Crime
Man disabled anklet before killing 3, police say
By: Scott McCabe
Examiner Staff Writer
January 12, 2009
A 22-year-old man ordered to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet disabled the device before allegedly killing three men in the embattled Trinidad neighborhood this summer, authorities said.
William McCorkle, of Northeast Washington, was able to thwart the GPS technology by wrapping aluminum foil around his anklet before he got into an argument in a gas station, pulled out a .38 caliber revolver and gunned down three men, authorities said.
The incident prompted the D.C. Council to pass emergency legislation last week to make tampering with the devices a crime. Since August, 18 offenders have tampered or removed electronic monitoring devices.
“We can’t sit around and let the criminals get the upper hand,” said D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson.
Under the temporary law, anyone convicted of interfering with the device will face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The District is one of the largest users of the GPS devices, with about 800 offenders being tracked daily using GPS technology. Offenders sometimes try to beat the system by refusing to charge the unit, wrapping the device in aluminum foil or attempting to cut it off their ankles, officials said.
Since the Trinidad shootings, the company that provides the bracelets has developed alternative technology to make sure authorities can continue to monitor the offender, said Leonard Sipes, spokesman for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.
Sipes said the technology has been effective in making sure offenders comply with their orders and helps protective the community.
“It’s helped in closing crimes, bringing people to justice and convicting numerous offenders having problems complying,” Sipes said.
The technology has been used to identify suspects by matching their whereabouts to the scene of a crime. In February, authorities traced the movements of a 23-year-old man that placed him at the site of a kidnapping and sexual assault of two teenagers. A retired D.C. police officer was assaulted on the street and the GPS technology placed the individual at the scene at the exact time and date of the attack.
Each day, law enforcement agencies in the city plug the dates, times and places of major crimes into a computer system and cross-reference them with the movements of known offenders as provided by GPS tracking.
Early last year, authorities couldn’t figure out why one particular sexual offender was hanging out every day at a Metro stop until they placed a Google Earth overlay on the site that revealed he was going to a children’s playground. Authorities remotely searched the offender’s computer and found he was visiting child pornography Web sites, officials said.
William McCorkle, of Northeast Washington, was able to thwart the GPS technology by wrapping aluminum foil around his anklet before he got into an argument in a gas station, pulled out a .38 caliber revolver and gunned down three men, authorities said.
The incident prompted the D.C. Council to pass emergency legislation last week to make tampering with the devices a crime. Since August, 18 offenders have tampered or removed electronic monitoring devices.
“We can’t sit around and let the criminals get the upper hand,” said D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson.
Under the temporary law, anyone convicted of interfering with the device will face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The District is one of the largest users of the GPS devices, with about 800 offenders being tracked daily using GPS technology. Offenders sometimes try to beat the system by refusing to charge the unit, wrapping the device in aluminum foil or attempting to cut it off their ankles, officials said.
Since the Trinidad shootings, the company that provides the bracelets has developed alternative technology to make sure authorities can continue to monitor the offender, said Leonard Sipes, spokesman for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.
Sipes said the technology has been effective in making sure offenders comply with their orders and helps protective the community.
“It’s helped in closing crimes, bringing people to justice and convicting numerous offenders having problems complying,” Sipes said.
The technology has been used to identify suspects by matching their whereabouts to the scene of a crime. In February, authorities traced the movements of a 23-year-old man that placed him at the site of a kidnapping and sexual assault of two teenagers. A retired D.C. police officer was assaulted on the street and the GPS technology placed the individual at the scene at the exact time and date of the attack.
Each day, law enforcement agencies in the city plug the dates, times and places of major crimes into a computer system and cross-reference them with the movements of known offenders as provided by GPS tracking.
Early last year, authorities couldn’t figure out why one particular sexual offender was hanging out every day at a Metro stop until they placed a Google Earth overlay on the site that revealed he was going to a children’s playground. Authorities remotely searched the offender’s computer and found he was visiting child pornography Web sites, officials said.
