Gun-stealing baby

 Sharmell Thomas

Des'Marie Braxton

Sharmell Thomas, now 23, was convicted of killing his girlfriend's 14-month-old child, Des'Marie Braxton, while he was babysitting her. Damn, I've read/written those words a lot of times. Sigh. Thomas was an aspiring actor and model, but he'd also been charged with assaulting a police officer, and at the time of Braxton's death there was a warrant out for his arrest for assaulting the child's mother, who nevertheless left her alone with Thomas for several days. You might recall Thomas has an eerily portentous Myspace page with sayings on it like, "YES I Am A HEADHURTER..lol" "OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS THAT WE ARE POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE" and "its not how u start its how u finish."

#71: shooting death in the 600 block of Cokesbury Ave.*

"Dominic Matthews, 40, pled guilty this week to shooting his former girlfriend for refusing to marry him."

O'Malley signed that bill abolishing the Death Penalty, making MD the 18th state to do so.

Well, you can't bitch about what you don't know about: journalists were apparently (illegally) locked out of a speed-camera meeting with Brekford Corp.* Concurs an unnamed rep of the Maryland Drivers' Alliance:

The city created meeting minutes 5 months after the original meeting dates in order to respond to the complaint (the state's Open meetings law requires minutes to be kept for public meetings). In the minutes from the one meeting in November 2013 which I personally (only because I was informed of the meeting date by a member of the press and had demanded the opportunity to present evidence of speed camera errors), none of the other speakers were named and none of the details of the testimony and evidence presented by me or anyone else was listed... the document was clearly hastily put together based on someone's foggy recollection that a meeting had taken place that day.

Area dog thefts are on the rise,* and it's not just purebred puppies, neither. (Aiee, warning if you are a Sun subscriber, reading this article will subject you to a very loud advertisement).

Charges were dismissed yesterday against Robin McCoy, accused of randomly attacking a woman with a hammer on E. 25th St.

Six MD veterans are in trouble after allegedly falsely claiming that they were exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

A man was arrested for shoplifting 13 bars of soap at Herman's Discount on Greenmount; a man in Better Waverly claims his gun was stolen by a baby; a tuxedo was stolen in Hampden. 

 From Carrie Wells' Twiiter. LULZ!

The Sun's Ian Duncan was on TV last night, discussing the jail situation with horrible human being Bill O'Reilly.

On the ball

Long festering, well documented: "Maryland officials on Wednesday approved a $40,000 settlement with a former inmate who alleged that he was repeatedly assaulted after trying to back out of a smuggling operation with a prison gang that included a corrections officer." Wonder if said officer is still working there? Last week the Daily Beast interviewed Gary Maynard. "His golf partner rang at one point, too, wondering, Maynard guessed, if their golf game was still on. It was. 'I will be hitting the ball with great intensity,' he says."

 Sgt. William Hawkins

Well, at least one corrections officer is on leave: Sgt. William Hawkins, who met a man online for sex and then pointed a gun at him when the man asked him to pay for it. Surely despicable, but what kind of gigolo doesn't ask for the money first?

A Mt. Vernon man was pepper-sprayed and mugged by cross-dressing teenagers, and local property-management company says there have been four similar attacks.

WJZ's got a video of a man getting the living shit beat out of him at the Windsor Inn in Windsor Mill last Saturday.

O'Malley is expected to sign the bill repealing the death penalty today. The fate of the five men currently on death row-- Jody Lee Miles, John Booth-El, Anthony Grandison, Vernon Lee Evans Jr., and Heath William Burch--  is not clear.

Speaking of O'Malley, here's a relief! A national poll shows support for his presidential candidacy at one percent. Hillary's in first, of course, and in second place? "DK/NA."

The Ink recaps murders 64-67

Retired city cop Mark Heygood soothes his nerves by building robots.

No good deed etc etc

#70: unnamed man, 1200 block of Walters Ave,* not too far from where the Feds seized guns last Thursday, coincidentally or not. And two more shootings and a stabbing in the past day.

No shirt, shortlock: inmates push corrections officers' boundaries;* O'Malley's never cared about prison reform.*

Remember that badass deputy in HarfCo, Christopher Behles, who got into a fender-bender, then was dragged by a car when the suspect, William Harvey V, tried to flee? Well, he's now facing reckless endangerment charges, because no good deed etc etc.

