Friday, January 10, 2014

Landscape on the Shores of the Patapsco

Beleaguered neighbors around 21st and N. Charles streets were tormented from about 2:15 a.m. on this morning by a barricade situation at the Family Tree, a child-abuse-prevention nonprofit that a suspect broke in to. Neighbors report that police were beseeching a guy named Robert to come out of the office for hours. Justin George Tweeted at 10:55 a.m. that the situation ended when the gunman died of a self-inflicted wound. George and Wells report that the man may be implicated in other crimes nearby,* and WBAL reports that a second victim was found inside.

The 10th homicide in 9 days was in the southwest,* at the Latino Deli and American Grocery on Christian and S. Smallwood, across the street from Samuel Morse Elementary. A man and a woman were shot, the man has died. Also that Karl Merron Ferron photo is giving me an acid flashback.

What to think about this press release? "Despite Recanted Testimony of Single Eyewitness, Langley Convicted for Shooting in the Northeast"




Ew, farther afield, 4th graders were flashed peen in Hanover, and a day care worker arrested for assaulting a 3-year-old in HarfCo. And in HoCo one Jeremy Ng was arrested three times in two days on charges involving forcibly groping women. The last victim had an off-duty-officer friend nearby.

Mom Gwendolyn McNeil, 48, (literally) stabbed her daughter in the back in Aberdeen.

Alpha Diagnostics of Owings Mills has been charged with defrauding Medicaid out of $3.3 million,* and falsely claiming to have had a doctor review x-rays.

In happier news, Renoir's 1879 napkin painting "Paysage Bords de Seine" is going back to the BMA,* though it'll sit in an FBI warehouse until Martha Fuqua exhausts her appeals. Fuqua claimed to have bought the Renoir at a flea market, a "colorful" tale that quickly unraveled when witnesses (including her own brother) called her story into question.

And Obama is expected to announce today that Maryland is going to be an expiriment in health care regulation, setting a cap on hospital spending and prices. This will make Maryland either a "model" or a "cautionary tale." Hrm.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Problem parts

A call-homicide-it's-serious shooting last night* in the 5300 block of Eastbury Avenue

http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/baltimore-protest-demands.htmlWhat took them so long? The families of former Marine Sean Gamble's family and of Officer William H Torbit Jr. have filed suits against the BPD over the shooting at the Select Lounge that killed them three years ago today.* In November 2011 a panel found that police lack of supervision and poor training led to his death,* though the panel's report claimed Gamble intervened with Officer William H. Torbit Jr. while Gamble's family claims he was running away from the scene when he was shot* by Torbit. Torbit's family has staged protests and called for a new, outside investigation.* The Select Lounge is still in business.

RE the homicide rate, SRB says citizens are "part of the problem."*

The BMA might get its stolen Renoir back tomorrow.

Another day, another fiscal-mismanagement story: questions but still no answers about the mismanaged $7 million federal grant for the homeless.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Ow My Frickin Ears!

https://twitter.com/chrisfromabc2/status/421030936982327296/photo/1Three years for Adrena "I love money" Rice, the first Corrections Officer to be sentenced in the BGF jail case. Christian Shaffer of ABC bravely Tweeted a transcript of one of her expletive-filled caught-on-tape rants.

The Board of Estimates approved $237k to go to the auditors of the speed cameras that are turned off.*

Jamol Kingsborough
One Jamol Kingsborough was arrested for the murder of Darius Taybron last October.

District Court Clerk Lonnie P. Ferguson is the subject of a civil rights lawsuit after giving an underling a "passel of pornographic DVDs" depicting "hardcore degradation of women." The evidence in the case has gone missing.

Undercover officers were allegedly offered illegal sexytimes at Lina's Massage on Belair Road.

Van Smith says Nathan Barksdale is likely to plead guilty to heroin-and-gun charges.

New low achievement unlocked: a woman in Brooklyn Park robbed while bringing in her trash cans.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The Vortex

Johnathan Terry
It gets worser: eight people murdered in six days. The victim on West Forest Park/Liberty Heights was ID'd as Johnathan Terry, 28. The Ink has more details on the other victims.

Derryl Walker, 26, convicted in a Mt Vernon rape, has been sentenced to life in prison.* (But what happened to the other guy?)
Todd Wheeler Jr.

Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale, passed over for Batt's job and reportedly suffering from heart problems, has retired,* and also former police Commissioner Bishop L. Robinson has died.

Mug shot of the day: Todd Wheeler Jr., Glen Burnie explosives hoarder, who was not running a meth lab but merely hoarding 100+ pounds of explosives for reasons known only to him.* Also, clear-framed glasses are creepy, please make a note of it.

A mystery corpse was found behind Logan Elementary in Dundalk.*

Cadillac, Ford, Nissan, Dodge: lots of stolen cars in the blotter.*

A pregnant woman, a guy trying to sell his medication outside of his house and a fast-food worker = poor souls robbed in the SE last month.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Mexicans, queens, liquor and statistics

Fenton does math so we don't have to:*
Homicide clearance rate of 2013: 50.2.
Percentage of victims with criminal records: 86.4
Percentage of alleged perps with criminal records: 86
Deadliest neighborhood: Belair-Edison*
Percentage of victims who were shot who died of their wounds: 31.7
Percentage of dead victims shot in the head: 55

Our famous dine-n-dasher, Andrew Palmer, was arrested yet again* after running up a $50 tab for vittles and libations. What restaurant manager on the planet hasn't heard tell of this guy? The one stuck working the New Year's day at the Kona Grill Inner Harbor, apparently.

Somebody robbed the Towson Starbucks at York & Burke at around 6 a.m., and on Dec. 29th somebody robbed the Starbucks in the strip mall near the Giant* on York Rd. (BTW, while the County police chief was on TV crowing about their low murder rate, he noted that they had linked the robberies around Towson University to three different groups).

The chair of Baltimore's chapter of the NAACP is not impressed* with Batt's "everyday people" quip.

No es bueno: Curt Anderson was caught on tape remarking on how there's an "amazing" number of "Mexicans" working on building contracts. You should know, Curt Anderson, a diversity of South Americans are being exploited on our local building sites.

Torrey Smith is in agua caliente for calling some dude in pink socks a "queen."

Julius Henson still breathing, opposes Berea liquor license transfer

The Brew compiled a tidy year-end summary of last year's fuckery

Feel-good story: Glen Burnie woman scares off muggers by screaming and freaking out.

Slumlord shamer Carol Ott reports "I am being represented by Peter Keith, Esq. of Gallagher Evelius & Jones, LLP."