arguing with the man in her apartment on the 14000 block of Climbing Rose Way on Saturday night. When the argument escalated, police say Tizon shot the man in the upper body. He was taken to Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and pronounced dead. Police have not yet released the man's name because they are still trying to reach next of kin. Detectives believe he and Tizon knew each other and that the situation was limited to the apartment where the argument took place. Anyone with information should call Crime Solvers at...

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The Blotter

Manassas domestic dispute turns deadly Prince William County police are searching for a 21-year-old Manassas man accused of killing the 34-year-old husband of his ex-girlfriend. Police say Deonte Donnell Robertson was arguing with his 23-year-old ex-girlfriend when her husband, Sergio Alfonso, attempted to intervene. At that point, police say Robertson attacked Alfonso and beat him to death with a blunt object. Anyone with information about Robertson's whereabouts should call Prince William County police at 703-792-6500. D.C. police investigate teen shootings in Southeast A total of seven teens were shot when an argument broke out following a block party in Southeast...

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The 3-Minute Interview: Ray Lian

Ray Lian is an organizer of D.C. Stop Modern Slavery Now, a community group that fights human trafficking by raising awareness. On Sept. 26, the group is holding an anti-child-trafficking walk in the District, the culmination of three years of effort on Lian's part, among others, in bringing together the various non-governmental groups in the area the fight the modern-day slave trade. For information about the walk, visit stopmodernslavery.org. How did you first become involved with fighting human trafficking? When I first learned about human trafficking I became fascinated with it. I was surprised to learn that slavery still existed. I started attending Stop Modern Slavery Now group...

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Cold case -Search for ex-soldier’s killer continues in Va.

The reward for capturing the killers of an Iraq war veteran has long since doubled, but there are still no answers as to who gunned down Paul Zeller. The 24-year-old had just stopped at a Harris Teeter in Pentagon City and was continuing his midnight walk home from work when he was shot at close range. Police have not yet developed a motive for the June 30, 2006, killing, though they say it’s not believed to have been a robbery. Zeller served in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division as a mortarman and was honorably discharged in 2004. On the night of his death, he was heading home from College Park Honda, where he often worked the late shift, according to a Web site his mother,...

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Crime history - Jew lynched in Ga. after death sentence commuted

On this day, Aug. 17, in 1915, Leo Max Frank became the only known Jew to be lynched on American soil. The lynching took place soon after the governor of Georgia commuted Frank’s death sentence to life in prison. Frank had been convicted of murdering 13-year-old Mary Phagan, an employee of the Atlanta pencil factory he managed. After his death sentence was commuted, a group of prominent Atlanta citizens believed to include a senator’s son, a former governor and high-profile attorneys kidnapped Frank from prison and lynched him. They called themselves the “Knights of Mary Phagan.” Frank’s trial received heavy attention from the media. Historians believe...

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Woman, 63, charged with murder in Centreville

A 63-year-old woman has been accused of shooting to death a 34-year-old man in her Centreville apartment. According to Fairfax County police, Maria De Las Mercedes Tizon was arguing with the man in her apartment on the 14000 block of Climbing Rose Way on Saturday night. When the argument escalated, police say Tizon shot the man in the upper body. He was taken to Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and pronounced dead. Police have not yet released the man’s name because they are still trying to reach next of kin. Detectives believe he and Tizon knew each other and that the situation was limited to the apartment where the argument took place. Anyone with information should call Crime...

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The Blotter

Md. man gets 6 months in prison for mortgage fraud Oyekunle Ikudayisi, of White Plains, was sentenced to six months in prison after three properties his co-conspirators acquired by lying on mortgage documents went into foreclosure, causing $812,000 in damages, prosecutors said. Ikudayisi, 41, was a licensed real estate agent and was involved in a scheme to buy properties around the Washington area by inflating income on loan applications. Man shot and killed in Temple Hills Donte Kearney, 21, was shot and killed in Temple Hills, Prince George's County police said. Officers responding to the 4100 block of 21st Avenue late Thursday night for a report of a shooting and found the...

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Prince George's high school teacher accused of having sex with student

A Prince George's County high school teacher has been accused of having sex with a 16-year-old female student at his Alexandria home, court documents said. Mark Allen Jackson, born in 1966, is an ROTC instructor at Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale. According to charging documents filed in Alexandria's federal court, Jackson developed a "father-figure and friend" relationship with a 16-year-old student in one of his classes in September 2008. Their sexual relationship began in December when he started picking her up from her home in Maryland and taking her to his home in Alexandria. No attorney information was listed for Jackson in court records. Attempts to...

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Sergent helps new Prince George's police property crime unit meet quick success

Prince George's County police Sgt. Jimmy Simms has been on the job for the past 13 years and now heads a recently formed property crimes investigative unit. The unit is stationed in District 1 -- which covers College Park, New Carrollton and Riverdale -- and has quickly found success. How does the unit differ from how things worked previously? We're a proactive investigative unit that not only responds to crimes that have happened, but also goes out and conducts surveillance. Previously, detectives covered the area and took a wide variety of cases: homicides, property theft, robberies. This group pulls detectives into a group and covers only property crime. Do property crimes...

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Crime History: S.C. Rep. strikes, kills motorcyclist with car

On this day, Aug. 16, in 2008, South Dakota Rep. Bill Janklow struck and killed a motorcyclist with his Cadillac Seville on a rural stretch of road in his home state. The crash led the Republican former governor to resign. He was later convicted of manslaughter charges. Janklow broke his hand and had a concussion after hitting the motorcycle while driving around 70 mph in a 55-mph zone. During trial, Janklow's attorney argued that the congressman low blood sugar and was confused at the time of the accident. Janklow is also known for pardoning his son-in-law for marijuana possession and driving while intoxicated at the end of his fourth term as governor. Today, he is a lawyer and...

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Ex-Alexandria police chief pleads guilty to DUI

Former Alexandria police Chief David Baker pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges and was sentenced to five days in jail. Baker was arrested last month after he crashed into another car in Arlington while driving a city-owned vehicle. Three days later, he announced his retirement under mounting pressure. Charging documents said Baker had a 0.19 -- more than twice the legal limit -- two hours after he was taken into custody. On Friday, Baker admitted to having a blood-alcohol level between 0.15 and 0.20. In a statement filed in court, Baker apologized for letting down that police department that he served for 19 years, adding "I offer no excuses for my bad decisions and behavior...

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Stupid crimes

Woman's stolen goods hawked at neighbor's yard sale Strolling down a street in Severn, Md., a woman came across a neighbor's yard sale. As she glanced at the items, she realized something was amiss -- the goods were hers. Days before, she had called Anne Arundel County police, telling them her house and shed had been burglarized and a "significant amount" of property had been stolen. It was only two days later that she found the stolen items at a yard sale just a few houses down the road. Police recovered about $25,000 of her property, and her 46-year-old neighbor was arrested. This wouldn't be smart at any job interview, but the police? A 21-year-old man was interviewing...

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Federal judge slams feds for not charging illegal immigrants' employers

A federal judge in Alexandria gave no prison time to a man convicted of harboring illegal immigrants for profit, saying prosecutors should have targeted the wealthy families in McLean and Potomac who employed the illegals he provided. "This is why we have problems with illegal immigrants in this country," said U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee. "There is unequal enforcement of the laws, particularly when it comes to employers." Prosecutors had argued that Soripada Lubis of Falls Church should face nearly five years in prison for harboring the 20 women who lived with him over eight years and not letting them leave. In court documents and in arguments made in court...

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Police search for Glenmont bank robbery suspects

Montgomery County police are searching for two suspects who robbed a Chevy Chase bank in Glenmont on Thursday morning. One robber entered the bank, implied he had a gun and demanded cash, while the other waited outside, police said. The two then ran through the rear of the strip mall at 2315 Randolph Road and got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was injured. The thief who entered the bank was black, in his late 20s and about 5 feet 10 inches tall. He was wearing a white T-shirt, black pants and had a white T-shirt wrapped around his head. The robber outside was also black and around the same age. He was wearing a white tank top and blue pants. Anyone with information...

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Crime History: Terrorist Carlos the Jackal captured in Sudan

On this day, Aug. 14, in 1994, terrorist Illich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, was captured in Sudan by French intelligence agents. Sanchez was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and was believed to behind several terrorist attacks between 1973 and 1992, including in 1974 when he held a French ambassador and 10 others hostage at The Hague. He was demanding that a fellow terrorist be released by French authorities. But he repeatedly escaped authorities' grasp until the French agents tracked him down in Sudan. With no extradition treaty in place with the African country, the agents sedated Ramirez Sanchez and kidnapped him. Sudan later...

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Wanted: illegal immigrant with a taste for drugs and machine guns

U.S. marshals are searching for an illegal immigrant from Jamaica who is wanted for multiple drug violations and weapons charges across the Washington area, including carrying a machine gun in Prince George's County. Floyd Damien Lenn has three outstanding felony warrants. In Maryland, he's wanted for violating the conditions of federal probation after being convicted of illegally carrying guns. Lenn also failed to appear in court in Montgomery County to face drug trafficking charges in 2008. He was last arrested in Prince George's County for being in possession of a machine gun, but was released and disappeared, authorities said. Lenn has lived on Tahona Drive in Silver Spring and on...

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CRIME HISTORY

On this day, Aug. 13, in 1792, the French king who supported the American Revolution 16 years earlier was arrested by a mob of French peasants for treason. The arrest of Louis XVI came in the midst of the French Revolution in which peasants overthrew the monarchy and created a republic eventually led by Napoleon. The king was executed by guillotine in January 1793. The guillotine later became a symbol of a string of executions during the Reign of Terror, which started nine months after the king lost his head to the sharp falling blade. That same type of blade beheaded the king's wife, Marie Atoinette, in September 1793. Antoinette has become famous for allegedly saying "let them...

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Va. title agent charged in $7M mortgage fraud scheme

A 43-year-old Alexandria title agent has been accused of being member of a scheme to fraudulently buy 25 properties in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, federal prosecutors in Maryland said. The homes later went into foreclosure, causing $7 million in losses to lenders. Jay Leonard also is charged with soliciting $10 million from investors for a resort and spa in Virginia that he and co-conspirators falsely claimed they were developing, according to an indictment filed in Maryland's federal court Wednesday. About $478,000 from that scheme were transferred directly into Leonard's bank account, prosecutors said. On Monday, Osman Al-Bari, 35, pleaded guilty to running the scheme....

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5 injured, 1 dead in 4 District shootings

Five people were injured and one man was killed in four separate shootings in the District on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, District police said. The shootings are not likely linked, police said. Around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, a man was killed by a bullet to the head on the 3000 block of 24th Street SE, police said. Another man was shot in the leg in the same incident. He's expected to recover. Two hours earlier, another man was in critical condition after he was shot on the 1800 block of Birney Place SE, police said. Another victim in the same shooting suffered non-life-threatening wounds. At some point in the night -- police are unsure of exactly when -- another...

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THE BLOTTER

Takoma Park man sentenced in foreclosure scheme Earnest Lewis, 52, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for defrauding homeowners who were heading into foreclosure, prosecutors said. Lewis earned $2.2 million in the scheme, which targeted the vulnerable homeowners in television advertisements promising to improve their credit and save their homes if they signed their title over to MKL Associates, court documents said. Lewis and his co-conspirators promised that his good credit would make it possible to for the homeowners to refinance. They could remain in their homes while this happened by paying rent. Instead, the conspirators kept all the cash and many of the homes went into...