O'Malley's fixing to sign that BS medical marijuana bill, the one that gives all the green to "Academic Medical Centers" and does nothing about the issue of 1% of the city's population getting arrested for pot possession every year.

Trial might actually start Monday for Markell Shelton Jones, who at the age of 17 was caught on tape murdering Freddie Jones Jr. (no relation) at the Yau Bros. carryout at 29th & Greenmount, was turned in by his parents and confessed. In 2010, 72-year-old Charles Bowman was also murdered at the Yau Bros in a robbery that netted his killers $13, and two people were killed there in 2009.*

'Calm down, your girl is hot looking'

 Larry Markez

Missing 13-year-old boy, Larry Markez (sp?), last seen on East Preston St.

A second arrest for the murder of Cheesecake Factory employee Anthony Black,* one Derek Schuler, who allegedly helped stab Black to death for objecting to his and his friend's drunken sidewalk venery.

Bro Derek.

Larry Horton took an axe* and gave Ryan Jackson 24 whacks. When she heard what he had done, his mother wailed, "not my son!"

Awful: alleged victim of a road-rage murder Anthony Cannady was shot in the back in front of his two daughters.

"I've left this to my God's will,*" said Mimi Quezada, mother of two of the children allegedly slain by Espinoza/Canela, and the only one of the family to not say Policarpio didn't do it. Rather remarkable that after almost a decade no one but she in the family apparently speaks any English, ¿no?
 

Tiffany Linder

Doubling down like a KFC sandwich, O'Malley repeated to reporters that he supports the state's prison chief, Gary Maynard, and called the BGF indictments "a very positive development." Mmkay. From the perpetual o'candidiate I can almost understand that tone, but why the flattering edvertorial in the Sun*? Is he the Mata Hari of Baltimore, with dirt on everyone in town? And whoa, one of Bulldog's babymoms, Tiffany Linder, also made a court appearance. Eight months pregnant is no joke-- she looks like she's fixing to strangle Jayne Miller with a hemorrhoid.

Guns were seized by postal inspectors at 4903 St. George's Ave (in the NE) in a hush-hush Federal investigation. 

D'oh! Robber steals from Charles Street Safeway, assaults security guard, drops and leaves his ID behind.

You can now report your car break-ins online so as to proceed to have them not investigated more efficiently.

Prepare your diddleyhole: Baltimore Redditors are swapping Baltimore Detention Center stories.

 

Plots thicken

Life for Policarpio Espinoza Perez, for three counts of conspiracy to commit murder. So he's 31.* At 40k a year if he lives to 70, that's $1.5 million to imprison him. Are we sure we don't want to outsource this to Mexico?

Daniel Nicholson, the lead detective in the Phylicia Barnes case, was officially charged with assault, burglary and making false statements to police.* Michael Johnson's appeal is set to start next month. Tweeted Fenton, Nicholson's charges are beyond the statute of limitations, yet his attorney agreed to them. Johnson's attorney says the charges prove that the police were sitting on the case, and it's kind of hard to disagree.

Oh my. Nick Mosby's wife, Marilyn, is planning to run against Bernstein for state's attorney,* blaming him for the (latest) BGF prison scandal, which, of all the things to accuse him of, makes the least sense, given that the state is in charge of the prisons. Also today, uberous inamorato "Bulldog" pleaded not guilty.* Scott Calvert Tweeted that he's being held in solitary in Hagerstown and is now moving to Cumberland.

And a guilty plea for malefactor mom Veronica Alford,* who helped cover up Monae Turnage's homicide.

A Co for Hoes

A road-rage murder on Erdman Ave,* the victim, homicide victim #68, was ID'd as Leon Cannady, age 26.*

Alleged child rapist John Merzbacher is petitioning SCOTUS to intervene in his case.* I'm sure they're all like, yeah, we'll get right on that. (Hey, Tricia Bishop's back!)

Sentencing scheduled for today for Policarpio Espinoza Perez.

Polygraphs for prison guards*? Aren't polygraphs admissible nowhere? Paging Byron Warnken! And is it just me, or is this prison scandal really only a scandal because of the four pregnant guards*? Four years ago we had a very similar scandal, with 24 indicted and tales of kitchen whoring, smuggled salmon, and oh yeah, cell phones. Lamentations were uttered, but it never made national news, I don't think. What I wonder: how do they know that these babies are all Bulldog's?

Report: city cocaine prices hit a high of $40k a kilo* last December.

The DOJ would like you to know that they are prosecuting the fuck out of some counterfeit-goods cases.

