Category Archives: Crime & Punishment

Crime & Punishment, Life in the Capital, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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Hate Letter to The Weather

Photo courtesy of
‘Lightning over River Place’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

Dear crack-o-dawn thunder,

You really need to learn some respect. I had plenty of time before my alarm was supposed to go off this morning, and there you were, banging around like some psychotic upstairs neighbor from hell. I was peacefully sleeping til you came along with your strobe show all flashing lights and such. Well guess what thunder, you’re not Kanye and you never will be.

And while I’ve got your attention, I just thought someone should balls up and tell you the obvious. You and your rain counterpart have worn out your welcome. We here in DC have basically had to forge an ark to get to and from work the past week or so, my pants have permanent cuff creases in them. Like Marion Barry, you are no longer needed here.

I hate you,

Katie

Oh, and don’t forget you owe me 4 bucks for the coffee I’ll need today, asshat. That’s all on you.

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Walters’ Attorney Claims She’s Anything But Responsible

Photo courtesy of
‘In Jail’
courtesy of ‘Daniel Voyager’

The brazen embezzlement of tens of millions of DC City Tax Dollars, distributed through refund checks by Hariette Walters, appear to be the fault of Walters’ upbringing, depression, childhood traumas, obesity and other causes, all of which mean that Walters should only serve 15 years in federal custody for her role in the theft.

Really? I was thinking maybe the fact that the city schools, and infrastructure, that are taking the hit for the theft might rather suggest she spend a good 20-25 in prison instead.

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed
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We Love Juicing

Photo courtesy of
‘Syringe 1 With Drops’
courtesy of ‘ZaldyImg’

According to WUSA 9, the bust of a major steroid distributor in Florida has implicated teams in D.C. as buyers.  While no specific players were named, the incarcerated dealer did admit to selling anabolic steroids to the Nationals and Capitals sports clubs.  I would be inclined to attribute the Caps’ recent success to this, but given that the Nats were sold (presumably) the same drug, my judgement is that this dealer’s stock wasn’t of the highest quality. Will D.C. be the next target of media and legal ‘roid rage?  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Crime & Punishment, Technology, The Daily Feed
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Missing: Hard Drive with Presidential Info

Photo courtesy of
‘Lady of the Archives’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

The Washington Post reports that in the wake this weekend’s “Post Hunt 2,” the National Archives is getting in on some scavenger hunt action of its own.  Just, instead of innocuous puzzles, NARA employees are attempting to solve the disappearance of a hard drive containing, among other things, Secret Service operating procedures and the social security numbers of Al Gore’s daughters. The prize for the person who finds it: the possibility of not serving a lengthy jail sentence.
 
The hard drive contains around a terabyte of information from the Clinton presidency and was a part of a project to digitize the National Archives’ collection. The FBI has opened a criminal investigation but has no firm leads, as of yet.  So, if you see an important looking hard drive lying around, the NARA would appreciate it if you would return it to them without looking at the contents.

Crime & Punishment, Downtown, Food and Drink, Night Life, Penn Quarter, The Daily Feed
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701 Owner Responds to Credit Card Thefts

Photo courtesy of
‘credit card’
courtesy of ‘Ebu Cehil’

Ashok Bajaj, owner of 701 Restaurant, is responding to the stories about credit card thefts at several area restaurants, including 701. Mr. Bajaj explains, via an email sent to patrons this evening, that he goes to great lengths to hire good staff, but that despite that, these thefts still occured:

I would like to personally assure you of my commitment and my staff’s commitment to protect our guests. Please know that my approach to business is one of creating the highest level of service, value and standards. We strive to hire employees who abide by the superior standards of professionalism and integrity established by our restaurant group. We also perform due diligence on all candidates including reference checks before hiring them. Unfortunately, despite our high standards and due diligence in hiring restaurant personnel, the screening process is not fail proof.

While there’s no promise of further diligence, or that they’re cooperating with the Police as part of an on-going investigation, that’s probably more for PR reasons, than anything else. So, watch your credit cards, folks, when you’re dining out. As if we all didn’t have enough to worry about.

Crime & Punishment, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District, WTF?!
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Accepting Representation at the Point of a Gun

Photo courtesy of
‘Bang!’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

There’s a hard choice on the table. The Senate will be taking up the revised legislation that would grant the District a voting Representative in the House, but would do so only if we also accepted that all of the District’s gun laws would have to come off the books for good.

