Thursday, October 16, 2008

Your Tax $ at Work

What the?! City employees accused of cashing checks drawn on city accounts, AND two city employees are accused of stealing $50,000 of copper wire out of City Hall. Hilton Greene says “If it’s city property we’re going to start looking at prosecuting some junk yards for receiving it.”
But if the scrapyard's buying property stolen off of your house, I guess that's cool!

Have you seen...

ScottSexAssaultParkRidelotBrian Tyrone Scott, 18, of the 800 block of Pontiac Avenue, 21225, wanted in the Timonium light rail kidnapping/ rape/ robbery case.

Sigh

As we're informed this Thursday that your lifespan may be shorter if you live in certain neighborhoods, we should be reminded that your life could end much much sooner in harm city.Take for instance, Rubin Nelson (#173), who died Tuesday night. Or Howard Grant (#171), and Justin Berry (#172), who were 18 and 19 respectively.

Oh, but don't worry. Those of you who make it to longer ages may have plenty of things to worry about as well.

Such as little dears who can't be controlled even in jail, and will one day be placed back into our society.

Or the people who should be in jail but aren't... and can't be bothered to even mow their lawn.

Or being shot at because of a beef, burgled, or having the hell beaten out of you for no apparent reason.

Or, if you're a prostitute, being beaten within an inch of your life by some jack the ripper fan. Or, alternatively, being the husband of a prostitute and having to deal with this crap.

All of this news makes me think of one thing:

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Shootings, Stabbings and Homemade Bombs

Someone was shot last night in the back at around 11 p.m. while in a Lincoln Continental on York Road & Sheridan Avenue.

Howard Grant Jr. and Justin Berry, killed on Sunday, were thought to be murder witnesses by police; Grant had been shot in the leg days before.

Antonio Ferguson, aka Theodore Spencer, got 20 years + five years of probation for a double shooting that left one victim paralyzed from the chest down and another in a coma for six weeks.

The man accused in the rape of a TU student has been charged in a second case, and has probably lost his job at Banana Republic.
... What the?! "He actually committed one crime and left at that crime scene evidence from another crime scene."

CSA: Conspiracy to commit second-degree murder is a non-existent crime

A man stabbed in the upper body and two women robbed by "two males males between the ages of 10 and 15" in Charles Village in the Blotter

Like, duh: trying to clean up Belair-Edison is an "ordeal."

Mug shot of the day: 'Deener Wesley James Queen II, 34, charged with leaving threatening messages at Casa de Maryland.

An Essex man’s legal malpractice suit against The Suder Law Firm and one of its former attorneys went to the jury yesterday.

A Patterson High student has been arrested after homemade bombs went off in the cafeteria.

WBAL: Jacksonville residents crammed the courtroom for the start of the leaky-Exxon case

Just when you thought it was safe(r) to come out...

...A man was fatally shot in the Walbrook community last night, marking murder number 173. Police are, as always, looking for information.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Guilty Pleas in Bolton Hill Robbery

A Press Release from the SAO:
At a hearing today, Jerome Hicks, 39, of the 4100 block of Granite Ave. pled guilty to three counts of robbery with a deadly weapon. On Friday, October 10, Clarence Hill, 39, of the 1000 block of Homewood Ave., pled guilty to two counts of robbery. On July 25, 2007, the two men robbed a grocery store in the Bolton Hill neighborhood.

Judge John N. Prevas sentenced Hill to 40 years in prison suspend all but 25 years and five years probation. Judge Prevas sentenced Hicks to 15 years in prison.
Both men plead to the following summary of facts: On July 25, 2007 at 1:30PM two Baltimore police officers patrolling and conducting business checks in the 1100 block of Park Ave. entered the Bolton Hill Grocery store. They immediately saw three persons standing with their hands in the air and Clarence Hill with a gray shirt over his head. Hill noticed the police officers and tried to alert Hicks to their presence. Hill walked toward the officers as they stood near the door and was apprehended after a short struggle. During this struggle, Hicks ran out of the store with officers in pursuit on foot. Police caught Hicks four blocks away and both men were placed under arrest. Upon arrest, police recovered on Hicks’ person property from the robbery; including a wallet, cell phone, ring and currency.
Police recovered from inside the store a replica German Luger handgun from a shopping cart inside the store. An investigation revealed that Hicks entered store, displayed a black handgun later determined to be the replica Luger, and forced victims to lie down and empty their pockets.
Hill pointed a gun at a store employee and ordered that the store cash register and lottery machine be emptied.
Hicks later confessed to police his participation in the armed robbery.

