November 19

A methadone addict in Dundalk is charged with murder in the death of her methadone-addicted 2-month-old daughter.

Arson in West Baltimore left two people dead and 27 people homeless. One of the dead is a 41-year-old woman who was homeless until a few months ago.

Alleged corrupt former senator Thomas Bromwell was taped by the FBI in a building downtown. JHU was apparently one of many victims in a kickback scheme.

Accusations of an ineffective police investigation have been raised in the Canton murder of Brian Jones.

Steven R. Chamberlain, CEO of Lanham-based Integral Systems, Inc., is charged with liking little girls way too much.

The Baltimore pastor who is charged with liking little boys and little girls way too much is also being investigated by police in Minnesota and Barbados.

Unlike Baltimore City's Northern District, Carroll County doesn't put up with home invasions. Great story by Sheridon Lyons.

Four Maryland convenience stores have been robbed of "cash, cigarettes, and cheap liquor" by a woman in her late 20s.

Drunk driver Rudi Vasquez of PG County will serve eight years for two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the crash that killed Juan Valle, 26, and Audelino Valle, 30.

Bea Gaddy's legacy is in bad trouble this year. To help with the shortage, the center at 425 N. Chester St. in East Baltimore will be open 24/7 until Thanksgiving to accept donations. The phone number is 410-563-2749.

November 18

A Baltimore City jury convicted Alphonso Graves, III, 36, of second-degree murder and handgun counts today following approximately seven hours of deliberation and three days of testimony. Judge Thomas J.S. Waxter, Jr. scheduled sentencing for February 17, 2006. On November 18, 2004 the body of Stacey Lynn Carter Graves, 30, was found in the downtown apartment of her estranged husband, Alphonso Graves, III. Surveillance cameras from the apartment complex captured both Mr. and Mrs. Graves entering the apartment complex on November 15, 2004. The camera also captured Mr. Graves leaving the apartment with a handgun in his waistband.

Walter Robinson, 27, of the 4800 block of Briarclift Road, is scheduled for arraignment at 9:30 this morning before Judge John P. Miller, 428 Clarence Mitchell Courthouse. A BCity grand jury indicted Robinson on October 24 on one count of sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 18; three counts of third-degree sexual offense; three counts of fourth-degree sexual offense; and four counts of second-degree assault. Sexual abuse of a minor carries a maximum prison term of 25 years and third-degree sexual offense carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Court documents allege that Robinson sexually assaulted a 15-year-old student repeatedly between August 2005 to October 2005 at the Benjamin Franklin Junior High School.

Police are seeking the public's help in finding thieves who stole <$750k of jewelry and the chalice and paten of St. Ignatius Church in Forest Hill from JM Jewelers. Keep your eyes peeled for two Mestizo-looking 20-something guys with a very shiny pimp cup and dip plate.

What to Do if an Officer Won't Take a Report

If you're a crime victim you should always call the police and you should always get a police report. You may need the report number for property or health insurance reasons. If a Baltimore City police officer won't issue a report, call the office of Colonel Debbie Owens at 410-396-2363. Owens is the Chief of Patrol of all Nine Districts in the city. Ask her assistant* what the chain of command is for your district. If you're in the Northern, the Deputy Major is Buzzuro (pronouced "Bizarro." Really), his boss is Major Lukasic and above those two at central command or whatever is the Area 1 Commander Beale Feld.

*Her assistant is very helpful but wouldn't leave a name: "I don't need my name to go in no paper."

Afternote: Debbie Owens, it turns out, e-mailed me back immediately after I contacted the office, giving me her personal cell-phone number-- it doesn't get much more responsive than that (I didn't see the e-mail b/c my mail program didn't know the address filed it under "junk" next to an ad for "enhansement".

In all of my experience I've gotten nothing but very fast responses and professionalism from the Baltimore city police, and I've called them at least 40 times since I moved here.

November 17

Rape and assault in the Western, robbery in the Northern.

Edward Lee, 36, made a wrong move trying to outrun the police and ended up flying off the 83 into the Jones Falls. Police say Lee claims to have "been chased by Baltimore police more than a dozen times for various offenses, but ... the police always backed off before." (cue Dukes of Hazzard theme)

Formerly reverend Gerald Fitroy Griffith has been arrested for holding dirty counseling sessions with four teenage boys and one girl(?).