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Feds expand in Maryland to capture more illegal immigrants

The Montgomery County jail has turned over 325 suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities so far this year, already a nearly 20 percent jump over all of 2008 when the detention center held 274 inmates on federal immigration warrants, jail director Arthur Wallenstein told The Examiner. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the jump is the result of more agents being assigned to work with Maryland jails as part of a nationwide push to capture illegal immigrants. Wallenstein said the jail has not changed its policies and continues to send a weekly list of inmates to ICE so the agency can check immigration records. "We have assigned more agents and assets to coordinate with...

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Firefighter captain in N.Va. is single mom, too

Prince William County fire department Cpt. Kim Pumphrey is the department's highest-ranking woman working in the field as the head of one of the county's busiest engine companies. She has been professionally fighting fires in Prince William for more than 18 years but started as a volunteer in Madison, Va., when she was 16. As a single mother, she's not only a role model for her crew members, but also her daughter. What got you involved with firefighting at such a young age? My family. My father was a firefighter in Fairfax County, retired from there as a captain and then became chief of the Albemarle County fire department. When my dad came home, I was always interested in what calls...

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Hooters Girls sue restaurant for minimum wage violations

More than a dozen former and current "Hooters Girls" from the District, Maryland and South Carolina have sued the chicken wing giant for violating minimum wage laws. The lawsuit filed in the District's federal court late last week, claims the company counted the girls' tips toward the minimum wage and then violated the law by requiring them to pay the company for their uniforms, among other allegations. The scheme "essentially amounted to kickbacks," to Hooters, said Heidi Burakiewicz, the attorney for the 13 Hooters waitresses. Hooters did not respond to requests for comment. The waitresses were required to buy their shirts, shorts, aprons, socks, shoes and pins...

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Police: Internet chats lead man to sex with 14-year-old girl

A 23-year-old Springfield man has been accused of having sex with a 14-year-old Montgomery County girl he met on the Internet, Fairfax County police said. Stephann Kamau allegedly met the girl online in mid-July, police said. They chatted for about a week and then agreed to meet in person. On July 28, police say Kamau drove to Maryland, picked the girl up and took her back to his Springfield home where he had sex with her. The girl's mother woke up, discovered her daughter was missing and called the police. The girl returned several hours later. Kamau was arrested Wednesday, police said Monday. Detectives are concerned Kamau may have had similar contact with other underage girls....

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Bank robbed twice this year, once by man dressed as woman

A Maryland BB&T Bank robbed late last week was also hit earlier this year by a man in women's clothing. On Thursday morning, the BB&T at 10579 Theodore Green Blvd. in White Plains was robbed by a man who implied he had a weapon, demanded cash and then ran from the area after a teller filled a bag with money, police said. The suspect was white and in his late 40s to early 50s, police said. He had a mustache and glasses. In January, a man wearing a long blond wig with a red hat passed a teller a note demanding a large amount of cash, authorities said. A teller complied, and the robber ran out. That robber was also white and around the same age as Thursday's robber. However, the...

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Fairfax Police: Robberies in McLean, Reston and Fair Oaks are linked

Fairfax County police say at least 16 of a rash of burglaries committed in McLean, Reston and Fair Oaks police districts between January and the end of July are likely linked. The thieves, police said, are targeting neighborhoods with significant Middle Eastern and Asian populations. They’re stealing electronics, passports and jewelry. In nearly every case, houses have been broken into during the day. Several of the homes had religious ornaments displayed outside, police said. A sample of the most recent break-ins: » July 28: 12900 block of Wood Crescent Circle, Herndon » June 29: 10600 block of Chamberlain Drive, Vienna » June 25: 5100 block of Whisper Willow...

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THE BLOTTER

Pr. George's police search for armed robber Prince George's County police are searching for a man armed with a handgun who has robbed four Greenbelt and Beltsville stores in the middle of the day. The most recent robbery was Friday, when the man robbed a Shell gas station and fled in a dark-colored Lincoln Navigator, police said. The man first appeared July 17, when he robbed a Greenbelt Kmart. He popped up again last week, striking a BP gas station in Beltsville on Tuesday, a Greenbelt Extra Fuel Wednesday and the Shell on Friday. The robber is between 27 and 35 years old and of average height. He's black and wears a white Gucci hat. Anyone with information should call Prince...

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Fifth passport peeker charged

A former State Department employee has become the fifth person charged witih illegally accessing the confidential passport information of elected officials and celebrities. Karal Busch has been charged with the unauthorized access of passport files related to "various celebrities and their families, actors, professional athletes, musicians, models and other individuals identified in the press," court documents filed in the District's federal court said. No attorney information for Busch was listed in court records. Among the "individuals identified in the press" were then presidential candidates John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The Justice Department...

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Ex-kebab cook admits lying about ties to Hussein

A former cook at a Laurel shish kebab shop has pleaded guilty to lying about his ties to Saddam Hussein's government on immigration forms, federal prosecutors in Maryland said. Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, 48, was born in a Iraq, but became a Canadian citizen in 1994, according to court documents. That was six years before he moved to the United States to work as an accountant and driver for the Iraqi Interests Section, a quasi-Iraqi embassy housed in the Algerian Embassy in the years before the United States toppled Hussein's regime. Darwish's job at the section was arranged by 68-year-old Saubhe Jassim Al-Dellemy, the owner of Gourmet Shish Kebab in Laurel, prosecutors said. Al-Dellemy is...

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CRIME HISTORY

On this day, Aug. 9, in 1969, Charles Manson and his "Family" murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in her California home, hoping to inspire the racial war that Manson named Helter Skelter after the Beatles song. Manson believed The Beatles' "White Album" held a secret message predicting the slaughter of whites at the hands of blacks. At the end of the racial war, he and his Family of young followers would rise to power after hiding out in a secret city hidden in the desert. By August 1969, however, Manson had become frustrated that Helter Skelter had not yet started and began convincing the members of the Family that they had to help it along by...

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Former Biden aide picked for Alexandria U.S. attorney job

A former aide to Vice President Joe Biden has been nominated to fill the high-profile role of U.S. attorney of Alexandria's federal court, the White House said. Neil MacBride, 43, is currently an associate deputy attorney general. He left the role of Biden's chief counsel in 2005, when the vice president was still a senator, to work for a trade organization that lobbies for Microsoft, IBM and other computer giants. He left the trade organization earlier this year to take the job in the attorney general's office. If he gets the nod from the Senate, MacBride will take over the U.S.. attorney's office at a time when the Obama administration is considering bringing accused terrorists from...

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Ex-kebab cook admits lying about ties to Hussein

A former cook at a Laurel shish kebab shop has pleaded guilty to lying about his ties to Saddam Hussein’s government on immigration forms, federal prosecutors in Maryland said. Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, 48, was born in a Iraq, but became a Canadian citizen in 1994, according to court documents. That was six years before he moved to the United States to work as an accountant and driver for the Iraqi Interests Section, a quasi-Iraqi embassy housed in the Algerian Embassy in the years before the United States toppled Hussein’s regime. Darwish’s job at the section was arranged by 68-year-old Saubhe Jassim Al-Dellemy, the owner of Gourmet Shish Kebab in Laurel, prosecutors...

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Alleged serial burglar caught in Fairfax County

Fairfax County police say they’ve charged a 44-year-old Kingstowne man with a half-dozen burglaries. Clifford Sewell, 44, was first arrested in July after police said they linked him to stolen property found at a pawn shop. On Thursday, police said they’ve linked him to five other Kingstowne-area burglaries that took place during the first half of July and they believe he may be responsible for others. Among the items taken from the six homes were watches and rings, police said. Anyone with information should call Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS (8477)....

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11 illegal immigrants found in van on I-95 in Maryland

Authorities discovered 11 illegal immigrants traveling from Houston in a van pulled over for speeding by Maryland State Police on Interstate 95, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman confirmed. The group of illegal immigrants, which included two minors -- one from Guatemala, the other from Mexico -- had "visible cuts and scrapes, poor hygiene, dirty clothing and limited belongings,Ó an ICE agent wrote in a sworn statement filed in Maryland's federal court. Their appearance, the agent wrote, was "consistent with individuals who enter the U.S. illegally by walking through the desert along the U.S./Mexico border.Ó ICE spokeswoman Gillian Brigham said...

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THE BLOTTER

PW police: Tasering was lawful An internal review by Prince William County police has determined that police acted appropriately when they Tasered a 54-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman during a backyard baptismal party. Police said Thursday that officers were accosted by family members when they tried to arrest a "highly intoxicatedÓ Edgar Rodriguez at his Manassas home. Leticia Elias was also arrested and Tasered when she reportedly put herself between officers and Rodriguez. Dozing truck driver hits woman in crosswalk A woman was hit by a truck Thursday morning while crossing K Street Northwest, heading south on 15th Street. The woman crossed the street...

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Two wanted in Sears armed robbery

Montgomery County police have released surveillance photos of two men suspected of robbing the White Oak Sears at knifepoint. The two men each picked up a pair of boots and fled the store during the June 24 robbery, police said. When store security attempted to stop them, one suspect displayed a knife and the two fled on foot toward the Chevy Chase Bank on New Hampshire Avenue. Both suspects are Hispanic and around 30 years old. The armed suspect was about 6 feet fall, with a shaven head and mustache. The other was about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a mustache and goatee. Anyone with information should call Montgomery County police at 240-773-5100. -- Freeman...

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Shooter in Gaithersburg murder sentenced to life without parole

The Landover man convicted by a jury of shooting a 25-year-old Gaithersburg woman to death and then leaving her body behind a trash bin has been sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 20 years. Shawn Henderson, 25, was supposed to be in prison serving out a 10-year sentence for a 1999 armed robbery when he killed Lindsay Harvey in April 2008 for the $40 in her wallet, court documents said. Instead, he was released three years early in November 2006 and was in the midst of a three-year parole when Harvey was murdered, the Department of Corrections said. Harvey's murder made national news when her body was found behind a trash container less than 100 yards from her apartment on...

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Pr. George's program keeps youth off the streets

It started last summer as a pilot project with 7,000 12- to 24-year-olds in Prince George's County Councilman Tony Knotts' District 8 spending their free time off the streets in safe havens. Knotts' project, Safe Summer, went countywide this summer, and as of the end of last month, more than 13,000 residents had joined the after-hours get-togethers, said a Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission spokesman. The programs run from 10 p.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and provide safe places for the county's youth to hang out with friends, explore new recreational activities and learn about making their communities safer. There are steel drum workshops, movies, sports...

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Feds call for summit to combat texting drivers

A rash of fatal crashes involving texting drivers has led federal officials to call a national summit of transportation authorities, safety advocates and law enforcement officials to recommend ways to combat the problem. "The public is sick and tired of people being distracted and causing accidents," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood while announcing the summit Tuesday. "We all know texting while driving is dangerous and we are going to do something about it so that responsible drivers don't have to worry about it when they or a loved one get on the road." LaHood was spurred to action by cases like that in June involving a 17-year-old driver in Illinois who...

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Police, FBI continue search for Hoodie Bandit

Fairfax County police and the FBI are still searching for a serial bank robber known for wearing a hooded sweatshirt and vaulting teller counters. Police believe the Hoodie Bandit is responsible for eight robberies since November: six in Reston, one in Chantilly and one in Fairfax. His targets are most often BB&T Banks, and he comes armed with a handgun. His last known robbery was in March, when he jumped a teller counter at the United Bank at 13060 Fair Lakes Blvd. in Fairfax, police said. At the time, authorities said they were concerned the suspect was acting more aggressively. He spent five minutes inside the bank. After jumping the counter and demanding employees fill a bag...