Assistant State’s Attorney Kelly Madigan of the General Trial Division prosecuted this case.

###

In Which I Make a Lil Wayne Reference

If the murder trends hold, 2008 will have the fewest since 1970.

Shawty wanna thug, bottles at the club... shawty wanna hump, but Fogelman will dump your liquor license, chumps!

County Police are ISO 24-year-old Calvin Shayrone Hilton Jr., believed to be responsible for a shooting that injured two people on June 15 outside the Rush Hour Bar.

... hey felons, don't forget that today is the last day you can register to vote!

A tragic tale of parents trying to get treatment for their heroin-addicted daughter in the Post

Stuff You Can't Make Up

The name "Baltimore" is an Anglicized form of the Irish Baile an Tí Mhóir, meaning "Town of the Big House."

Monday, October 13, 2008

More on

the man arrested for raping a TU student. Should they be publishing his name & address when he's just a suspect? Hope they got the right guy!
More from the Towerlight.

WBAL has tape of the Belvedere shooting

A ton of stolen GPSes and paper towels burgled from a church in the Messenger Crime Log.

Go Franchot! The comptroller nailed two patriotic tax-evading companies and netted the state $12 million.

The light rail kidnapping has us wondering... if you're in a parking lot and someone sneaks up behind you & puts a gun to your head and tells you to go somewhere with them, what's a better move-- obeying them or refusing?

In the meantime....

While MJB reminds us that its a city that you can easily be killed in, there's plenty of other violence to go around as well.


O'Gov doesn't like the idea of using prison labor to reduce spending costs -- score one for big labor?

Two elderly Dominican Nuns... out to destroy America? Well, the State Police thought so for a while. In the meantime, the ACLU presses on for access to the records accumulated.

Doc Cheatham wants better officer training after the shooting of a 40 year old woman , which we reported on a few days back. Doc wants meetings... I smell a committee.

In the meantime, the blotter reminds us that there's no rest for the wicked and no safety for the peaceful.

In a situation where art tried to imitate city life, there was a crime fiction convention in Baltimore last week. Quite the field trip, wouldn't you say?

K.L. Park laments the inability to distribute information through out Baltimore, as it reduces safety in the City, eventually asking,

Is there something we can do to make ourselves less of a target?


My responses: This, this, and especially this. You are welcome.

Two More Homicides

Two teenagers, 18-year-old Howard Grant and 19-year-old Justin Berry, were shot and killed this morning in West Baltimore.
More from el sol

Buz blogs on the Northwood Community Association meeting, why police departments aren't racing to disseminate crime information, and which neighborhood the mayor says is "the worst" in the city.

Kidnapping, sexual assault & carjacking
of two teenagers at the Padonia light rail stop.

An arrest in last week's rape of a TU student.
(And isn't it a little disturbing that the attack happened a week ago, but it's only in the news now?)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

#170

Darius Burton, 18, around 12:48 this morning in the 4300 block of Davis Avenue, reports JZ.

Who knew? there's a diff between shooting and discharge.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

JZ reports that TWO people were shot and one person was stabbed outside the Belvedere this morning!

also Police Beating Victim Wins 24K In Court Settlement

Report of Shooting at the Belvedere

A reader reports that shots were fired at 2 a.m. in front of the Belvedere on Chase and Charles Streets today, and a woman was struck.
Apparently there's now a hip-hop club in the basement, and the shots were fired as a bar fight there spilled onto the street.
ISO more info on this, stay tuned.

Hey former felons: you can vote now!

Friday, October 10, 2008

5 Years for Allgd. Attempted Murderer/Drug Dealer/Home Invader/Witness Intimidator on Probation

Press Release from Margaret Burns
TIMOTHY SUTTON SENTENCED TO 5-YEARS FOR VIOLATING PROBATION

2005 ATTEMPTED SECOND-DEGREE MURDER INVOLVED THREATENING & ASSAULTING WITNESS

Baltimore, MD – October 10, 2008 – At a hearing Wednesday, October 8, 2008, the Honorable Pamela White found Timothy Sutton, 21, of the 1400 block of Wentworth Avenue, guilty of violating his probation. In June 2005 Langley was convicted of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 10-years suspend all but 3-years years with 5-years probation upon his release in April 2006.