And three of four unaccounted-for HoCo sex offenders have been rounded up. The one that got away was 49-year-old Karen Hammond.

Day One of the Irv Lorenzo "Gotti" trial features an "amusingly grizzled unlicensed Baltimore cabdriver."

Kenneth Douglas Ellis, 25, left, is being sought for spray-painting sloppy, artless tags on houses around Keswick and Beech in Hampden.

O'Malley's for the the stopping and the frisking, as long as police are keeping accrate records.

Speaking of, I sent excerpts of howard somebody's letter to Matt Jablow on Tuesday. I haven't gotten a response:

Hi Mr. Jablow,
I have an online news service, http://baltimorecrime.blogspot.com/, and I've gotten more than one letter from readers about police not taking reports. This is actually the second letter I've gotten complaining about a policeman being reluctant to take a report:

"... last week my neighbor heard her window break. The house was entered and property was removed. It went on for quite a while. She was terrified and locked her bedroom door, calling the police.

They came about an hour later. They asked if she could describe the perps and she explained that she had tried very hard NOT to encounter them.

Since she couldn't identify the home invaders and they were gone (an hour delay will do that for a felon), the officer declined to write any incident report. Not forgot. Refused.

IT NEVER HAPPENED. At least as far as the police are concerned. So yes, statistically, Northern has less crime than the Corner. But then again, Northern lies. It is not unique in that respect.

Crime is not down. Crime reports are down. Partly because police won't take them, partly because they take too long to get there, and partly because victims learn after the first few incidents that they are wasting their time, so they just don't bother thereafter.

My question is, have you heard of anything like this?
And if a citizen does encounter an officer who won't take down a report, who can they call? Or where can they call if a police response time was slow?

So we'll see what he says.

Can you trust the police? Can a rattlesnake dropkick a football?
Today's lesson: Gregory Kane asserts what every Eddie's mom knows too well: "Some people do, indeed, need frisking. And ... some may need more than that."

In case you missed it: The Baltimore Sun is eliminating 75 positions, including 12 to 15 newsroom positions.

November 16

The murder of Brian O'Neill Jones appears to be totally senseless (the third senseless Jones death this week). The victim left behind a wife and three children, ages 6 months, two and five years.

A member of the Cutthroat gang who was 13 when he shot Jerrod Hamlett, 23, will be tried as a juvenile. (See the June 16 conversation with Donny Moses).

Trail has begun in NY for Irv Lorenzo "Gotti" of Muder Inc. Records, accused of laundering money for Baltimore drug dealer "Supreme" McGriff.

Federal prosecutors have five years to file murder charges against Leeander Blake (famous as the 3rd Baltimorean to visit the Supreme Court since Thurgood Marshall).

November 15

Not a good adjective: Police are "baffled" by the shooting death of 34-year-old Brian Jones in Canton. His body was found on the 1300 block of Ellwood Avenue on the parking lot of Canton Harbor Nursing Center.

The victim found on Tudor Arms was named as Michael Bryant, 22, of East North Avenue.

Pulp novel waiting to be written: 58-year-old Diane Coffman, formerly of Towson, got five years' suspended and five years' probation for killing her five-year-old son, Edward Coffman, in 1972. The case was re-opened by Edward's surviving younger brother.

Ten people were charged with immigration fraud in Manhattan for helping Kenneth Adam Howard of Baltimore arrange sham marriages of foreign girls to sailors.

Murder charges against a Harpers Ferry man accused of administering a fatal heroin overdose have been dropped so Federal charges can proceed. "Richard Allen Ashbaugh, 38, originally was charged with murder after Jonathan Parks, 26, of Brunswick, Md., was found lying facedown between two beds in a room at the Towne House Motor Lodge."

HoCo police commander Tara Nelson, accused of trying to run over her husband, was cleared and has returned to work. The would-be speedbump refused to testify. Thought to ponder: if she was a guy, would she have gotten her job back?

In Glen Burnie, Tonya Denise Moulden, 22, stabbed her boyfriend with a steak knife during a fight.

More Tragic: The former drummer for Japanese band Shonen Knife, Mana "China" Nishiura, was killed in route from Baltimore to Brooklyn in a van accident! She and her new band DMBQ had just played a show at the Talking Head.

