Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Scary times

WTF?! Fox files a FOIA request to try to uncover the shady development deals behind the $1.5 billion-dollar State Center project involving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, but developers refuse the request saying they can't afford to make copies of documents. And now, says Fox, the state itself is suing plaintiffs who are suing for violations of procurement law-- a SLAPP suit, in other words. Nutrageous! A judge is going to stop the insanity and demand transparency any minute now, right? More on the State Center project here.

A man was stabbed at 100 E. Redwood Street early this morning

A city police officer is in Shock Trauma after being dragged two blocks by a pickup truck

Here's a shocking factoid: at present the government-- FBI, DEA, and presumably state and local police as well-- can attach a GPS device on your car and track your movements without a warrant. Particularly disturbing considering the very recent history of state police spying on anti-Iraq-war demonstrators.

In media news, Sam Zell, the Sun's gnomish overlord, was potentially awarded large shovels-full of money by a bankruptcy judge. And the Daily Record has laid off three people, citing costs.

Ps. don't forget to vote today, if you haven't already...!

News From Around the Region

A mostly non-city post today.

After three years their has still been no arrest in the 2008 murder of former Marine Leroy Taylor.

Orioles pitcher Alfred Simon has been acquitted of any charges related to the New Years Eve shooting death of a man in the Dominican Republic.

Armed Robberies Galore:

Police in Elkridge are offering up a reward information leading to the capture of a liquor store robber.(Pictured Right)

College Park bank robber and twice convicted drug dealer Antonio Michael McClurkin, 26, has been sentenced to 15 years in the federal pen.

Another career offender will serve a lengthy federal prison sentence. 41-year-old Mark Ellicott Lomax was sentenced to 20 years for committing 17 robberies in about a month.

County Police are ISO the men who robbed a Middle River bank Monday afternoon.

A city police officer is recovering after being dragged by a car during a pursuit. The officer fired two shots, but the suspects are still unknown at the moment.

Eight well earned years in a federal penitentiary for child pornography trafficker David Twitty, 64.

Police officers in Howard County shoot an armed man. 19-year-old Jeffrey Dustin Nichols was shot after he reportedly failed to drop the gun he was holding when confronted by the officers.


Finally, Towson U. was on lock-down for the second time in a week after a bomb scare in one of the on-campus parking garages.

Monday, November 7, 2011

It's Never to Soon to Ruin Your Life...

14-year-old Nefatea Hector is facing two counts of attempted murder for shooting Joseph Esdelle, 20, in the face, and hitting Anthony Samuel Johnson, 24, with a stray bullet.

For the second time in a week, a 2009 Baltimore County murder has led to federal indictments. Several members of the massive Marijuana trafficking operation were indicted in federal court for their roles in the drug ring and kidnapping-murder 50-year-old Michael Paul Knight.

City police have made an arrest in a quadruple shooting at a city club. Karon Darren Shaw, 19, was arrested for shooting the four men, including two who were club employees.

Police have already arrested 17-year-old Markell Jones for the murder of Freddie Jones Jr. at the turbulent Yau Brothers Carryout on Greenmount, but they are still searching for the other two robbers involved in the killing.

Just two months in jail for Maximilian Bode, 21, the man who killed former Johns Hopkins fencing coach Richard Oles with a snowplow.

An apparent jumper at the Tapco Tower in Towson. The death of the elderly man found in a dumpster near the building is not believed to have involved foul play.

Bail has been denied for accused human trafficker Alarcon Wiggins. Besides being the ringleader of a prostitution ring, Alarcon Wiggins is also apparently a god-awful rapper and deadbeat dad. And as authentic as his talent profile seems, I probably wouldn't call the number he listed.

The jury in the Ulysses Currie trial is still in deliberations on day three. After weeks of testimony the jury has yet to make a decision on the fate of the State Senator and two co-defendants.

A missing Silver Springs man winds up dead in Anne Arundel County. Manuel Enrique Diaz Gomez, 37, was reported missing by his family on Halloween.

The oxycodone overdose death of a quadriplegic Ellicott City man has been ruled a homicide after a lengthy investigation.

Bullets ripped through a Hagerstown home, leaving only one of the homes dozen residents injured.

An Odenton man was caught trying to hang himself in his jail cell Saturday.

Finally, a three alarm blaze occurred at DiDi's pizza in Dundalk, supposedly from two cardboard boxes catching fire.

15 years for Pitcairn killer's accomplice

Lavelva Merritt got a deal for testifying against her crack buddy John Wagner; Wagner got life +20. She also has a hearing in December for violating her probation on a previous drug charges. Tricia Bishop reports that Merritt could be out in as few as six years, plus Merritt's courtroom comments: "making myself depressed ain't going to make it no better ... I'm not going to sit here and let it take over my life."
An unidentified man shot to death in the 4100 block of Parkwood Avenue over the weekend, plus four nonfatal shootings.

Another female Frostburg student stabbed by a female classmate?! Kortneigh McCoy, 19, a sophomore at Frostburg State University and a Poly grad, died following a stabbing early Sunday. Student Shanee Liggins, 23, of Waldorf, is in custody. WTF?