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iPhone apps help users track sex offenders

Popular programs aimed at parents Two popular iPhone applications that help users find sex offenders who live near the park they're planning to visit for a family picnic may provide a sense of security, but they don't necessarily keep users safe, officials said. A Florida company introduced Thursday the second of two iPhone applications in recent months that map sex offender information already available through police-run Web sites. Sex Offenders Search achieved instant popularity, climbing into the Top 10 list of downloads for the iPhone by Sunday, creator Roberto Franceschetti said. It costs $1.99, a dollar more than Offender Locator, which debuted in June and has also been in the...

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British man accused of biggest military hack ever will be tried in U.S.

A British man accused of masterminding what prosecutors labeled the biggest military computer hack of all time is expected to be sent to Alexandria's federal court for trial, having lost his battle against being sent to the United States. British prosecutors have chosen not to move forward with a case against Gary McKinnon if he were to stay in his London-area home. McKinnon lost his fight against extradition late last week when Britain's High Court found it reasonable to send the 43-year-old across the Atlantic. He has lost similar battles in other courts, and this was likely his last chance to prevent it. He faces up to 70 years in prison in the United States. According to U.S....

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Uncle, nephew accused of robbing four banks

A 44-year-old District man and his 25-year-old nephew from Clinton have been accused of robbing four banks in the D.C. suburbs over the past year, along with a Dunkin Donuts location. Investigators were led to Reginald Arnold Waddell and his nephew Jurome Riley Proctor by fingerprints they left behind in and around the Arlington Dunkin' Donuts, which they allegedly robbed May 18, according to court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court. Waddell's print was found on a used car at a lot across the street from the Dunkin' Donuts, an FBI agent wrote in a sworn statement. Waddell touched the car while describing to a mechanic problems with his own car. Proctor's print was found...

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Uncle, nephew accused of robbing four banks

A 44-year-old District man and his 25-year-old nephew from Clinton have been accused of robbing four banks in the D.C. suburbs over the past year, along with a Dunkin' Donuts location. Investigators were led to Reginald Arnold Waddell and his nephew Jurome Riley Proctor by fingerprints they left behind in and around the Arlington Dunkin’ Donuts, which they allegedly robbed May 18, according to court documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court. Waddell’s print was found on a used car at a lot across the street from the Dunkin’ Donuts, an FBI agent wrote in a sworn statement. Waddell touched the car while describing to a mechanic problems with his own...

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Man accused of assaulting woman who died later

A 30-year-old Silver Spring man has been charged with assaulting a 23-year-old woman just a few hours before she was found dead in their home, Montgomery County police said. About 3 a.m. Monday, Angel Sandoval-Cruz was arguing with Mayra Martinez-Hernandez in their home on the 8800 block of Garland Avenue when he grabbed a knife and threatened her, police said. The two resolved the dispute between themselves and did not call police. About three hours later, police were called to check on Martinez-Hernandez's welfare, only to find her dead inside. There was no apparent cause of death, and preliminary results from the medical examiner have been inconclusive. Sandoval-Cruz is being held...

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Police bust up backyard party, Taser young woman

Prince William County police are investigating whether officers used unnecessary force when they Tasered and arrested a 55-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman at a baptismal party in Manassas. A little before 8 p.m. Sunday, Prince William County police said they arrived at the home of Edgar A. Rodriguez on the 9600 block of Lafayette Avenue to investigate a noise complaint. Rodriguez was hosting a party in his backyard. Police said they found him "highly intoxicated" and he refused several requests from officers to turn down the loud music. "Rodriguez began to act disorderly and refused to identify himself to officers," said police spokeswoman Officer Erika...

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Police bust up backyard party, Taser young woman

Prince William County police are investigating whether officers used unnecessary force when they Tasered and arrested a 55-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman at a baptismal party in Manassas. A little before 8 p.m. Sunday, Prince William County police said they arrived at the home of Edgar A. Rodriguez on the 9600 block of Lafayette Avenue to investigate a noise complaint. Rodriguez was hosting a party in his backyard. Police said they found him “highly intoxicated” and he refused several requests from officers to turn down the loud music. “Rodriguez began to act disorderly and refused to identify himself to officers,” said police spokeswoman Officer Erika...

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Alleged Holocaust museum shooter could face death penalty

A federal grand jury included charges in an indictment filed Wednesday that could earn the death penalty for an 89-year-old white supremacist accused in the fatal shooting of a security guard at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The seven-count indictment includes four charges that could mean the death penalty for James von Brunn, as well as bringing hate crimes charges against him. Authorities say von Brunn shot and killed guard Stephen T. Johns as Johns held the door to the museum open for the elderly man. Other guards returned fire, hitting von Brunn in the face in the June 10 shootout. Von Brunn survived and remains hospitalized. Von Brunn is a known white supremacist...

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Alexandria police chief steps down, days after DUI arrest

Alexandria Police Chief David P. Baker has retired from his job of nearly 20 years, just days after being charged with driving under the influence. According to court records, Baker registered a 0.19 on a breath test — more than twice the legal limit — about two hours after being involved in a car crash in Arlington late Saturday night. Baker, 58, became police chief in September 2006, after about 16 years as the department’s chief administrative officer. On Tuesday, he submitted the following letter to Alexandria City officials marking the end of his career: My Friends, It is with a great deal of humility and remorse that I announce my retirement from the...

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Crime history - Adam John Walsh, 6, abducted from a mall

On this day, July 27, in 1981, six-year-old Adam John Walsh was abducted from a mall in Hollywood, Fla., and eventually murdered. His father, John Walsh, later became a victims’ rights activist and eventually the host of “America’s Most Wanted.” In December 2008, Hollywood police claimed to have solved the case and it was closed. They blamed dead convicted killer Ottis Toole for the crime, citing a “vast amount” of circumstantial evidence against him. Toole at one point had confessed to killing Adam only to recant after police couldn’t find the boy’s body where Toole claimed it would be. Toole died in prison in 1996 from...

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Lorton woman charged with robbing bank

A 45-year-old Lorton woman has been charged with robbing a Woodbridge bank, and police said they believe she may be the same woman who recently ripped off two banks in Fairfax. Cynthia Crawford was arrested Friday morning, not long after police say she walked into a SunTrust Bank, implied she had a gun and displayed a note demanding cash. A bank employee took down her license plate number and she was pulled over about 30 minutes later driving north on Interstate 395. Crawford’s picture is very similar to that of a woman captured by surveillance cameras in Fairfax, police said. That woman robbed a SunTrust Bank in Alexandria on July 15, and a Wachovia in Lorton on June 25. Lone...

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South African developer's son accused of fraud

The son of a prominent South African developer has been accused of swindling four Virginia investors of $450,000 in two separate schemes, according to an indictment filed in Alexandria's federal court. Ibn Muquaddin Shafi, of Herndon, allegedly ran the scheme through his company Yasik Group LLC. His father, Connie Mack McKithen heads the board of directors for http://www.notaegroup.com/default.asp Notae Resorts, a development group that in 2004 partnered with Marriott Hotels and Resorts to develop 17 resorts in South Africa, according to Notae's Web site. According to an indictment filed Thursday, in November 2004 Shafi convinced three people to invest $300,000 in a development project...

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4 killed in copter crash were returning from charity event

The four people killed in a helicopter that crashed onto Interstate 70 in Frederick County were on their way back from Hagerstown, where they had been giving helicopter rides to children during a charity event, authorities said. Three of the victims worked for Advanced Helicopter Concepts, and the fourth was a friend of theirs, said a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash. The helicopter slammed into the highway Thursday night and was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived around 10:30 p.m. Witnesses saw the helicopter flying low when it hit power lines before it went down, authorities said. Investigators are unsure of...

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THE BLOTTER

Last member of heroin ring sentenced A 20-year-old Centreville man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for providing the heroin that killed his 19-year-old girlfriend, prosecutors said. Skylar Schnippel was the last of 16 defendants to be sentenced in the suburban heroin ring busted last fall. Despite her overdosing three previous times, Schnippel supplied Alicia Lannes the heroin that led to a fatal overdose. The 20-year sentence was the minimum the judge could impose. Man exposes himself to woman, 50, in Springfield A 50-year-old woman was walking her dog at Lake Mercer Park in Springfield when a man pulled up on a bicycle and started masturbating in front her, Fairfax...

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Lawyer gets 3-year suspension for not reporting manslaughter conviction

A District lawyer has been suspended from practicing for three years for failing to notify bar officials that he was convicted of manslaughter by a Jamaican court, the District's court of appeals ruled Thursday. Patrick E. Bailey was reprimanded for the same offense in 2005 by the Virginia bar and has already served suspension in the commonwealth, court documents said. Attempts to contact Bailey were unsuccessful. According to court documents, Bailey was arrested in January 1997 in Jamaica for a slaying while on leave from the Marines. A court in Kingston found him guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to two years hard labor. When he applied to enter the Virginia bar, he...

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CRIME HISTORY: Supreme Court orders Nixon to release tapes

On this day, July 24, in 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered President Richard Nixon to release tape recordings of conversations he held as part of the Congress' Watergate investigation. The tapes were subpoenaed after Congress learned Nixon had a voice-activated recording system in the Oval Office and an office he frequently used at the Executive Office Building across the street from the White House. Nixon at first refused to turn them over, declaring executive privilege. But after the Supreme Court ruling, he had no choice, and he released the tapes to investigators July 30. Among the tapes released was one that became known as the "smoking gun" tape, on which Nixon is...

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Clerk accused of stealing $145K from Washington YMCA

A member of a popular Washington-area band and former clerk in the finance office of the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington is expected to plead guilty to stealing nearly $145,000 by cashing 33 checks he took from the nonprofit human services organization, court records show. Eric Sean Curry Jr. is a member of Uncalled4 -- a 10-member band that plays at Washington-area clubs -- and used a network of 14 friends to cash the YMCA checks he issued, court documents filed in the District's federal court said. After cashing the checks, Curry's friends would send him a cut. He allegedly ran the scheme from February 2007 to December 2007. Calls to Curry's attorney on Thursday were not returned. He...

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THE BLOTTER

Silver Spring man get 14 years for date rape drug A 41-year-old man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for possessing 23 gallons of a date rape drug in his Silver Spring home, prosecutors said. Steven Hess' home was raided in January 2007 after Montgomery County police received reports of people coming in and out his house "at all hours of the day and night," federal prosecutors in Maryland said. Inside authorities found 23 gallons of 1,4-butanediol dyed blue in plastic drinking bottles for distribution. The drug is similar to GHB, which is commonly known as the date rape drug. Second guilty plea in bank robbery that led to chase, gunfire A Silver Spring man pleaded...

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STUPID CRIMES

Note to burglars: Hide your facial tattoos It wasn't difficult for the victims of a Tampa, Fla., home invasion to identify the burglar. He was the only suspect with the state of Florida tattooed on his face. That and the words "Crazy Cracker" written on his head. The victims identified Sean Roberts through photos. Roberts and a woman entered the home and threatened the residents, and took prescription drugs, a DVD player, a CD player and $120 in cash. If the Florida tattoo wasn't evidence enough, Roberts is also known as "Crazy Cracker." We sense a theme here A man described by Utah authorities as Salt Lake County's Public Enemy No. 1 was arrested when he came into a courthouse...

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Waitress who stole credit cards now a server at Harry's Tap Room

A waitress who pleaded guilty to stealing customers' credit card information is now working at Harry's Tap Room in Arlington and training other servers for the job, according to court records. Lavelle Denise Payne, 41, pleaded guilty to stealing the credit card numbers from 701 Restaurant customers. She was fired by 701 after her March arrest and was hired by Harry's Tap Room at 2800 Clarendon Blvd. on April 23, according to a letter sent to a federal judge from Harry's general manger, John Cosgrove. Payne was one of several servers at Washington-area high-end restaurants who stole credit card numbers from customers and sold them to the scheme's three ringleaders for $20 each. The...