Baltimore Fun Fact! In 2001 an actual male human body part was found on the street in Canton.

Maryland Decision 2006
Yeah right, someone tossed Oreos at Michael Steele three years ago after the Morgan State vice-guber debate and we're just hearing about it now, for the first time, three years later. And no one saw it. Or took a picture. At the debate. That's the news head honky and Definer of Blackness Ehrlich had to report when he made contact with the college students of today, explaining "to the extent anyone is out there now saying, 'Well, no, those Oreo cookies really weren't thrown at Mike Steele, that's now an urban legend, whatever, made up by [lowest-common-denominator race-baiting] Republicans' ... these people have got to get real." Meanwhile there's allegations that Mike B. called Mike S. an "Uncle Tom" and now Carmelo Anthony is somehow involved. Does that mean that the West Side L-Heights Crips also endorse the Republicans? I thought the blue flag was only on the left side. I'm so confused.

November 14

BoCo Popos have arrested Brian Bartee, 18, Kion Coulter, 26, and Marcus Pettiford, 19 for the double murder of Howard and Dante Thacker in Owings Mills.

The attempted murder trial of William Crudup has been held over until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow before Judge John M. Glynn, 236 Mitchell Courthouse.

There have been 476 police-involved car accidents this year, including the one that killed 25-year-old mom Mary Jones.

Michael Turner, 36, pled guilty to stealing more than $40k from an Aberdeen security-guard union.

Gerard Holt got 10 years for carrying a stolen firearm.

It's hot to rob people of cell phones.

Two officers were injured trying to bust up a crazy-azz party in College Park.

WTF you talking bout Willis? After the largest gambling raid in Baltimore since Prohibition and sticking it to Vicki Mengel, cops are waging a "Cops for Slots" campaign (not to be confused with Norris' "Cops for Sluts" campaign). The gang = the government. Don't have enough money, puh-lease.

PSAs

Perfect first date for match.com and jdaters-- the Renaissance Harbor Hotel, 202 East Pratt Street, Monday, November 21, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. for ... the spectacle ... the legal heavyweights duking it out in...
The Toothless Tiger

HEAR! Patricia Jessamy, fresh from a Puerto Rican vacation, pontificating on how much our total lack of protection for witnesses has led to them being shot at and having their houses burned down and whatnot.

REVEALED! Why the new witness intimidation law has been called flaccid by some and impotent by others.

BEHOLD! The Elfin and Honorable John Martin Glynn, who hears all of the juciest, skankiest cases on the 8th Circuit. That's b/c he's in charge of the docket!

and recently brought back from the dead from the basement of the law firm of Mead and Flynn, P.A., Margaret Mead! Speaking of skulls n bones, there's also some guy named James Wyda, who went to Yale.

So if you've ever wanted to get drunk on Monday night at a hotel bar and heckle smart, powerful people on a panel, call 410-385-3637 or send an e-mail to either
shaiber@milesstockbridge.com
bfish@stattorney.org
what the hell, it's free, sponsored by the creepy-sounding Federalist Society.

PSA #2 The head cybrarian will be live on WJSS am radio Thursday the 16th with Dr. Horrace Tittle from 8:50 to 9 a.m.

November 14

Two crime alerts near the TU campus (so watch yourself, Bilal):

On Sunday, November 13, 2005 at approximately 8:55 PM two suspects entered the KFC [on York Road and Willow Ave] and demanded money. After obtaining the money, the suspects ordered the employees to get in the freezer. No Weapon was displayed.
Suspect descriptions are as follows:

Black Male, glasses, beard, long sleeve white shirt W/ red stripes, baseball cap, with a blue letter.
Black Male, grey hoodie, black ski mask.

An unrelated incident occurred on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at approximately 12:10 AM where in a victim was assaulted and his wallet and other personal belongings were taken. This robbery appears to have resulted from a verbal argument earlier at the Dunkin Donuts just across the street. The suspects were described as follows:
White Male 19-20 yrs, 5'-9" Med build, dark sweatshirt, blue jeans
White Male 18-91[!] yrs. 5"-4" large build, red hair, white tee shirt, jeans

--cut n pasted from the Towson University Police

November 13

Bet that goes over really well: cops are "aggressively stopping and frisking people", with six times as many blacks as whites being frisked, according to internal police reports.

A police officer was shot in the hand.