A Pentagon official has agreed to a plea deal with Washington, D.C., prosecutors after he was charged with three counts of misdemeanor theft for repeatedly stealing license plates from a car in his Capitol Hill neighborhood as a result of a parking dispute.
On April 4, Bryan Whitman, the principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, left an anonymous note on the windshield of the sport utility vehicle that belongs to the nanny of a neighbor who lives around the block from him, according to a Wednesday report by the Washington Post.
According to police, he wrote, “I know you are misusing this visitor pass to park here daily. If you do not stop I will report it, have your car towed and the resident who provided this to you will have his privileges taken away.”
The nanny informed her employers that someone had threatened her use of their parking pass, which a D.C. Department of Transportation official said was legal. The couple used a community listerv to see if anyone would admit to leaving the note. But no one stepped up.
On April 6, Whitman stole the nanny’s license plates from the vehicle, according to Metropolitan Police. Two days later, he took another plate. Then in late April, the 58-year-old stole another plate, but this time he was caught on a security camera the couple had installed in the front window of their rowhouse as an attempt to catch the suspect.
The video footage showed Whitman, who had parked his car near the nanny’s SUV, spending 47 minutes to remove the professionally installed bolts from the car to take the plates.
Police were able to identify him and arrested him at his First Street SE residence on May 2. He handed over the license plates to avoid having his house searched.
Despite being told to stay away from the couple and nanny, Whitman was spotted walking by the couple’s house the morning of his May 5 arraignment. Five days later, he parked in front of their house, police said.
Lawyers for Whitman and prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that would dismiss the case. Whitman will have to pay $1,000 in restitution, work 32 hours of community service, remain out of trouble for the next 10 months and avoid contact with the victims.