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Teen charged in attempted armed robbery

Prince William County police say a teenager who allegedly tried to rob a convenience store at gunpoint was caught after he fired a gun during an argument with another teen. Aaron Dass, 18, is accused of attempting to rob the store on the 1400 block of Bayside Avenue in Woodbridge on July 16. Police said no one was injured when Dass fired a shot into a plate glass window as he fled without grabbing cash. Later that day, a group of teens were arguing over two girls when Dass fired the same gun, police said. Two of the teens involved in the dispute were detained and told police it was Dass who had the gun. He was later developed as the suspect in the attempted robbery, police said. --...

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Sheriffs association promotes neighborhood watch

Sheriff Aaron D. Kennard is the executive director of the Alexandria-based National Sheriffs' Association, the group tasked by President George W. Bush to promote neighborhood watch programs across the country. Kennard moved to Virginia after landing the executive director job and retiring as the sheriff of Salt Lake County, Utah. Today he is scheduled to testify at a congressional hearing regarding the role sheriff's departments play in homeland security. What role does the association play in promoting neighborhood watch programs? We work with police departments and sheriff's offices across the country to help the establish neighborhood watch programs by providing training, showing...

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Police search for suit-wearing bank robber

The FBI has released surveillance photos of a suit-wearing man who robbed a District bank. According to D.C. police, the suspect entered the United Bank on the 1600 block of K Street NW about 10 a.m. July 14. He passed a note to a teller demanding cash. He implied he had a gun, and the teller turned over an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect ran out of the bank and was last seen walking north on the 1000 block of 17th Street NW, police said. The suspect is described as a black man in his late 30s or early 40s. He had a full beard. He's about 6 feet tall and weighs between 180 and 195 pounds. He was wearing a black suit and a black Kangol-style hat, police said. Officials said...

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Police say mother's boyfriend raped 11-year-old girl

A 21-year-old man from Manassas has been charged with rape and forcible sodomy after his girlfriend found her daughter in the man's bedroom, Prince William County police said. Dario Galdamez Rivas lived with the mother and daughter in a town house on West Point Court in Manassas, police said. On Friday, the mother became suspicious after finding her 11-year-old daughter in Rivas' bedroom and called police. A police spokeswoman said she could not reveal details regarding the circumstances in which the girl was found in the bedroom. Police described Rivas as the mother's roommate. Further investigation revealed on two separate occasions, police said, Rivas and the victim had inappropriate...

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Waitress who stole credit card numbers now a Cosi cashier

A 28-year-old waitress who pleaded guilty to stealing the credit card numbers of about 30 M&S Grill customers in the District is now working as a cashier at a Cosi in Arlington. Simone Folk was scheduled to be sentenced Friday. The single mother of two was fired from M&S Grill in March after the restaurant learned of her role in a large-scale credit card skimming scheme involving serving staff at Washington-area restaurants. The three leaders of the scheme, all of whom have pleaded guilty, paid the waiters and waitresses $20 for each credit card number and then ran up a $750,000 tab at stores like Gucci and Barney's of New York. Folk obtained about $560 for running customer's...

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THE BLOTTER

Man killed by police on Capitol Hill identified U.S. Park Police identified 27-year-old Kellen Anthony White, of Brandywine, as the man they shot and killed near the Capitol Wednesday evening. Court records show White was on probation after pleading guilty to drug possession charges in August. In March 2008, he was accused of assaulting a police officer in Prince George's County, but those charges were dropped. On Wednesday, police say they tried to pull White over near Union Station, but he fled, striking two officers. When he finally came to a stop at New Jersey Avenue Southwest, police say he pulled out a gun and officers opened fire and killed him. Police: Suspect in Falls...

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FBI: Alexandria man threatens to kill S.C. judges

A 51-year-old Alexandria man accused of threatening to kill white judges in South Carolina believed the judges were part of a Confederate conspiracy to prevent him, a West Point graduate, from obtaining justice in a lawsuit he filed against the state, court documents show. Stephen H. Rosenberg, who is white, was arrested at his Arlington home Wednesday night after being charged with sending threatening letters to judges designed, in part, to intimidate them into backing his lawsuit, the FBI said. The charges stem from an April 6 e-mail sent to South Carolina U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Perry Jr., according to the indictment filed July 7. It was the same day Rosenberg's father, a U.S....

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Police union chief ordered to turn in badge

The District police department has pulled the badge and gun of police union chief Kristopher Baumann while in the midst of a labor-management struggle, saying the Fraternal Order of Police head failed to complete annual mandatory training, officials confirmed to The Examiner.

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Alexandria man accused of threatening to kill white judges in S. Carolina

A 51-year-old Alexandria man has been charged with sending numerous e-mails threatening to kill white judges in South Carolina where he has filed a civil suit against the United States, the FBI said Thursday. Stephen H. Rosenberg was taken into custody Wednesday and charged with transmitting across state lines threats to kill the judges as well as making threats designed to influence or intimidate a federal judge hearing his civil case. The FBI said Rosenberg, who is white, appeared in front of a federal judge in South Carolina on May 11 and since that time has sent "numerous e-mail transmissions to the same judge, including an April 6, 2009 transmission which contained a threat to...

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Feds: Pimp lured teen from group home, offered her on Craigslist

A teenage girl arrested for prostitution in an Alexandria hotel told authorities her pimp took her from a group home in Chicago, gave her marijuana and later took her on a prostituting road trip from Chicago to Philadelphia, and then to the District. He used Craigslist to advertise the girl along the way. The alleged pimp, Freddie B. Wright, was arrested late last week in Chicago, court records show. He has been charged with bringing someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Andrea Powell, executive director of FAIRFund, an anti-human-trafficking group, said the case is similar to instances of human trafficking in which young people are lured by pimps who pretend to...

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THE BLOTTER

Long standoff ends with gunman's death A 24-hour standoff came to an end when police entered a Falls Church home and found the alleged gunman dead inside, Fairfax County police said. The man, who was not immediately identified, had run inside the house around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday after police say he shot and seriously injured a 36-year-old woman. When police entered the house on Lisle Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, they found the suspect dead and a woman and child unharmed. Police did not immediately say if the suspect killed himself. Two sentenced for Internet drug distribution scheme A 50-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man, both of Miami, were ordered to forfeit $1.5 million...

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Mark Brady: the voice of P.G. County fire department

When a fire rages in Prince George's County or a strip mall is leveled by a natural gas explosion, Mark Brady is the voice that spreads the word from the scene, to the media and on to the public. For the last 13 years, Brady has served as the county's fire department spokesman and in September he will celebrate his 30th year as a Prince George's County employee. How did you become the spokesman? When I first started working for the county, I was a 911 call taker. I was there for a couple of years and then became a fire department dispatcher. When you work in the department's communication center, you get a grasp of everything that's going, the equipment that's being used and the...

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Murderer who also shot pregnant woman gets 80 years

It started as a drug deal gone bad. It ended with one man dead and a pregnant woman shot in the leg in Temple Hills. On Tuesday, Gerald Edward Anderson, 25, of Marlow Heights, was sentenced to 80 years in prison for killing 23-year-old Gary Randall. The pregnant woman, Randall's girlfriend, survived the May 22, 2008, shooting and carried her baby to term, Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey said. Today, the baby is healthy and happy, he said. "Mr. Anderson was not someone who was interested in mediating this disagreement," Ivey said. "Thank God he stopped himself and didn't kill a woman and her unborn child." According to prosecutors, Anderson...

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THE BLOTTER

Man in black suit robs D.C. bank A bearded man in a black suit and golf hat robbed a downtown D.C. bank Tuesday morning. At 10 a.m., the man walked into the United Bank on the 1600 block of K Street Northwest and passed a note demanding cash. He took the money and was last seen walking north on the 1000 block of 17th Street NW. The robber was described as a black male, in his late 30s or early 40s, with a full beard. He was about 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. Police are offering a reward of up to $10,000. Anyone who has information regarding this case is asked to call police at 202-727-9099. Violent crime drops in Prince George's County Violent crime in Prince George's County has dropped...

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District Council aide dead in apparent drowning

An aide for District Councilman Jack Evans died in an apparent drowning in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Evans said Tuesday morning. Baltimore Police have not officially identified the body, which was found floating in the harbor, but Evans confirmed that it was 30-year-old Desi Deschaine.

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ATF seizes 12 million counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes made in China

Federal authorities seized 12 million counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes made in China from a Springfield storage unit, the largest bogus cigarette bust in the region's history, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman told The Examiner. Agents came across the 60,000 packs of smokes July 2 after they arrested Bing Feng Mai who had agreed to trade the counterfeit cigarettes for untaxed cigarettes with an undercover ATF agent, court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court said. By then, the undercover agent had sold Mai $2 million of untaxed cigarettes over a period of four months, an ATF agent wrote in a sworn statement. As taxes on cigarettes have climbed in...

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Second suspect charged in Va. jewelry store heist

A second suspect has been charged in connection with the attempted robbery of a Leesburg jewelry store that turned in an hourslong police standoff. Donald L. Blount, 44, was arrested late Sunday night, although police did not say what role Blount played in the attempted robbery of the Other Kind of Jewelry Store. Blount's alleged co-conspirator, 49-year-old William Spencer, was arrested Friday night after police said he took an elderly couple hostage in his attempt to flee authorities. A SWAT team surrounded the house on the 700 block of Valley View Avenue, and Spencer surrendered around 10 p.m. -- soon after releasing a female hostage. A male victim was found inside with minor injuries....

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Ex-business executive admits robbing two SunTrust banks

A former business executive has pleaded guilty to robbing two Washington area banks earlier this year. Bruce W. Higgins, 34, was fired from his job as vice president of business development at a Fairfax County consulting company in 2007, the company's chief executive officer told The Examiner. According to documents filed in the District's federal court, Higgins was a frequent customer at a SunTrust Bank at 410 Rhode Island Ave. NE., which made it easy for bank employees to identify Higgins after he robbed it Feb. 24. At about 10:30 a.m. that day, Higgins entered the bank in the same dark-colored suit he had worn two weeks earlier as a customer, documents said. But this time, he...

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The Post's 'monumental' ethical lapse

The Washington Post's plan for lobbyist-sponsored, off-the-record meetings with high-level government officials was "an ethical lapse of monumental proportions," Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander wrote in a Post op-ed Sunday. The newspaper's publisher, Katharine Weymouth, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli and other top editors "were all aboard a fast-moving vehicle that, over a period of months, roared through ethics stop signs and plowed into a brick wall," Alexander wrote. A Washington Post Co. spokeswoman did not return calls for comment. The ethical stumble came to light earlier this month when a Politico reporter obtained a flier advertising so-called...

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Police: Double Langley Park homicide linked to D.C. suicide

A man and a woman were stabbed to death in a Langley Park apartment, and police said they believed their killer committed suicide near Union Station soon after. Firefighters were called to the 2200 block of University Boulevard East around 11 a.m. Saturday, responding to a call of smoke spilling from a second-floor apartment, a Prince George's County police spokesman said. When firefighters opened the door, they were met by a bloody scene, authorities said. On the floor in front of the door was the murdered man, blood spilled from stab wounds. The woman was found in the living room, also badly cut and covered in blood. The stove had been left on, and smoke was streaming off food that...