The decision puts DC in between a rock and a hard place, as representation that the city has long sought is within grasp, but comes at what could be a terrible price. So, it seems we’re stuck. Compromise one principle to get access to one we’ve been long after? Or stick to your guns (uh, or lack thereof) and keep the dream of true voting perception at arms length still. It seems a bit of a Foustian bargain for the city. What are our leaders saying?
Continue reading →

All Politics is Local, Business and Money, Crime & Punishment, Downtown, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, WTF?!
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D.C. Parking Injustice – Tow Me… Blow Me…


Law enforcement scofflaws
Originally uploaded by philliefan99

Did you hear me Mr. Fenty and Ms. Babers? D.C.’s quest to now emulate Chicago with the new administration has reached new lows. As the Democrats and Obama administration have been touting friendliness to green technologies, smart transportation alternatives, and conservation, the city they now hold a majority in,  took a TWELVEFOLD step backwards. I had created the D.C. Motorcycle parking map of the Metro region to help those folks on two wheels track down ever vanishing spots (one set is in center court in the Verizon Center… how convenient), and since most garages do not allow motorcycles in, it’s necessary. Over this past weekend, the D.C. Parking Authority (aka, the D.C. DMV) cranked up the rates without warning for the motorcycle spots to be commensurate with the rates for cars (or even more so), from 12 hour meters which were 25 cents for an hour and 24 minutes, to now 7 minutes per quarter… a loss of 77 minutes 92% of your parking value… WTF?! It shocked most folks parking on the G Street meters (which until the beginning of last year were free) on the west side of the Old Executive Office Building so much, that today, EVERY bike has decided not to pay. Seriously D.C., are you trying to discourage smart commuting?

Continue reading →

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed
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Missing the Superbowl Incites Riot

 Photo courtesy of
‘Superbowl Sunday (36 of 50)’
courtesy of ‘seantoyer’

Yes, it’s true. Last Sunday, inmates at the Prince George’s County Jail were pissed about being on lockdown during the Superbowl (among other things, I would wager) and busted out of their cells. The Washington Post calls it a “coordinated attack,” which is pretty darn frightening to me. I wonder if they would have accepted the Puppy Bowl as a compromise…

Crime & Punishment, Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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Spot Crime in DC

photo by spiggycat

photo by flickr user: spiggycat

If you like keeping an eye on local criminal activity, then look no further than SpotCrime’s Washington, DC Crime Map.  This handy little tracker allows you to search by crime type (Arrest, Arson, Shooting, Burglary, etc.,) by date/time, by location, and enroll for crime alerts.  It also allows you to report crimes, but usually takes about 24-48 hours for them to register, so if you search for today’s crime information, it will be limited.

Another SpotCrime feature is UCrime, which allows college students to track on-campus or near campus crime.  If you sign up for UCrime, you can receive alerts as well, which is not a bad idea given the recent rash of college/school violence.

SpotCrime offers tracking throughout the U.S. and a little over 30 international cities.

Crime & Punishment, Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, WTF?!
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MPD Divers in the Potomac

Police Divers in the Potomac

What was up with those MPD scuba divers in the Potomac just off Washington Harbour this morning? Did someone throw evidence into the river? Or was someone sent to sleep with the snakeheads in cement shoes? In any case, thanks to the officers for letting me go pseudo-paparazzi on the diving action this morning and indulging me in a bit of scuba talk. No way I’d dive in the cold, muddy Potomac River right by a sewer outlet in December — unless the city was paying me for it.

Crime & Punishment, News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Virginia Tech – Pritchard Hall Investigation – “All Clear”

Virginia Tech Logo

[UPDATE] 3:00pm EST

From VT.edu : NO THREAT – Pritchard Hall has been reopened. Police have concluded their search and found no evidence of gunfire. Further details on Virginia Tech News website.

[UPDATE] 2:56pm EST

An e-mail sent from VT Alerts to students stated that, “During the course of the investigation, eyewitnesses reported seeing people, possibly students exploding firecrackers or something else in or near a dumpster near Pritchard.  Police have found no evidence of gunfire from within or outside the building and believe the noises likely came from something other than gunfire.” 

[Original Post]

Virginia Tech’s current web page notes that Pritchard Hall (student dormitory) is on lockdown after shots are supposedly heard around 1pm EST. Virginia Tech spokeswoman says police are searching room by room; currently unknown if there were injuries. No access in or out of the dorm.

CollegiateTimes.com currently has a live blogger covering the events,  WTOP has similar details. AP reports that the sounds may be from a nearby construction site, the campus police are still investigating. We’ll update you as more becomes available.

WSET-TV Reports: “An alert on the university’s website says police are conducting a room by room search in Pritchard Hall on the Blacksburg, Va., campus. “Police have walked the halls and report NO residual smell of gunpowder.”