Anti-Semetic pamphlets in Timonium, a robbed Dunkin Donuts, a man kidnapped in Elkridge in the Patch blotter.

A man shot in the abdomen on Bonsal Ave*

A suspiciously dead body in a pool in the county*

Zeeshan Siddiqui

The G&M crab cake store was robbed. A guy was also stabbed to death there in 2007.

Eleven arrested in HoCo for running a HoCo, including the swarthy, squnity pimp at left.

Really? The circuit court is going to hear George Hughely's appeals (though only on a few small points).

Meanwhile in PGC, a teen allegedly set his house on fire because he was allegedly pissed at his family. Then he waited on the burning roof for the FD.

Cowboy hats

Kelvin Moyd, 49, was murdered in broad daylight in Belair- Edison.*

Today in fecund felon news, ooo, a "special session!" Are lawmakers going to ride the short bus to get there? Correction, WBAL, Tavon "Bulldog" White actually reportedly fathered five children/fetuses, two with the same guard, if el WaPo is to be believed. Reportedly officials knew about the gang ties of 11 corrections officers as far back as 2006 and five of the alleged gang members are still working there.* The official response in 2006? A demand from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services that the guy who wrote the report stop writing reports. And not too long after that, the General Assembly passed a law giving corrections officers more protections from being fired.

And a bureau of prisons employee has admitted to taking kickbacks from a moving company used to relocate prison employees.

Terry Addison, alleged BGF member arrested for the murder of 16-year-old Daniel Pearson in 2012 and currently in the Detention Center for an armed robbery, is now reportedly paralyzed from the waist down. Wonder if Bulldog had anything to do with that.

 Aaron Pross will enhotten
your Pinterest

What 16-year-old girl doesn't want a picture of a County officer in uniform fapping on the job*? Not hot, Aaron Pross.

Two men robbed of cowboy hats; suspects arrested wearing hats.

Unshocking news: Maryland second in abusing Federal-program call phones. "At home I have about thirty!"

Lots of car break-ins in the Northern

Cantonites are pissed as hell and they're not going to take it anymore: enjoy videos such as "Joe Flacco fan pissing on own car" and "the pisswalker."

Hit after hit

Today in jailhouse-broom-closet-sex news, as word of the detention center indictments spreads, the governor's spokesperson told team Duncan/Cox that he "has full confidence in Gary Maynard."* Oh, Malley. If taxing the rain wasn't the final nail in the coffin of any prospective presidential run, then there went the final thwack. Ian Duncan uncovers the legal protections that make it close to impossible to fire prison guards.* Professional concern troll Dan Rodricks has a question: did the Detention Center guards impregnated by Tavon White apply for paid maternity leave*? And finally we have a picture of the clink Casanova, who knew when he saw you patrolling the cell block that the two months he spent fermenting garbage-bag wine would not go to waste.

Warren Stevens, 50, was convicted of attempting to rape his 10-year-old niece, who escaped him.

Oh no! Cuddly ex-con Ed Norris was taken to shock trauma after a serious motorcycle accident.*

Two Mexican brothers, "Piza" and "Elmer," got six and eight years, respectively, for selling almost 10,000 fraudulent documents, including Social Security cards and green cards.

Bodacious federal drug bust: 500 pounds of pot, 220 of cocaine. (Wonder why is pot measured in English, but cocaine is metric?)

'A' is for Antwan

The man shot while trying to escape Central Booking was ID'd as Antwan Bond, age 22.

History corner: you probably knew about Roland Park, Northwood and Guilford's racially restrictive property covenants, forbidding the use or occupancy by blacks, Jews or "orientals" until 1917. But did you know that Morgan Park, near Morgan State University, was the only neighborhood in the country that barred ownership by any non-African-Americans? (No, WYPR, that is not "reverse segregation," it's just segregation.)

Really, Sun headline writer?

Hot pregnant messes

A boy, age unknown, was shot in the head last night in Gwynn Oak,* and a man shot himself in the leg.

Despicable: it's been determined that Ronald Cox, killed by police in Reisterstown last summer* after they busted into his house and he tried to defend himself with a sword, was the subject of a County no-knock raid (and was not even the person police were looking for). Fatal no-knock raids are apparently rather common.

The body found yesterday on Loyola Southway was ID'd as that of missing Marcus 'Anton' Lesane.* Tweets Fenton, "His body was found by someone digging through this pile looking for something of value." Fenton also posted a poignant pic on Instagram (right).