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Back again...

The conviction of Erik Stoddard was affirmed by the Court of Appeals last week. Stoddard was convicted and then retried no fewer than three times before his final conviction for child abuse resulting in the death of a child in 2008. The victim, three-year-old Calen Faith DiRubbo, died of multiple blunt-force injuries in 2002.

And Matthew VanDyke is back, still skinny, still sporting a schmattle and planning to write a book.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Afternoon Round-up: Friday Edition

Three arrests have been made in two police impersonation robberies. Demon Harris, 36, Wayne Kasey, 26, and Donte Driggs, 23 are all facing serious charges for their roles in the robberies.

Two fatal fires in last 12 hours. 20-year-old Conner McKeown was killed in a Harford County fire, while an unidentified man died in northwest Baltimore garage fire.

A 10th grader at Civitas Middle/High School was stabbed by a 14-year-old fellow student yesterday.

A detective in a Carroll County murder case has been charged with perjury.

Two non-fatal shootings in the city yesterday including a 20 year old who was shot in the head.

Jury deliberations in the Ulysses Currie trial continue today.

33-year-old Chad Frobouck got 5 years for growing pot at a strip mall. The moral of the story here, is if you're going to grow weed in your business, make sure to pay your rent on time.


Creepy barber 54-year-old Jung Gon Kim(Pictured Right) was busted for sexually abusing a 13-year-old patron in his shop.

16 years exiled to Federal prison for career criminal Barry Murel, 49, for his 12th and (hopefully) final felony conviction.

A whopping 21 years in the Federal pen for heroin dealer Taurus "Ock" Wiggins, age 43.

Arrest in Yau Bros. Murder

Police say 17-year-old Markell Jones has reportedly confessed to Killing Freddie Jones Jr. at the Yau Brothers Carryout Monday night, after his parents turned him in. Two more suspects remain at large.

Twenty years for Arteesha Holt, the 14-year-old who killed Jose Rodolfo Gonzalez-Coreas after he laughed at her attempt to rob him

What is it going to take?!

to get a standing independent review board in this town?!
In case you haven't heard, the report is out on the criminally negligent "tragic perfect storm" that lead to the shooting deaths of Officer William H. Torbit Jr. and Select Lounge reveler Sean Gamble, and the stupidity within is mind-boggling. Highlights include:

- Torbit left his police identification in his trunk, went into the crowd alone, tried to get some drunk girls to quit hitting a car with their shoes and told Sean Gamble to "mind your own fucking business" when he tried to intervene, escalating the situation.

- many officers didn't let dispatchers know they were on the scene, so the chain of command couldn't be established. As the melee was going on, an officer radioed "That's an officer, he is one of us, stop shooting" and was ignored.

- officers shot into a crowd of people, exhibiting "poor marksmanship and undisciplined shooting."

- investigators didn't log photos of the crime scene.

- officers involved in the incident refused to testify, including Deputy Maj. Marc Partee, the commander on duty that night. If a civilian witness refuses to show up to testify, they get thrown in jail, but when it's an officer shooting someone, apparently they are within their rights to not even make an appearance.

- As we already knew, the police has for years gone against its own policies and failed to conduct "after-action" training reviews of police-involved shootings to prevent future incidents.

and, finally, two years ago Bealefeld justified not releasing the names of officers to the public because their own internal investigations are so thorough. "But the report found that in practice, the internal affairs unit defers to homicide detectives and waits until the criminal case is resolved — which can take months and in some cases more than a year, 'delay[ing] the Department's ability to determine what policies were violated or how it might improve its practices.'"

So what is it going to take to get an independent review board in this town?
So far this year we've had $1.2 million worth of extra tax dollars going to compensate victims of police malfeasance, how many citizens shot by police? 1, 2, 3.. a bunch. Also an officer dealing heroin out of the NW District Police Station, the towing scandal, 30 percent of rape cases being deemed "unfounded" ... what is it going to take?

Without demonstrable integrity, the police department loses its legitimacy. With no legitimate police force, people take the law into their own hands and refuse to cooperate, making community-based policing impossible. Citizens take the law into their own hands. If the mayor, Bealefeld and Robert Cherry are genuinely committed to a fair and responsive police force that holds protecting citizens as its top priority, they would welcome a standing independent review board, one with subpoena power and the ability to make recommendations. Seventeen out of 50 largest cities have this, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami, San Diego and Pittsburgh. The fact that the mayor, chief of police and head of the police union support the BPD conducting its affairs in secrecy and answerable to no one is a spitwad on the cheek of every tax-paying citizen in this sorry burg.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Sleazy, sad and evil

Police have released video of the suspects wanted in the murder of Freddie Jones Jr. near the Yau Brothers on Monday. Lowell Melser reports that the robbery netted $13-- the exact same amount Charles Bowman was murdered for, which sounds a little too coincidental to be true.

Two shootings yesterday near Franklintown Blvd & Edmonson Ave

The Dept of Labor is suing Baltimore Behavioral Health for withholding financial records. A Sun investigation uncovered veritable assloads of shadiness at the supposed treatment clinic, including stolen retirement funds, Medicaid fraudsters on the payroll, and family members of the director pocketing six-figure salaries.