Continue reading →

Crime & Punishment, News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Metro to Conduct Random Bag Searches

Washington Post tells us that teams of Metro Transit Police with dogs will be conducting random bag searches on trains and buses at times when “heightened vigilance” is required. Passengers will be taken aside at random intervals before boarding buses or entering rail stations to be screened; those who do not comply will not be detained or have their bags confiscated, but they will be denied entry.

Update: Official press release from WMATA with pictures and video.

Set1158_01

Crime & Punishment, Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Arrest

This was the scene at Foggy Bottom Metro this afternoon as Metro Transit Police personnel pulled a guy from an Orange Line Vienna/Fairfax train and detained him, for what offense I do not know:


Larger video here.

The suspect appeared to be asleep when I first saw him, but awoke with some poking from an officer, and left the train peacefully. It was when they started to put handcuffs on him that he began struggling, so he was forced to the ground, where the apprehension — and struggling — continued. Then my train arrived and I had to stop shooting video with my cellphone.

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed, The Hill
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Stabbing on Capitol Hill

The Hill East and MPD-1D mailing lists are abuzz with the alarming news from Capitol Hill of a woman sexually assaulted and stabbed multiple times by a burglar late Monday night.

According to the account of a neighbor who came to help, the victim came home to an intruder in her house, and ran into a bathroom to call 911. He attempted to rape her, she fought back with punches, and he stabbed her 17 times before fleeing. The woman managed to crawl outside where neighbors helped her and called police. While all this was happening, the victim’s housemates were asleep upstairs. The intruder may have gotten in through an unlocked kitchen window.

According to MPD First District Commander David Kamperin, “the investigation is still ongoing, and the victim is recovering in a local hospital. The only lookout we have at this time is for a black male wearing light colored pants and a black hooded sweatshirt. Anyone who may have seen an individual fitting this description is encouraged to call our tip line 888-919-CRIME or text to 50-411.”

A friend tells me the victim suffered kidney damage and collapse of both lungs, but is recovering.

Business and Money, Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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It’s actually okay, Mr Trump

Photo courtesy of NCinDC

enter here for the money, courtesy of NCinDC

Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts muddied the water a bit yesterday in the Reliable Source column and perpetuated an old misunderstanding. They close their article about Edwina Rogers and her practice of wrapping small gifts with dollar bills by saying “While uncut currency is legal tender (you can cut around the bills), slicing them in half (as Rogers does in the clip) is technically considered defacement.” Well, sure, and so is writing in the margins of your paperback so you can get back to the saucy parts later. Unfortunately they’re hinting at the common belief that using those penny mushing machines and other “money art” constitutes committing a federal offense and might somehow get you in trouble.

The Treasury addresses this directly themselves on their website.

This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent.

So feel free to keep making those little folding paper dolls with your $100 bills, so long as you don’t try to spend them later.

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed
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Pearson determined to be disbarred

Photo courtesy of Ghost_Bear

WJLA news reports that Roy Pearson has – somehow – convinced the DC Appellate court to hear his appeal on the now-infamous 54 million dollar pants lawsuit. WJLA was also nice enough to film the amused/aghast reaction of the Chung family as they informed them that this had happened.

The fact that Pearson appealed wouldn’t shock anyone who had heard anything about the case, but it’s somewhat surprising that review was granted. Pearson’s appeal contends that the ruling was inappropriate because it simply substituted a qualified guarantee for an absolute one. OnPointNews hosts the PDF version of the appeal here and it’s surpringly cogent. It also includes a demand for $450,000 in attorney’s fees. For Pearson.

Here’s hoping this has a speedy and permanent resolution.

Marbled Justice, courtesy of Ghost_Bear

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed
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Assault by mob?

2002 War Protest

I opened the Arlington county crime report mailing just now, trying against hope to catch up with my backlog of mail, and this was the first entry.

ASSAULT BY MOB-ARREST 08/25/08, 2300 block of N. 11th Street. On August 25, at 3 pm, the victim was walking and was attacked by eight unknown men. Victim suffered minor injuries to his face. Police apprehended one suspect. Cain Guevara, 19, of Arlington, was charged with Assault by Mob, and was held on a $3,000 bond.

Glad they picked up 12.5% of the assailants, but I was just fascinated by the fact that there’s a crime called “assault by mob.” My second thought was “how many people do you need to keep your group down to in order to not be a mob?” If one of them had stayed home with a head cold would they just have been plain vanilla assailants? Turns out two can be a mob:

Any collection of people, assembled for the purpose and with the intention of committing an assault or a battery upon any person or an act of violence as defined in § 19.2-297.1, without authority of law, shall be deemed a “mob.”

Interesting stuff, I think. I’m not sure what the point is; both simple assault and assault by mob are class 1 misdemeanors, so it’s not as if the law makes it more serious by classification.

image “2002 War Protest by choofly”