Whut. Jailbird BGF chief Tavon "Bulldog" White got four Central Booking guards pregnant* (and as it happens, all 13 of the indicted guards are female.). According to a wiretap, the BGF kept prison violence down, put out and let guards drive their schweet drug-dealer cars in exchange for guards turning a blind eye to sex, drugs, phones and smuggled salmon. Two of Bulldog's babymoms, Jennifer Owens and Katera Stevenson, apparently so enjoyed the broom-closet sex that they got themselves tattoos of his name. Also indicted: Hamma Head, Maine and Monster.

Even for the town that invented the clusterfuck, the speed camera situation is a special hot mess. The judge Mrs. Martin O'Malley was forced to void more than 6,000 tickets* after Xerox skipped town without leaving behind the evidence needed to convict drivers of cited vehicles.

The Ink details last week's five murders (correction from yesterday: East Trenton, where a man's body with facial lacerations was found, is behind the Miracle Temple Church of the Harvest. It's West Trenton that's behind the McDonald's).

A man was stabbed inside MedStar® Harbor Hospital on S. Hanover.

North Baltimore blotteriana: eight cans of Red Bull, 1995 Jaguar, church laptops.

NYMag's James Gleick nails it: the modern media environment is "Total Noise, only louder."

joder la policía

One guy is dead and two injured after a police-involved shooting last night in the 2700 block of Edmonson Ave.*

A man was shot to death at 8:22 this morning in the 2600 block of Loyola Southway.

A man was found dead of laceration wounds behind the North Avenue McDonald's on Trenton St. Saturday night. Yes, the McDonald's with the vittlevayor®.

An update on the shooting at Central Booking yesterday, a guy being held on loitering charges was shot trying to scale the fence (though police say he was not just loitering, but also opening unpurchased bags of chips)*.

A shooting on Marbourne Ave in South Baltimore.

Twenty-five Black Guerrilla Family members and 13 corrections officers were reportedly indicted in a racketeering conspiracy inside Central Booking. You'll recall that 24 members of the BGF were indicted in 2009 for smuggling cell phones, drugs and tobacco into prison with the help of corrupt guards.

Ronaldo Martin was apparently arrested for saying"fuck the police" and those bon mots alone. Page Croyder calls bullshit, and now that song is going to be stuck in my muthafuckin head all muthafuckin day. (Can't find the official video anywhere, but at least that one has Spanish subtitles. Can you believe that album is 25 years old? And still holds up.).

What the hell, Hampden? A guy pulled a gun on a woman after she accidentally bumped into him (she even said "excuse me"!) in the 3900 block of Falls Road.

Media blabber: how horrible are the Koch Bros.? Tribune employees now say Rupert Murdoch is looking pretty good. Related: job site careercast.com deemed newspaper reporter the worst job of 2013.

Happy surprise drug test day

Two shootings Saturday night.

Trial is scheduled to start today for Quinton Bass, the man accused of murdering Alex Ulrich in Mt. Vernon.

Whoa, man. Apparently 6,005 people were arrested on marijuana charges last year,* which is, incredibly, the lowest number since 2008. Of those, the majority had less than two teaspoons of pot, and 93 percent of arrestees were black.

by Fenton

Here's the full story on Friday's dirt bike and puppy seizures*

Harry Davis, 22, was convicted on 2nd-degree murder charges. "Davis approached four young men sitting on the porch of a home in the 500 block of East Lynn Avenue and asked if they wanted to join his gang. When they declined, Davis laughed at them and said, "I'm gonna rob ya'll." Several hours later, he returned, pulled out a shotgun, and started shooting at them. He struck two of the young men. Stray bullets also hit a woman who happened to be exiting a neighboring home with her husband at time. She suffered eight gunshot wounds and died from her injuries."

Deeply Creepy Music Teacher
Lawrence Joynes, 54

Remember that deeply creepy MoCo music teacher with child porn on his computer? Apparently some of the videos were actually made in his classroom, and parents are understandably freaking out wondering where the images of their children have wound up. Also, he had the name of one of his students tattooed on his shoulder.

Raven Rolando McClain was arrested for disorderly conduct in Alabama.