Judge Ben C. Clyburn has issued a “stay” on 3,878 debt col­lec­tion cases brought by two com­pa­nies whose busi­ness licenses have been sus­pended

After liberating Libya, Matthew VanDyke is now headed home to work on his memoirs

No bail for a woman arrested here and charged with running a prostitution ring in El Paso

A prisoner named Derontay walked away from a work detail in Glen Burnie yesterday, but was soon recaptured

Down in Bethesda, Brittany Norwood was found guilty of murdering co-worker Jayna Murray

A thoroughly depressing suspected grandson/grandma murder/suicide in Parkville

The City Paper has their election endorsements. Wouldn't it be nice if Pistol Pete got rousted?

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Dead Man Inc. Indictments

22 members of the infamous Dead Man Incorporated were indicted in federal court today. Among the bevy of crimes the 18 men and 4 women indicted were charged with are the 2009 murders of James Flanary, Tony Geiger, Eugene Chambers, & Walter Milewski.

Indicted Members Are:

Perry “Saho the Ghost” Roark, age 42
James Sweeney, age 34
Nicky Cash, age 46
George "Fat Boy" Treas IV, age 28
Dane Shives, age 22
Michael Anthony Quinn, age 28
Michael “Skinny Pimp” Forame Jr., age 40
Brian Mitchell, age 40
Richard Lee Ingram, age 45
Timothy “Fuhrer” Mixter, age 35
John Henry Adams, age 25
Gregory David Cook Jr., age 36
Jeremy Ridgeway, age 22
John William Zion Jr., age 27
Russell Bernard Hartman, age 29
Bonnie Rice, age 35
Kelly Witter, age 26
Charles Robert Gray Jr., age 31
Edward Adam Mueller, age 31
Melanie Holquist, age 28
Scott William Jarriel, age 28
Gary Charles Horton, age 26

Despite the vast majority of members having long, serious, and violent criminal records, information was quite difficult to find on the indicted members. If you find any more information on the indicted, let us know.

"her buttocks had scratches"

The investigation into the shooting of William Torbit Jr. is reportedly complete, with results expected to be released to the public tomorrow (my money's on Friday afternoon, though...)

Walter Bishop Jr. got life without parole, which of course means he's eligible for parole in 25 years. Sentencing for handgun and conspiracy charges are still TK, though.

The accusation of sexual assault at Occupy Baltimore was unfounded, say police. Apparently a woman woke up to find that "her buttocks had scratches" and there was "$1,800 missing from an envelope in her purse." Who could sleep through a buttock-scratching? Who keeps $1,800 in their purse? And what's the next step for these occupiers, anyway?
.. in other protest-y news, a petition is circulation calling for greater transparency and more community participation from the Greater Baltimore Development Corporation, and protestors are gathering at 36 South Charles at 5 p.m. on the 7th, "where some sunlight can hopefully be cast upon these matters"

OH and here's some shady-sounding shiz: The Brew reports that the Board of Estimates has just approved a new no-bid contracting process that will have contractors selected by a five-member board instead of via competitive bidding. I don't see how such a system could possibly invite corruption, do you?

County police are ISO this lumberjack-looking guy for robbing an Essex CVS. He's also guilty of gross and willful fashion violations-- black jeans and white sneakers, yech.

THIS is a good idea: the city got a grant to build a child-custody handoff center. (... how bananas is it that a husband could try to strangle his wife, but still have unsupervised visits with kids?!)

Two drug-toting individuals are in custody after causing a flaming crash a few blocks from City College yesterday

Puke sandwiches: politicians line up to praise the honesty, integrity and overall super-fabulousness of Ulysses S. Currie. Closing statements in that case are apparently going on right now.

Former city solicitor Ralph Tyler, defender of many a police misconduct lawsuit, is joining the local mega-firm of Venable LLP.

Curtis Lopez, accused killer of Jane and William McQuain, is OTW back to MD from NC. .. apparently in these extradition cases the perp actually rides on a commercial airline handcuffed to a Marshall. If that's true, is the perp allowed to get little pretzels and half a Coke?

Walter Bishop Dodges Death

A Harford County jury has decided against the death penalty for Walter Bishop, and apparently against life w/o parole as well.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

172, 173

A man was fatally shot in the 2900 block of Greenmount Avenue yesterday evening after being robbed in front of the Yau Brothers carryout, and during prime trick-or-treating hours, no less.

Richard A. Ford Jr., shot in 1998 on York Rd. in Govans, has died of shooting-related injuries.

A man was arrested in the tan van teen gang rape case: one Lucky Christopher Crosby Jr., 22, who was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet at the time.

It is your right to videotape the police. But that apparently doesn't mean they can't threaten to arrest you on some BS charge and erase everything on your phone anyway.

Violence in Waverly

Fatal shooting at the Yau Brothers carryout on Greenmount. This is the second fatal robbery at that establishment in less than two years.

Rape Assault alleged at Occupy Baltimore

Some tension at the Occupy Baltimore protest