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Jacks, accused of killing daughters, to stand trial today

The trial for a District mother accused of killing her four daughters, and then living with the decomposing bodies for several months, is scheduled to start today. Banita Jacks, 35, was arrested in January 2008 after U.S. marshals went to evict Jacks from her Southeast home and discovered the bodies of her children and religious rants scribbled on the walls. City officials determined that no fewer than five District agencies had come in contact with Jacks and her daughters, but failed to recognize problems, including that the girls -- ages 5 to 17 -- failed to show up at school. Jacks has waived her right to a jury trial, and the case will be decided by Judge Frederick H. Weisberg....

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The Blotter

Former Army private sentenced for having child porn A 21-year-old Lorton man who pleaded guilty to having child pornography on his digital music player while serving in the Army at Fort Knox, Ky., has been sentenced to eight years in prison. In April 2008, Pvt. Kevin Rendon's bags were searched as he left Fort Knox, having been discharged for medical reasons, prosecutors said. In his bag, officials found the child porn-containing player and arrested him. They later searched the Lorton home where he lived with his mother and found thousands of child pornographic images on his computer there. Electrical fire displaces 80 in Silver Spring An overloaded extension chord burst into...

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CRIME HISTORY: Army draft act sparks deadliest riot in U.S. history

This day, July 13, in 1863 marked the first of the three days of the New York City draft riot, widely regarded as the most violent and deadly riot in U.S. history. Tension had already been mounting in New York and elsewhere after Congress passed the nation's first conscription act, with angry rhetoric targeting a piece of the law that allowed draftees to avoid service in the Union army by paying $300. The first draft drawing in New York took place July 11, 1863, with little fanfare. But two days later, just before the second drawing, a furious company of firefighters took the streets and attacked city officials. The violence quickly spread, and the angry mob turned on black residents,...

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CRIME HISTORY - Arrest of black cabbie sparks deadly Newark riots

On this day, July 12, in 1967, the arrest of a black cab driver whose limp body was seen being carried into a police precinct across the street from a Newark, N.J., housing project sparked a weeklong riot that left 26 dead and caused millions in damage. Racial tensions were already running high in the city with the Italian- and Irish-American dominated police department that badgered black youths, when two cops arrested cabbie John W. Smith. The police claimed Smith had made an illegal pass. The officers dragged Smith, who went limp, into a police precinct and rumors spread that Smith had been killed while police custody. He was not. But the churning rumor mill sparked the riot that...

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Feds: Man granted political asylum stole cash meant for poor

A man who moved from Yemen to Arlington after being granted political asylum has been accused of stealing nearly $100,000 from federal programs for the poor. Naser Al-Maqtari came to the United States in July 1999 with his wife and child, according to court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court. It was two months before Yemen's first presidential election as a newly unified country. By 2001, documents said, Al-Maqtari added three children to his family. The federal programs he's accused of ripping off by lying about his income also base the level of assistance they provide on how many children are in a family. No lawyer was listed for Al-Maqtari in court records. Federal...

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$13M mortgage fraud schemer gets 10 years

A 39-year-old Fort Washington man who pleaded guilty to ripping off homeowners headed into foreclosure has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay back the more than $13 million he stole. Kurt Fordham created various companies through which he, his wife, Joy Jackson, and others, conducted their illicit business. Between 2004 and 2007, the couple told homeowners facing foreclosure that they would help improve their credit if they handed over titles to their homes. Once the title was in the name of their company, Metropolitan Money Store, the conspirators would bleed the home dry of any available equity. Jackson has also pleaded guilty and faces up to 30 years when she's...

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Cops: Cross-dressers steal woman’s credit card

Dressed as women, three men are accused of stealing a woman’s credit card and going on a shopping spree, Fredericksburg, Va., police said. The victim told police three women entered her business Monday afternoon. Two of them distracted her and a third grabbed her credit card, police said. Authorities caught up to the suspects after the credit card was declined at a Wa-Wa and the clerk there was able to give police a description of the car. When police arrested the three, they made two discoveries. First, the car was filled with items believed to have been bought with the victim’s card. Second, the suspects weren’t women, they were cross-dressing men, police said....

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Police: Gang members stab man to death in Silver Spring

Montgomery County police have accused seven alleged members of the Latin Kills of stabbing a man to death in Silver Spring after he cat-called to women sitting on a gang member's porch. Edwin Umana, 21, died in a hospital Wednesday night, a day after being severely beaten and stabbed, police said. He is not believed to be have a gang affiliation and the attack does not appear motivated by gang animosity. Umana was walking on the 13100 block of Matey Road on Tuesday night when he "called out to several women" sitting on a porch, police said. A man came out of the house and told Umana to leave the women alone. Umana and the man began to argue and several other men came running...

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Feds: Monitoring abusive diplomats is up to embassy chiefs

The U.S. State Department is placing the onus of monitoring the relationship between diplomats and the household workers they've often abused in the Washington area on the embassy chiefs who are known to turn a blind eye, according to a department report obtained by The Examiner. "The Department will make it clear to all Chiefs of Missions that it will ultimately look to them to ensure that the treatment accorded the domestic workers of their employees comports with contractual and other legal obligations," the report said. The department was required to issue the report on the feasibility of monitoring diplomats' employees because of a law passed in December. The law was...

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Feds: Philanthropist ripped off in $7M Ponzi scheme

Federal prosecutors have accused the owner of a Northern Virginia coffee bean roasting company of running a $7 million Ponzi scheme that ripped off friends and associates, including $3 million from a well-known Washington philanthropist. Hanif Hassan Moledina, owner of Bean East Corp., told lenders that he had a contract with Folgers to sell the coffee giant roasted beans acquired from Colombia, according to court documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court. But no contract existed, documents said, and the lie helped him obtain millions in high-interest loans. Moledina used some loans to pay back others. Eventually, the cash dried up and he could no longer pay back any loan, he...

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Teen accused of burning flag in Ocean City

An 18-year-old Ocean City woman has been accused of burning an American flag in the middle of a busy highway and causing cars to swerve as she stomped it out, Ocean City police said. Rebecca McKimmie was spotted igniting the flag with a cigarette lighter on the Route 50 bridge early Sunday morning by two Ocean City police officers, police said. McKimmie was then seen carrying the burning flag onto the highway, forcing cars to dodge her. Police said as the officers approached, McKimmie dropped the flag and began stomping out the flames. McKimmie reportedly told police she was burning the flag to make "a statement." She is charged with desecrating a flag and disturbing the peace....

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Fairfax citizens police academy wins award

A Fairfax County police program designed to help break down the love-hate relationship between residents and their police force has been recognized as the best program of its type in the country. The Fairfax County Police Citizens Police Academy brings residents into the police department where they get a firsthand look at specialty units -- SWAT, bomb squad and criminal investigations, among others -- and learn the rules and regulations police officers are required to follow. Participants receive classroom lessons followed by hands-on programs, including the investigation of mock crime scenes. They're also brought inside the county jail and they can opt for a ride-along with a county...

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Former CEO pleads guilty to bribing FDIC official

The former founder and chief executive officer of an Arlington technology firm has pleaded guilty to paying off a federal agency employee to help his company obtain $4.5 million in contracts. A niece of the unnamed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation employee worked for Irving Gilmore Rodrigues at Avalon Technology Inc., and helped Rodrigues transfer about $134,000 to her uncle, prosecutors wrote in court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court Tuesday. Rodrigues admitted to paying only $16,134. "The payments were made to [the FDIC employee] for, and because of, official acts performed, and to be performed, by [the employee] in the award of FDIC contracts to Avalon,"...

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Human trafficking experts call for police training in D.C. bill

The District is rated as one of the top 10 locations for human trafficking in the country and several nonprofit groups told D.C. Council members that police officers should be trained to recognize human trafficking cases as the city steps up its efforts to fight it. Representatives of groups like Polaris Project, Free the Slaves and Fair Fund made their request during a public hearing on a human trafficking bill Monday. If passed in its current form, the bill would make human trafficking for the purposes of sex and labor a crime. It would allow victims to sue their pimps and require the city to keep statistics on trafficking cases. On Monday, the anti-human-trafficking groups also asked...

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Armed man robs Herndon PNC Bank

A man armed with a handgun and with his face hidden by a plastic mask robbed a Herndon PNC Bank, Fairfax County police said. Police said they did not have surveillance pictures of the Wednesday robbery, in which the man put the gun in the faces of two female tellers and demanded cash. The women complied and he quickly departed the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash. Outside, police said the suspect jumped into a newer-model, silver- or gray-colored Nissan sedan and drove away. The suspect is in his 20s, police said. He's about 5 feet 10 inches tall. He was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and had dark-colored pants. His face was covered with a clear plastic mask. Last year,...

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THE BLOTTER

Mother accused of killing daughters arraigned Renee Bowman, accused of killing two of three adopted daughters and stuffing their bodies in a freezer, will be transferred from Calvert County to Montgomery County to face murder charges, a judge ruled Thursday. Bowman, 44, has been held in Calvert since the discovery of the bodies in her home there last year. Authorities have determined the two girls, ages 9 and 11 at the time of the they were found, were killed in Rockville. Her attorney requested she be moved to Montgomery so he could more easily prepare for her murder trial. A judge agreed. Charging documents released Wednesday said one girl had broken bones in her hand and arms, the...

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Crime history - James brothers robbery leads to Pinkerton pursuit

On this day, July 3, in 1871, Jesse and Frank James stole $45,000 from a bank in Corydon, Iowa. The robbery by the famed duo led the bank to hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency, kicking off agency founder Allan Pinkerton’s vendetta against the James brothers that culminated with Pinkerton detectives setting fire to the James family homestead. Following the July 3 robbery, the detectives were able to track the James brothers into Missouri, where they engaged in a gunfight and wounded Frank. The duo escaped, however, and Jesse wrote a letter to the Kansas City Times proclaiming his innocence and blaming pro-Union Republicans for suggesting he was a criminal. Pinkerton and his...

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Judge, not jury, to decide Banita Jacks case

Banita Jacks, accused of killing her four daughters and leaving them to decompose in her Southeast Washington home, requested and received a bench trial Thursday over the objections of her attorneys. The trial is scheduled to begin July 13. District Superior Court Judge Frederick Weisberg questioned Jacks about the decision, but she said she fully understood the difference between a jury and bench trial. The bodies of Jacks’ daughters — ages 5 to 17 — were found in her home in January 2008 when she was served with an eviction notice. Authorities say the children were killed months earlier. Jacks has pleaded not guilty to premeditated first-degree murder. Peter...

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Female bank robbery suspect arrested in Fairfax

Fairfax County police have charged a 24-year-old Fairfax woman with robbing two area banks at gunpoint over the past month. Stephanie Marie Nightingale was taken into custody early Thursday morning, several hours after police say she robbed a Cardinal Bank in McLean. According to authorities, Nightingale entered the bank shortly after 4 p.m. She approached two female tellers, ages 20 and 42, at the counter, pulled out a handgun and demanded cash. The tellers complied and she ran out of the bank. No one required medical assistance, police said. Investigators quickly developed Nightingale as a suspect and arrested her at her home on the 4400 block of Holly Avenue in Fairfax. Police...

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Stupid Crimes

When show-and-tell goes awry An elementary school teacher in Elk Grove, Calif., might lose her job after accidentally adding footage of herself having sex to a DVD documenting the school year. The video, a copy of which was sent to each student's home, starts with a menu displaying various school trips and events. One segment shows students in a classroom sharing stories and clapping, then suddenly switches to the fifth-grade teacher in amateur porn. "It goes from my son, straight to her on the couch," one parent said. The father added he had to stay up until midnight explaining "the birds and the bees." Ninth time's the charm? While serving a three-year...