Ever since it burned down and was re-opened, the Towson CVP has been a hotbed of nefarious activity. There was that shooting last December, and then a guy was stabbed and two guys were arrested Saturday night/Sunday morning. UPDATE: stabbed guy was ID'd as Ryan Scholthauer, a former U of MD football player, and the fight was over some girl's honor.*

Colin Wolf, 19, was arrested for killing his two-year-old neice in HarfCo, and a 50-year-old man was murdered in Edgewood

Media blabber: sounds like the Koch Bros are pretty serious about buying the Tribune Co. (NYT link)

Never mind that the Feds already monitor everyone's email and millions of people's cell phone activity, yet no one noticed one of the Boston bombers posting YouTube videos re. jihad, or that ubiquitous cameras did catch the bombers-- the "national security" lobby is using the Boston tragedy to push for even more surveillance. 

anything for u

A "domestic dispute" involving two women, a running gun battle and a 42-year-old male suspect dead in the 3400 bock of Foster Ave in Canton last night. One of the women was reportedly the suspect's wife.*

Boston bomber brothers' uncle lives in Maryland, in Montgomery Village (near Gaithersburg) and was named as Ruslan Tsarni, he's apparently who the FBI have been getting much of their info from, but thanks to the media publishing his name and photo his life is probably going to be hell from now on. Wait, Ruslan? I feel like I've seen that name somewhere before recently...

Are city police underreporting rapes (still/again*), or are they just bad at math*?

Wardell.

One Wardell Blackwell got himself in a barricade situation over an iPhone in Worser Waverly.

A decade for "Dready" the gun-and-Taser-toting heroin dealer.

A home invasion robbery in Medfield.

"anything for u": A guilty plea for illegal computer access from a former city officer, Keith Nowlin, who searched MVA records at the behest of drug dealer Marvin Mobley.

"Harford County's top prosecutor said Wednesday that he does not have enough evidence to show that Alexander Kinyua is criminally responsible for killing a family friend and eating his organs* last year."

Triple shooting at The Loft, a redneck bar in Essex*

Remember Senator Thomas Bromwell? William Bond is still pursuing the case, and here's an Op-Ed from him.

Squee!

Dirt bikes confiscated, adorable puppies found (including one inside a shipping crate, says Fenton).

A HarfCo Sherriff's deputy was arrested for giving a Baltimore towing company classified info on where to find cars that were due for a repossessing.

Need tips on how to be a better criminal? There's a subReddit for that. Also for opiate addicts, plushies with zoophile tendencies, and people who are totally not addicted to meth (why turtles?). Also, don't click any of those links at work. Or ever. Forget I posted them. Oh, and CISPA passed. Could this week suck any worse? One day left to find out!

Taggants

Word of the day: taggant: noun, a substance added to a product to indicate its source of manufacture, as in taggants were used to solve a car bombing in Baltimore in 1979, but due to the lobbying power of the NRA, while taggants could be added to explosives in this country, they are not.

 Anton Lesane

The BPD reported a homicide at 3800 Clifton Avenue, the city's 60th of the year. The victim was ID'd as 21-year-old Andrew Morris.

So you probably heard about Johnny Johnson, high on a speedball and going 100 mph* on 83 before he killed that poor Orioles fan.

Marcus Lesane, known as Anton, went missing on Sunday and his family presumes he's dead.* How could someone go missing under such flagrantly suspicious circumstances-- keys dangling at the damn car door-- and the police not even send out a damn Tweet about it? How hard is it to Tweet a damn Tweet? Sorry to cuss but damn.

A home invasion* a block north of Patterson Park

Way to ride some azz, Scott Calvert and Luke Broadwater. The city has suspended the use of speed and red light cameras* (for the moment) after the new vendor's cameras showed ticket errors. Oh and BTW the Brew reports that the city just forked over $2.2 million towards these cameras. Even though Brekford's set to get a hefty illegal bounty on proceeds.

So schadenfreudelicious: David Cordish was reportedly swindled by a tax-haven crook.

Stolen guns in Essex and burgled cars in Pikesville in the Patch blotter.

If you missed the Ken Burns documentary on the Central Park Five you can watch it on the PBS website.

A six+-bullet weekend

A 16-year-old was shot last night in the 1600 block of N. Ellamont St., a 19-year-old was shot Saturday night on N. Eden St., a man was shot in the 3300 block of Belair Road and a guy was shot in the leg on the Alameda.*

Tanya Raymond

The female victim of a shooting Friday in the SW on Kinsey Aveue, Tanya Raymond, died of her injuries. UPDATE: 22 year-old Gerald Gaffney was arrested.* He certainly looks the part.