The underlying facts of the attempted second-degree murder case involve threats and intimidation against a witness known by Sutton and his co-defendant who was scheduled to testify in a pending assault case. The defendant was convicted of forcing his way into the witness’ home and threatening the witness with a handgun. The gun misfired. The defendant stopped to clean the chamber of the gun and then the defendant pressed the gun into the witness’ chest. When the gun was clearly inoperable the defendant forced the witness to undress, and while naked and holding a knife, threatened to cut off his genitals. Fighting for his life, the witness was able to get the defendant and co-defendants to flee his home.

In September 2007 while on probation, Sutton was arrested on a new charge of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance. Prosecutors were ultimately forced to dismiss both cases because the arresting officer left the Baltimore Police Department in one case and the chemist left the department in the other case.

On Wednesday, Judge White found that Sutton failed to report to his probation officer as required and sentenced him to five-years in prison.

This conviction is the result of a team prosecution brought by the Maryland Division of Parole & Probation agents Alicia LaRue and Laurie Rubin assigned to the Violent Offenders project and Assistant State’s Attorney Nancy Olin of the State’s Attorney’s Collateral Division.


###

What a mess!

"Requests for Jury Trials Swamping City Courts"

After searching Juvie, police still don't know what mystery drug sent five detainees to the ER.

A broad-daylight robbery last weekend, four doors down from where Ken Harris was killed!

Wow, remember the possibly gang-related beating death of Sgt. Juwan Johnson in Germany? There's been an arrest!

A man shot in the leg, two GFs going at each other with a hammer and pepper spray, a scooter-jacking and stolen crappy cars in the blotter.

Homeland homeowner's association is being totally dickish about crime information. I guess it's bad for property values when people hear about moms getting mugged at gunpoint in the alley behind the 300 block of Taplow.

In AAC, four and a half deaths so far this year at the Jennifer Road Detention Center.

Will crime go up as the economy tanks? We all get to find out, together!

13 people shot

this week, mapped by Spotcrime

... the woman shot by police in Cherry Hill was apparently unarmed.
Donna Brown, mother of a 5th grader and former wife of local attorney Warren Brown, was murdered over the weekend in a domestic-violence incident in Prince George's County.

Viewing
Location: March Funeral Home West- Wabash
4300 Wabash Ave
Baltimore, MD 21215

Date: Sunday, October, 12th
Time: 10:30 am - 6:00 pm


Funeral
Location: St Ambrose Catholic Church
4502 Park Heights Ave
Baltimore, MD 21215

Date: Monday October 13th
Time 10:00am -11:00am Wake hours
Service: 11:00am

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Anarchy in the DJJ!

Mrs. JB: "Ten teenage boys barricaded themselves for eight hours overnight Tuesday at the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center, first in an office and then in a residential area, where they destroyed furniture."

"The Maryland State Police and teams of drug-sniffing dogs raided the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center this morning"

A police-involved shooting in Cherry Hill this morning.

Thursday, and business as usual

Sheila Dixon has a problem with Northwood Shopping Center, where former Councilman Kenneth Harris was shot. Way to get on this bandwagon a few decades late. Perhaps you want to comment on the trash problem the city has too? Her solution includes asking the community for help, an all too common plan for leadership without the fortitude to hire more cops.

In the meantime, Gregory Kane reflects on the difficulty of catching Harris' Killers in Baltimore,
saying:

Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a subculture in Baltimore whose adherents think the moral thing to do is to NOT give up Harris’ killers. Does anyone really believe that no one knows who killed Harris other then the ones who committed the slaying?

The suspects have friends, relatives and perhaps girlfriends who know exactly what they did. So far, not one of them has come forward to finger the killers. Such is the grip that the “Stop Snitching” mind-set has on some people in this town.


In all this, we should remember that Annette Harris lost her husband, and her children's father, and she wants justice served as well.

A defendant in a Howard County rape/assault trial alleges the sex was consensual. Great job, hotshot - now, explain the choking.

Another no longer alleged scumbag has received life in prison as well for a 2006 murder. How soon until we hear about how racist and unconstitutional life in prison is has yet to be determined.

Another one of our city's little dears will be spending (at most)30 years in jail for shooting another teenager.

Score one for the alleged bad guys, thanks to the Court of Special Appeals.

More random thefts, robberies and assualts in Harm City. But at least we don't have to deal with Turkish Cockroaches... yet...