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Legal Sea Foods to leave Reagan, files lawsuit

National Airport's most popular restaurant, Legal Sea Foods, is scheduled to leave the airport in August after lease negotiations with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority failed, according to a lawsuit filed by the restaurant chain claiming the airport authority did not conduct an open bidding process for the new lease. Legal Sea Foods has asked a judge in Alexandria's federal court to prevent another concession from taking the space. The space is expected to be taken over by Sam & Harry's steakhouse, the airport authority said in June. "It's unfortunate that a lawsuit is being pursued and [Legal Sea Foods] was not able to reach a business agreement," said...

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Rockville pimp sentenced to more than three years in prison

A 43-year-old man from Rockville known as "The Colombian" has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison for bringing at least 100 women from New York and New Jersey to brothels he and others operated in Prince George's County, federal prosecutors said. Eduardo Puentes was convicted by a jury of violating the Mann Act in March following a 1 1/2-week trial. Prosecutors said Puentes and his co-conspirators brought a new batch of prostitutes from New York and New Jersey to at least five brothels, the majority of which operated in Langley Park apartments. At least a week before Puentes made his journey north, he would call the women by cell phone and arrange a meeting...

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NTSB: Part replaced before Metro crash failed

A part of the track circuit that lost contact with a Metro train moments before it slammed into an idling train last week had been replaced five days earlier and "periodically lost its ability to detect trains" after the repair, federal investigators said Wednesday. Records reviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that Metro engineers replaced part of the track circuit June 17, five days before the crash between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations that killed nine and injured more than 70 riders. It was the worst accident in Metrorail's 33-year history. The circuit, which helps keep track of trains on the rail system, is emerging as the most likely culprit...

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Three-minute interview - Don Davidson

Don Davidson has been the pastor at the First Baptist Church in Alexandria for the past four years. In that time, he has been the chaplain for a day at the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He has also preached to a flock that’s known to be constantly in flux as government employees and military personnel shift jobs and locations. What brought you to Alexandria? I was in Danville, Virginia, for 17 years, and I thought that would be the only church I call home. The First Baptist Church in Alexandria is really the only church I would have left Danville for. It presents a challenge, and it’s intriguing. What sort of challenge? We have a constant flow of people...

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Prosecutors say wealthy residents used slave labor

Some of the Washington area's wealthiest residents hired illegal immigrant women who had been forced into what experts called human slavery by a Falls Church man, federal prosecutors said. Over the last eight years, Soripada Lubis enticed at least 20 Indonesian women away from the employers who brought them to the United States and farmed the women out as domestic servants to households in Potomac and elsewhere, according to court documents filed in Alexandria's federal court. Prosecutors say Lubis threatened the women and their families with violence if they disobeyed him, and held their passports so they couldn't flee. The list of Lubis' 50 clients divulged in court filings by...

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Communication the key for new security effort in Annandale

Laura Allen is starting a neighborhood watch program in the Park Glen Heights community in Annandale. Right now, the group is determining how best to build its member base and interact with the community. Her advice to other watch program developers: The first step is figuring out how you will communicate. Why did you decide to start a neighborhood watch program? We recently had seven or eight vehicles broken into on one night. It came up during a neighborhood meeting on commercial vehicles parking on our streets. We felt the area had been ignored for a while and we wanted to improve our communication with police, and figured one way we could do that was through a neighborhood watch...

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Police fear armed abduction in Wheaton

County police are searching for a 25-year-old woman they believe was abducted by her potentially armed and dangerous ex-boyfriend. Knight went missing from her Wheaton apartment Sunday after she called police fearing that estranged boyfriend Kareem Gaines was planning to attack her, police said. Knight called police at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, saying she feared Gaines was in her apartment, authorities said. When officers arrived on the 11100 block of Georgia Avenue, they did not find Gaines inside, and they left. At about 2 p.m., a neighbor called police, reporting that someone fitting Gaines' description was breaking into Knight's apartment, police said. Officer arriving on the scene...

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Another lone woman robs area bank

The lone female bank robber might be incredibly rare, but Fairfax County police say two women acting separately have struck area banks in the past month. A lone woman robbed the Wachovia Bank at 8994 Lorton Station Blvd. on Thursday afternoon, police said. She approached a 22-year-old teller and passed a note implying she had a gun and demanding money. The teller complied, and the suspect ran out of the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash. Outside, the woman robber jumped into an older-model, tan- or champagne-colored Honda Accord. No one was injured. The suspect is black, in her mid 30s to early 40s and about 5 feet 4 inches tall. She was wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans, a...

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Crime history - Boston doctor found guilty of murdering wife

On this day, June 29, in 2001, a 60-year-old Boston doctor was found guilty of murdering his wife of more than 30 years. In October 1999, Dirk Greineder called police saying his 58-year-old wife, Mary, had been attacked and killed in their local park. He told officials his wife’s back was hurting so he stepped away to exercise their dog. When he returned, Greineder said he found her dead. Police said she was stabbed in the chest and nearly decapitated. They found the murder weapons in a wooded area. Friends and family told investigators the couple had been very close. But as detectives dug into Greineder’s life, they found that the doctor had been spending several hours a...

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Feds: Man with HIV planned unprotected sex with boy, age 12

Federal prosecutors have accused a reportedly HIV positive 38-year-old D.C. man of plotting to have unprotected sex with a 12-year-old boy. Undercover District detectives first started speaking to Mark S. Longo in Internet chat rooms in early June after a confidential source told investigators Longo possessed hundreds of videos of men having sex with children ranging in age from infancy to 12 years old, court records filed in the District’s federal court said. Longo’s attorney Edward Sussman did not immediately return calls for comment. On Thursday, an undercover officer told Longo via an Internet chat room that the undercover officer had an opportunity to have sex with a...

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Violent home invasion leaves two seriously injured

Prince William County police are investigating a home invasion that left two men seriously injured. According to police, two men kicked in the door to the home on the 14700 block of Elmira Court in Dale City late Friday night. They ordered the occupants to the ground and shot at two of the victims. Both victims, ages 25 and 33, were flown to a hospital with serious injuries. Their status was not immediately available Sunday. Police said it appeared the culprits and the victims knew each other. The first culprit is described as a black man with reddish hair and freckles, authorities said. The second was a black man with a goatee and sideburns. The motivation is still under...

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Pharmacist charged with defrauding authorities

A Maryland pharmacist has been charged with Medicare and Medicaid fraud nearly a year after authorities found expired and counterfeit drugs being sold in her two pharmacies, court documents show. Pamela Arrey is also suspected of sending more than $1 million to offshore accounts, documents said. According to an indictment recently filed in Maryland’s federal court, Arrey charged about $350,000 to the federal insurance programs for drugs she never dispensed. In some cases, Arrey allegedly billed the insurance programs for physician-authorized refills that the patient never requested, the indictment said. “We are going to fight these latest charges vigorously,” her...

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Crime history - New Zealand teenager beats mother to death

On this day, June 22, in 1954, Pauline Parker beat her mother to death with help from Parker’s close friend Juliet Hume. The New Zealand murder made international headlines and was later turned into the 1994 movie “Heavenly Creatures” directed by Peter Jackson. The two teenage girls developed their plan to kill Honora Parker after she conspired with Hume’s parents to separate the two girls. Both sets of parents believed the girls had grown too close and feared their relationship had become homosexual, which was considered a crime in 1950s New Zealand. With Hume set to move to South Africa and Honora Parker refusing to allow Pauline to follow her, the two girls...

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Accountant accused of role in mortgage fraud

Federal authorities have accused a Virginia accountant of writing false letters verifying the incomes of homebuyers who were caught in a mortgage fraud scheme that caused banks to lose about $3 million when their homes went into foreclosure. Maria E. Conrad would receive up to $400 each from loan officers at E-Star Lending for the letters she wrote supporting its clients’ loan applications, court documents said. In December, the owner of E-Star Lending, Gohar Mirza, was sentenced to 5 years and 3 three months in prison and ordered to pay back the $3 million he caused lenders to lose when the houses purchased by his straw buyer scheme went into foreclosure. The E-Star Lending...

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Feds: 10 pounds of meth seized at Lorton hotel

Federal agents coordinated the purchase of 10 pounds of methamphetamine at a Lorton hotel with the help of a jailhouse informant whose illegal immigrant cellmate claimed to be part of a drug trafficking organization in Mexico, court records said. On Thursday, agents arrested an Alabama woman and her accused co-conspirator at a Lorton Comfort Inn after the two attempted to sell to authorities 10 packets of meth weighing one pound apiece, according to documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court. Maria Benita Santa-Maria and Nihad Jasarevic have been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Santa-Maria’s attorney declined to comment Friday. Jasarevic’s...

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70-year-old woman caught with pot at Dulles Airport

Whatever book 70-year-old Anna Marie Faris told federal agents she was planning to write, the research was bound to be a high time. When Customs and Border Protection officers searched Faris’ luggage Wednesday at Washington Dulles International Airport, they found about a half-pound of marijuana spread out over 86 packets taped to the pages of several Der Spiegel magazines, CBP spokesman Stephen Sapp said. Faris reportedly claimed to officers that she brought the bundle of Germany’s leading weekly newsmagazine home with her for research she was doing on a book, the spokesman said. “On the cover, she looks like any elderly traveler returning from a foreign...

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Getting Hitched: ‘Our’ plans are best

Editor’s note: The writer submitted a draft version of this story that may have passed the muster of the editor, but not that of his fiancee, who must come first and foremost. As such, he left us only with this apology letter to her. Dear Amanda, I’d like to say, outright, that I’m sorry about an earlier draft of this story. You’re right, it did cast a negative light on our wedding planning experience. For the most part it has been very positive, but as I said on the phone just moments ago, the recent changes to our plans for an extended cocktail hour seamlessly transforming into a full-blown wedding reception have left me somewhat dismayed. The earlier version...

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FBI: Child porn found on museum suspect’s computer

Child pornography was discovered on a computer belonging to the 88-year-old white supremacist accused of gunning down a guard at the Holocaust museum, the FBI said in court documents. James von Brunn remains hospitalized, but federal investigators have continued their search for details of the events leading up to the shooting death of 39-year-old Stephen Johns as he held a museum door open for his killer, officials said. FBI agents have executed a search warrant on the Annapolis apartment von Brunn shared with his son and son’s fiancé, documents filed in federal court said. Inside, FBI agents found four computers, a 30-30 rifle and the weapon’s ammunition. When...

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Mother of two girls found in freezer indicted

A Maryland woman was indicted in the slaying of two of her adopted daughters and then toting their bodies around the state in a freezer for a year, Montgomery County prosecutors said. Renee D. Bowman, 43, was indicted on six counts for allegedly killing her two daughters in Montgomery County and abusing her third. She carried the bodies in a freezer as she moved from Rockville to Charles County and then Calvert County. In September, her 7-year-old daughter escaped from a window, police said. A neighbor’s discovery of the disheveled girl sparked a police investigation that led detectives to the frozen bodies. The dead girls would have been 11 and 9 years old if they had been alive...

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Two teens charged in Woodbridge carjacking

Two teenagers have been charged in a Woodbridge carjacking, Prince William County police said. Nineteen-year-old Jothan Phillips and Tyree Harvey, 18, were arrested Sunday, two days after they’re accused of pushing a woman out of her Toyota Corolla on East Longview Drive, officials said. Police later spotted and gave chase to the Corolla in Dale City, just moments before it crashed into a white truck at the intersection of Prince William Parkway and Minnieville Road. Two men hopped out of the car and fled on foot. Officers searched the area but came up empty. Authorities said Phillips and Harvey were developed as suspects after Prince William investigators received a tip picked...