Gerald Gaffney

And another female victim was shot Friday night on Vine St. on the West side

SCOTUS declined to hear a case challenging restrictions on concealed-carry permits, in a case from the 2nd circuit that sounds quite similar to Woollard.

Waverly homicide: William G. Jackson died April 6 after being shot the day before in the 3600 block of Old York Rd data.baltimoresun.com/homicides/vict…
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 15, 2013

Seriously, Michael Smith? What the hell is wrong with you? Dude was arrested after injuring his 9-month-old child in a domestic violence incident.

Gak! Human remains found in a garage is Essex*

Another day, another BGE scam, this one over the telemaphone.

Allegedly racist, sexist 1st Mariner Bank is now off FDIC supervision.

Police still don't know who kidnapped Vi Ripken* (or who, like, committed 60% of the city's murders last year either).

The Jarrett trial goes on, with defense lawyers arguing that just because Christine Jarrett went missing, and just because her husband was seen pouring cement in his back yard in the middle of the night, and just because she happened to be found under the cement, doesn't mean that her abusive ex did it.* That George Psoras must have been so much fun for his parents as a kid.

Breitbart is awful, no doubt, but you have to enjoy the headline "Maryland Governor Taxes Rain."

Take the pot, leave the guns

Celine Foster

Two teenagers are missing in the area: Celine Marie Foster, 14, is missing and reportedly suicidal; Alondra Cornee Johnson  is 7 months pregnant.* Can't find a picture of Johnson, other than the very old and fuzzy one on her Facebook page, but she was "last seen wearing a green or black shirt, purple skirt with small white circles and black sandals. Jackson drives a 2005 Chevy Malibu with Maryland tags, 8AY3315. She was seen in the 6000 Unit block of White Stone Road, 21207 at around 2:15 p.m."

The Sunpapers addresses that age-old and oft-asked question: is there such a thing as a heat crime? With eight people shot on a 96-degree day in April it would seem so, but apparently there's no conclusive evidence either way.*

Horror in HoCo: Robert Jarrett III testified against Robert Jarrett Jr.*

John M. Thompson

Down in the 'deener, police seized more than 30 weapons plus some marijuana from one John M. Thompson, age 45, who had also barricaded his door and fashioned some kind of sniper blind behind it and also had guns trained at his windows. Americanly, the marijuana was illegal but the guns weren't.

The Glen Burnie chef who wrestled a rifle away from a robber and hit him on the head with it talked to WBAL.

A woman was home-invaded, beaten and raped in Lutherville/Mays Chapel. Also in Lutherville, the old fake-BGE-guy scam.

With tax day on Monday, the SAO would like to remind you of all the tax evaders that they've known before.

Poor Towson U. First the plagiarizing professor, then the baseball team, then the racists, and now:
SCAM ALERT-Beware of calls from (301) 653-5495
On 04/10/2013 University Police received a request for assistance from a TU student’s family indicating the student had been abducted and that a $500 ransom had been demanded. Upon checking, it was determined that the TU student had not been abducted and was found safe on campus.

Investigation revealed that in the last several months, more than 10 telephone scam cases have been reported to law enforcement throughout this region that involves cell phone number (301) 653-5495. The scams involve the caller stating the recipient’s family member has been involved in an accident or even kidnapped. The caller will not know the family members name. The scam involves the demand for money to be sent by wire transfer or money order and directs the recipient not to involve the police. Law enforcement has tracked the caller’s phone to Puerto Rico. Because the nature of the calls involve the safety of family members, a call recipient may miss critical clues and become traumatized unnecessarily. Please note the phone number in this alert and be aware of the scam.

Trigger fingers thawed

Warm weather makes Baltimoreans go wacko! Six Seven Eight shootings between 6:30 p.m. yesterday and 2:12 a.m. today,* all are still alive, and all cases apparently lack any known suspects or motives.

Murder trial for Robert Jarrett Jr. started today,* he's accused of killing his wife and burying her in his HoCo backyard in 1991. Jarrett's defense lawyer, George Psoras, sounds insufferably sarcastic and snide-- "Good luck with that."

Brekford Corp's speed-camera contract was approved by the Board of Estimates.*

Fifteen years for nine-time convicted gun-toting felon Derrick Woodlon.

Cameron Serafin

AP- "Poverty's Grip Seen Across Baltimore."