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Murder suspect on run prone to sudden, unprovoked violence

He’s known for sudden, unprovoked violence, authorities said. He’s wanted on a murder charge and believed to still be living in the Washington area. Richard Morton is one of The Examiner’s most wanted fugitives. Authorities allege he stabbed 39-year-old Rachel Culver, resulting in her death, on the steps of a domestic violence shelter in the District. After a life on the streets, Culver had begun to rejoin society during the year she lived at the House of Ruth women’s shelter. Culver took a new job, got baptized and was trying to get her three children back, authorities said. On the evening of Jan. 28, as she was returning to the shelter, Culver was stabbed,...

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Washington area's most wanted list

Craig John Oliver Oliver, 56, scammed more than $2.5 million from dozens of homeowners for unfinished and shoddy remodeling projects in suburban Maryland and in Northern Virginia. Oliver had already spent 10 years in prison for securities rip-offs when he was convicted again for fraud in 2005, but before his sentencing, the Fairfax remodeler skipped town with his wife, Jennifer. He was sentenced in absentia to 20 years. In July, when “America’s Most Wanted” aired a segment on Oliver, his new client base in Phoenix tipped off police that he was running a remodeling business under the name Danny Sullivan. But before authorities could nab him, Oliver skipped town...

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Washington area’s most wanted

Craig J. Oliver conned Maryland and Virginia homeowners out of millions of dollars. Richard Morton slashed his girlfriend’s throat outside a D.C. women’s shelter. John D. Cody is a former Army captain with a Harvard law degree wanted for questioning in a federal spy probe. History of the most wanted list The FBI has famously maintained a list of the most wanted fugitives for decades. The longest any one person has been on the roster is nearly 26 years, while the shortest is just two hours. The list was born in 1949 during a card game with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, above, and a top United Press International editor who were talking about ways to capture the...

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Neighborhood watch - Centreville group fights drugs, vandalism

Polly Herpy co-runs the Virginia Run neighborhood watch program with Fairfax County firefighter Mike Reilly. Herpy has been living in the Centreville community of 1,500 homes for 19 years and has been fighting crime with her neighbors for just as long. How did you get involved with Virginia Run’s neighborhood watch group? I was part of a similar group in Vienna before I moved here 19 years ago. When I moved here, I saw a flier saying they needed help. I went to the first meeting possible and have been a member since. It’s a necessary thing to have, especially with 1,500 homes. There’s a lot that happens, especially in the summer when the kids don’t have much to...

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Pr. William man charged with killing fellow bus driver

A bus driver was charged with murder in the slaying of a fellow bus driver, one of two men shot to death at a Prince William County commuter bus depot, police said. Forty-year-old Glenn Wade surrendered to authorities Monday evening, Prince William County police said. At this point it is unclear who killed 34-year-old William Anderson during the apparent gunfight at the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission bus depot Monday morning. Wade shared the same Woodbridge address with Anderson, authorities said. Police declined to comment on their relationship, as did a woman who answered the phone at their residence. Investigators said Wade and Darnell McPherson, the murdered...

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Household workers enslaved by diplomats not just a D.C. issue

The Washington area is not alone in its struggle to crack down on foreign diplomats who hide behind immunity while they enslave household workers, a report released by the State Department said. The annual human trafficking report released Tuesday found that France and Belgium are also among the countries trying to better handle the diplomats. France, like the United States, is considered among the top countries in fighting human trafficking, the report said. And yet, “Men, women and children continue to be trafficked for the purpose of forced labor,” the report said. “Often their ‘employers’ are diplomats who enjoy diplomatic immunity.” In Belgium,...

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Top Cop » Security guard saved ‘countless’ lives

Bouquets of flowers have piled up at the entrance to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, a small memorial to a man one of the bouquet’s inscriptions called “a righteous gentile.” The moniker has long-been used to describe the non-Jews who helped save Jewish lives during the Holocaust. As museum officials have said, Stephen T. Johns, the security guard who held the door open for his accused killer, saved “countless” lives when he took a bullet in the chest. The sound of gunfire alerted his fellow guards to danger. They fired back and hit white supremacist James von Brunn in the face, knocking the Holocaust Museum shooter backwards and out the door. Von Brunn’s...

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Prostitution cases pay lawyer’s bills

When Asian massage parlors are raided in the District, lawyer Wendell C. Robinson often gets a call. Robinson’s name turns up in court records defending six accused prostitutes arrested in the raids of four alleged brothels. “I’ve litigated against him in a couple massage parlor cases,” said Michael Sachdev of D.C.’s Attorney General’s Office. “I’ve learned that he has represented prostitutes in these types of cases as well.” Sachdev has been litigating against Robinson since the Attorney General’s Office sued Min Kwak. The suit demanded Kwak close the doors to Supra Inc., a massage parlor identified as a brothel by District...

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Hot weather brings out the flashers in Pr. William

With rising temperatures come male flashers. Over the course of two days last week, Prince William County police logged three cases of males dropping their pants and exposing their privates to two women and a teenage girl. In one of those incidents, police said, an 8-year-old girl also was victimized. “It’s hot out there,” police spokeswoman Sharon Richardson said. “I guess they’re just coming out of the woodwork.” Richardson said there is no indication the incidents are connected. The cases were in Woodbridge, Lake Ridge and Dale City; the flashers were of different races, ages and size. Prince William has a not-too-distant history with warm...

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Guard killed at Holocaust Museum; accused gunman in critical condition

A man who authorities said had ties to hate groups walked into the Holocaust Museum Wednesday afternoon and opened fire with a .22 caliber rifle, killing a security guard before he was shot by two other guards. Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, who worked at the museum for six years, died after being taken to George Washington University Hospital. Another security guard was mildly injured by flying glass. Police sources identified the attacker as James W. von Brunn, 88, from Maryland. He has ties to white supremacist groups and was on a U.S. Secret Service watch list, sources said. He was in critical condition last night at George Washington hospital. Police said they found a notebook in von...

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First responder - Couple has served Md. firefighters for past year

For the past year, Frank and Lois Hetz Underwood have served as presidents of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association and its Ladies Auxiliary, respectively. Both are members of the Prince George’s County volunteer fire department. The MSFA represents volunteer firefighters across Maryland, promoting their interests in Annapolis and assisting departments with administration. Their one-year terms end Saturday. What did you most enjoy during your time as president? Frank: Traveling around the state meeting people from all facets of the fire service. I made many new friends. ... I also thoroughly enjoyed working hand in hand with our partners in Annapolis. Lois: Traveling...

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Ex-Pr. George’s firefighter charged with arson

A former Prince George’s County firefighter has been charged with arson for a fire set at a vacant Landover Hills home. Anthony J. Sellers was arrested in his Silver Spring home June 3 after investigators linked him to a June 2008 fire at 6701 Greenland St., a fire department spokesman said. The 26-year-old was no longer volunteering for the department when the fire was set. He “had some challenges” while at the Bladensburg station, the spokesman said. The fire Sellers is accused of setting caused $150,000 in damage and one firefighter burned his leg while battling the flames. Sellers also was charged with two other fires set in vacant buildings in Laurel and...

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Trio pleads guilty to foiled stickup of armored car

Three men who were arrested after a cell phone accidentally left in a sack of cash during an armored car robbery in Prince William County led police to them pleaded guilty in federal court. The men briefly got away with $160,000 during the April 1 robbery. But they were swiftly captured after police traced the phone, dropped by a guard during the stickup, to a home where the men were dividing the loot. Christopher Blakeney and Carlic Brown also admitted to their roles in two other armored car robberies, one on April 4, 2007, in Lorton where they lifted $80,000 from a guard and the other Feb. 1, 2008, in Fairfax where they stole $120,000. On April 1 Brown and Blakeney were joined by...

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No charges in P.G. inmate’s death

Prosecutors will bring no charges in the murder investigation of a Prince George’s County inmate who was found dead in his cell 48 hours after being accused of slaying a cop last year, county State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey said. Ivey made that decision after a second county grand jury determined that there was insufficient evidence to return a murder indictment in the death of Ronnie White, who was charged with murder last June after police say he ran down a police officer with a stolen truck. The case, including all the evidence gathered by the Maryland State Police is now being turned over to the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, where a probe into...

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First responder - Fire investigators honored in arson case

A team of Prince George’s County fire investigators has received the department’s highest award for closing a six-month investigation into a serial arsonist, a department spokesman said. Between March and August 2007, nine fires were set at the Springhill Lake apartment complex in Greenbelt. After county fire investigators determined the fires were connected, they formed a task force along with state and federal officials. The investigation eventually led to the arrest and conviction of 26-year-old Jeremiah Christopher Jones. He has been sentenced to eight years in prison for setting the fires which caused $2 million in damage. Prosecutors said Jones was trying to cause as...

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PG prosecutors lack evidence for charges in jail death

Prince George's County prosecutors have not found enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime in the controversial jail death of accused cop killer Ronnie White, sources close to the case said. Glenn Ivey, Prince George's County state's attorney, is expected to ask federal authorities for greater help in the case, which could lead to a federal civil rights investigation. Medical examiners have concluded that 19-year-old White was murdered in his solitary jail cell in June just two days after he was arrested for allegedly running down and killing police Sgt. Richard Findley with a stolen truck. Investigators have focused their attention on three corrections officers who had access to...

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Suspended Bowie doctor under investigation

A doctor who was suspended from practicing after he was found curled in the fetal position on the floor of his Bowie office is being investigated by federal authorities for allegedly prescribing “excessive amounts of controlled substances,” court documents said. Dr. Rajan Sood was suspended by the Maryland medical board Feb. 13 after officials concluded he was addicted to a variety of narcotics, according to the board’s February newsletter. The board also found Sood, a general practitioner, was writing multiple prescriptions for family members and office staff. Noreen S. Valentine, a Drug Enforcement Administration investigator, reached similar conclusions in her...

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Nutritionist charged with mortgage fraud

The owner of a Silver Spring-based nutrition company has been charged with lying on mortgage applications to obtain nearly $600,000 in loans. Olusola Idowu was convicted in July on Medicaid fraud charges after she overbilled the federal insurance program for more than $175,000. The 55-year-old owner of SSS Nutrition and Diabetic Care Services was sentenced to five years of probation and must pay back the money she stole. Idowu ran her Medicaid fraud from March 2002 through March 2006, prosecutors said. During that same time span she also used cash obtained from the fraudulent loan applications to buy a house in Hagerstown, according to an indictment filed in Maryland’s federal...

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Army investigates illicit photos from Fort Dix

The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that eight Manassas-based Virginia Army National Guard members took photos and video of 21 women in their unit while the women were showering. Army investigators say the photos were allegedly taken last fall while the 266th Military Police Company was training at New Jersey’s Fort Dix before deploying to Iraq. No charges have been filed, but a criminal investigation is under way, an Army spokesman said. Fort Dix spokeswoman Carolee Nisbet told the Associated Press that the allegations were disappointing and that most soldiers who stay at Fort Dix before being deployed “live up to the Army values.” The 266th is now serving in...

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Feds: Baltimore Bloods bust sends message

Maryland’s top federal prosecutor said he hoped a massive bust targeting the Bloods in Baltimore would scare off young men and women from joining a Washington-area chapter of the Los Angeles-based gang. Law enforcement officials have said the Bloods have made significant inroads in the Washington area over the past year. The District, historically dominated by local street gangs, is becoming increasingly organized by national gangs like the Bloods and Crips. The Bloods have already established themselves in Maryland’s Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. “We hope that teenagers who consider joining violent gangs will think twice when they learn that they...

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Ringleader of credit scheme pleads guilty

The last of three ringleaders pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in a credit card skimming scheme that ran up a $750,000 tab on cards stolen from diners at high-end Washington-area restaurants. Joseph Bush III, along with Aaron D. Gilbert and Erick V. Burton, recruited serving staff at the District’s M&S Grill, 701 Restaurant, Clyde’s of Gallery Place and Bowie’s Carrabba’s Italian Restaurant to steal credit card numbers from diners. Gilbert and Burton have both pleaded guilty in recent weeks. The ring was busted in March after a Secret Service agent spent a year tracking complaints of fraudulent charges back to their source at the restaurants. Managers were...

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Fla. man tells police he sold steroids to Nats, Caps players

A Florida man charged with possessing a massive amount of steroids told police he sold the performance-enhancing drugs to players on the Washington Capitals hockey team and the Nationals baseball team. Richard Thomas and his wife, Sandra, were arrested Tuesday after Polk County sheriff’s deputies searched their home and found thousands of anabolic steroid pills, liquids and syringes, Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. Law enforcement officials also seized an arsenal of weapons from the Lakeland home, including the civilian version of the M-16 rifle, shotguns and “numerous” handguns. Police said they raided the house, which sits between Orlando and Tampa, after...

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Councilwoman calls for comprehensive brothel investigation

D.C. Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, D-Ward 4, called for a comprehensive investigation into the commercial-area brothels unearthed by an Examiner investigation, and also the many she believes are run in residential areas. Bowser, who has oversight of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, said Tuesday that she would meet with DCRA investigators to push them to be more aggressive in their pursuit of brothels that hide behind the facade of massage parlors. “We have to address this comprehensively,” Bowser said. “DCRA has to play a role, the police, and the Office of the Attorney General has to be active, too.” Her comments were made after an Examiner...

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Neighborhood watch 0 Local program wins two national awards

The Weems Neighborhood Watch program, previously featured in The Examiner, took home two awards from a national competition of neighborhood programs. The awards were handed out last weekend in Spokane, Wash., by a national association of cities and counties. The watch group won for its Landgreen Street cleanup in June 2008, said group coordinator Cindy Brookshire. The street was targeted by the group for cleanup following the murder of Manassas cab driver Khawaja Ahmed in February 2008. The 48-year-old was fatally shot during a botched robbery. Brookshire got involved with the Weems Neighborhood Watch program two years ago after finding “a phenomenal amount of litter” while...

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Fairfax County coach accused of child sex abuse

A Fairfax County youth baseball coach has been accused of sexually abusing a child under his supervision, Fairfax County police said. The incidents of inappropriate sexual conduct took place between March and July of 1997, when the victim was 12 years old, police said. Now 24, the victim has stepped forward, telling police he was molested by John E. Hamilton in the parking lot of Carl Sandburg Middle School and at Hamilton’s home. At the time, Hamilton was a Little League baseball coach for the Fort Hunt Youth Athletic Association. Hamilton currently has a 16-year-old foreign exchange student living with him, police said. Authorities have removed the student from his home....

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A ‘massage parlor’ folds after lawsuits

A “for lease” sign now hangs in a window at 2352 Wisconsin Ave. in Northwest. To finally kick out the alleged brothel that used to be there, it took two lawsuits by D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles and one police raid. Nickles filed the first lawsuit against what was commonly known as Venus in May 2007, demanding it shut down until it obtained a license to operate as a massage parlor. Included in the complaint was a sworn statement by a Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs investigator who said he had visited Venus on two occasions earlier that spring. On a March 30, 2007, visit he was met by a “scantily clad, young Asian female,” he wrote. She was...

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Crime History: Nichols found guilty of killing 161 people in Oklahoma City bombing

On this day, May 26, in 2004, an Oklahoma jury found Army veteran Terry Nichols guilty of killing 161 people in the Oklahoma City bombing. He previously had been convicted on federal charges for the bombing in 1997 and was already serving a life sentence when he was convicted by the state jury. In 1995, Nichols and Timothy McVeigh used hundreds of pounds of fertilizer to create a bomb that ripped the federal office building in Oklahoma City to pieces. The two had met while assigned to the Army’s 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan. They were later linked to the Michigan Militia, a paramilitary group that denies either man was involved with the organization. During the...

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Fairfax County police say bank-robbing couple may have committed up to 8 successful heists

Authorities are trying to determine whether a bank-robbing couple ripped off multiple banks or just the one they have been accused of trying to rob last week. According to Fairfax County police, 50-year-old Zoghanno Holmes is accused of being the getaway driver for her boyfriend, 37-year-old Marlon Negassa. The two were arrested last week after two men knocked a gun from Negassa’s hand and wrestled him to the ground while he was trying to rob a BB&T Bank in Herndon, police said. Holmes was found near the bank robbery scene, and investigators determined she was driving the getaway car for Negassa, police said. After they were taken into custody, Holmes told police that they...

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Man who fled to Iran faces more charges

Federal prosecutors say a Bethesda man who fled to Iran to avoid bank fraud charges ripped off $30,000 from a U.S. bank while in Tehran. Michael Milan fled to Iran in July, just days after FBI agents informed him he was a target in a bank fraud investigation. Milan was arrested April 23 after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport. The charges were first reported by The Examiner in February. Milan was released on bail May 1. If he fails to return to court, he will forfeit a $5 million home in Bethesda and his rights to the patent for “Coollid,” an invention that quickly cools hot coffee to make it immediately drinkable, his attorneys wrote in court documents...

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Man believed to have assaulted woman in stairwell

Montgomery County police are searching for a man who they believe sexually assaulted an 18-year-old woman in a Silver Spring apartment building stairwell. The man started following the woman after she got off a Ride On bus on April 30, police said late last week. He repeatedly asked for the woman’s telephone number as he followed her into a stairwell at an apartment building at 8860 Piney Branch Road. The woman told the man she had a boyfriend and asked to be left alone, police said. The man then grabbed the woman in an inappropriate area, she screamed, and he grabbed again and then fled. The assailant is black and between 20 and 30 years old. He’s about 6 feet tall and...

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Peers support teacher, despite plea on sex charges

An elementary school art teacher has the support of his colleagues, despite pleading guilty to traveling to a Leesburg hotel to have sex with two young girls. Douglas E. Hunt faces 10 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced Friday. The support from his fellow teachers at Shepherdstown Elementary School in West Virginia came in the form of letters sent to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria’s federal court. “I have never known Doug to display any questionable behavior toward children,” wrote fourth-grade teacher Susan Loeffler. “I have never had a student complain about him. ... I question the charge of ‘enticement of a minor.’...

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Pamphlet to warn potential domestic slavery victims

U.S. State Department officials have taken a big step in implementing a law designed to crack down on the foreign diplomats, many in the Washington area, who enslave members of their household staffs. On Thursday, the State Department’s ambassador for human trafficking, Lou de Baca, met with more than a dozen anti-human trafficking organizations. They were joined by Department of Justice and Homeland Security officials. The organizations and officials outlined details of a pamphlet advising members of diplomats’ household staffs of their rights. They also laid the groundwork for future collaboration on the crackdown. “Nongovernmental organizations are critically...

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Ex-CIA agent gets prison for taking credit cards

A former CIA agent has been sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay back the $107,000 he charged on credit cards he stole from the agency. Steven J. Levan spent 16 years working his way up from field agent to instructor, a position that permitted him access to secure vaults where the credit cards he stole were kept, court documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court said. His career is now over, and he’ll spend two years on supervised release after serving the sentence handed down Thursday. On top of the $107,000, Levan also has been ordered to pay back $8,244 to a Residence Inn in Vienna. Levan started living in Northern Virginia hotels after his marriage ended...

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Calif. Man admits to giving child porn to D.C. detective

A 37-year-old man pleaded guilty to trading child pornographic pictures with a District detective and offering to arrange a sex trip to Colombia for the detective from his trailer in a Los Angeles suburb, federal prosecutors said. Rafael Giraldo faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he's sentenced Sept. 10. He pleaded guilty to transporting and possessing child pornography Tuesday. In August 2007, District Detective Timothy Palchak was undercover in an Internet child porn chat room when he posted a message asking whether anyone had access to a child, court documents filed in the District¹s federal court said. A man Palchak and other investigators later learned was...

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Three-minute interview - Cindy Cavalieri

Cindy Cavalieri has been organizing fundraising events for the World Food Program in Alexandria for the past four years. In previous years, the events have involved walkathons, but this year Cavalieri found a backer: On Thursday, Chicken Out in Alexandria donated 20 percent of all sales to the program, which distributes food from countries with a surplus to countries with very little. Why have the fundraiser at a restaurant this year? People [could] just come have dinner and donate. With this economy it’s hard to ask anyone to give up money, but with this they don’t have to do anything more than just have dinner. How did you get involved with the World Food Program? About...

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Montgomery County officer jumps from planes for a good cause

Montgomery County police Officer Greg Knott jumps out of planes with a parachute with the letters C.O.P.S. emblazoned across it. He does it to raise awareness and cash for the National Organization of Concerns of Police Survivors Inc., a group that extends a helping hand to the family members left behind when a law enforcement officer dies in the line of duty. On Saturday, Knott was awarded the organization’s highest recognition for volunteers. How did you get involved with C.O.P.S.? I spent 10 years in the Army, serving in the Middle East. A year after I joined the Montgomery County police force in 1998, I met an officer on the honor guard and started learning about C.O.P.S. For...

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Two charged with using Craigslist to sell minors for sex

Two Maryland residents have been charged with using Craigslist’s erotic services section to pimp three underage girls at Baltimore-area hotels, Maryland’s U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein told The Examiner. Byron Keith Thompson and Lea Shawnay Bell are facing three counts of sex trafficking of a minor for selling sex with two 15-year-olds and a 17-year-old, according to an indictment unsealed Monday in Maryland’s federal court. Between January and April, the two repeatedly posted advertisements in Craigslist’s “Erotic Services” section, providing the girls’ sexual services for a fee, Rosenstein said. In recent months, Craigslist has come under fire...

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Police search for armed man in Wachovia heist

Fairfax County police are searching for a man who robbed a Great Falls Wachovia Bank with a handgun. Police said the man entered the bank at 750 Walker Road on Friday morning. He was wearing a rubber mask and pulled out a handgun. The robber then approached a 60-year-old female teller from Reston and demanded cash. She complied, and he fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was injured. Police described the robber as black and about 5 feet 7 inches tall. He weighed about 170 pounds and was between 20 and 30 years old. Anyone with information should call Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS (8477). Meanwhile, a man or a group of men, wearing Chicago White Sox baseball caps appear to...

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Two U.S. soldiers plead guilty to selling supplies to Iraqi businessman

Two U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Iraq have pleaded guilty to selling surplus Department of Defense supplies to an Iraqi businessman and pocketing at least $400,000. Capt. Elbert Westley George III and Sgt. 1st Class Roy Greene Jr. abused their positions as logistics officers to obtain and sell between $400,000 and $1 million worth of equipment including trucks and generators to an unnamed Iraqi businessman, they admitted in Alexandria’s federal court. The two were stationed at Forward Operating Base Paliwoda, court documents said. Their job was to acquire the equipment necessary to keep the base running. As a result, they had an open-ended letter permitting them access to the...

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Crime history - School bombing kills 45

On this day, May 18, in 1927, an angry school board member in Bath Township, Mich., bombed the Bath Consolidated School, killing 45 people and injuring 58. Most of the victims were children ages 7 to 12. The attack was the deadliest mass murder at a school in U.S. history. School board member Andrew Kehoe spent months planting hundreds of pounds of dynamite in the school building. Kehoe blamed property taxes levied to fund the building’s construction for his own financial hardships, including the foreclosure on his farm. The morning of the bombing, Kehoe first killed his wife and set his farm on fire. As rescuers gathered at the blown-up school, he drove up and detonated a...

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Councilman: D.C. slaying was result of gang feud