The manager of Mo's Seafood, Dundalk branch, was shot by a robber

A five-year-old, Cameron Serafin, was kidnapped by his non-custodial mother in Fairfax county, VA-- keep an eye out, please.

Baltimore might tolerate a little Bolivian marching powder being sold here and there, but Altoona, PA, not so much. Yet another dealer, 52-year-old Kenneth Piner, was found guilty of 28 drug-related charges. Prosecutions from "Operation Last Call" (not to be confused with the JFK mini-bottle scandal) have been going on since the first bust in 2011-- next up, the Baltimorean "Rocco."

DEA asserts in court docs that current wholesale price of a kilogram of cocaine in Baltimore is $40,000....
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 11, 2013

.. and a flask-sized bottle of vodka

According to Fenton's Tweet feed, it was one crazy violent night last night all over the city, bringing our homicide total up to at least 56. A man was hit on the head with a beer bottle at a bar fight in the 1600 block of Cypress (which might be the county); later he died of his injuries and was identified as Cyrill Montel Holland, age 28. One 69-year-old Herman Cook was stabbed to death on Groveland Avenue in the NW. Baltimore Police Tweeted a shooting in the 6100 block of MacBeth Drive. And Kevin Rector Tweeted "Two shot in Poppleton, one critically injured the other serious but stable; and police also investigating Glen Oaks shooting."

Fallout continues from Kendell Richburg's case-cooking ways-- now four officers have been suspended* in the NW district in connection with the ongoing Federal investigation, though the BPD isn't saying who they are or what they did. Richburg's attorney, Warren Brown, blames the fake arrests on the pressure police feel. " if the curtain was pulled back, you would see that his M.O. was standard operating procedure. That's the way a lot of them work, because they're being judged by those numbers."

WTF?! A man and his four-year-old daughter were shot while sitting in their car in Overlea.

The Murder Ink covers murders 50-53, plus updates.

The NRA's president says the group plans to take Maryland's new gun law to court.* Meanwhile, both  the NYT and Bloomberg are painting rosy, backlit pictures of our gov as a progressive heartthrob.

Fenton talked to a neighbor* about the murder of Mark Dukes at 336 Payson St. on Monday: "After the first shot, I screamed and dropped to my knees and ran upstairs," said the woman, who identified herself as Cheryl Nancy, 25. Two of her four children stood on the front stoop, near a pack of cigarettes and a flask-sized bottle of vodka."

David Hunter, the first person charged by Bernstein for being a member of a criminal gang, was arraigned Monday and trials were scheduled for April 22 and June 27. Also, Subway-sandwich-shop robber Jamal Bailey is supposed to go on trial Friday.

Remember when the body of Christine Jarrett was found entombed in concrete under a shed on her husband's property in Elkridge? Police say she was killed in 1991, and her husband is finally going on trial, with jury selection due to wrap up today.

A guy was mugged for $200 and a cell phone in Hampden

Here's a feel-good story: a gun-toting robber tried to rob Mikie's restaurant on Crain Highway in Glen Burnie; bad-ass employee took the gun from him and beat him over the head with it. Unfortunately, though, the robber got away.

Sine Die Bloody Sine Die

So Sine Die came and went* with 100+ bills sent to the guv, including a ban on hand-held cell phones while driving, and a ban on cyberbullying, but without a resolution to the pit bill bull, and with Vallario Jr.'s withered haunches resolutely planted on the marijuana decriminalization/taxation bill, HB1453/ SB297, keeping it from being out to a vote in even with 57% of MDers supporting it.

So sad:

Stab victim worked 2 jobs, "an extremely dedicated, hard worker trying to do whatever it took to get back to school”baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…
— Justin George (@justingeorge) April 8, 2013

One Jamal Champan was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2010 slaying of an unnamed victim in the NW

The battle for control of the message, meta edition-*- neighbors are criticizing police silence on 45-minute-hovering-helicopter incidents. Here's a good idea: Seattle has pioneered something called "'tweet-by-beat,' with 51 hyper-local Twitter feeds putting out calls for service — excluding sex crimes and domestic violence — through an automated feed. That was a move made after the agency in 2011 overwhelmed followers of its main account by tweeting nearly every incident reported to police. Police in Cambridge, Mass., in February also began "real-time" tweeting of 911 dispatcher logs."

A police van was in a wreck in Overlea

12-stepping might help you quit drinking, but it can't make you a decent human being, it seems. Are AK-47s even legal here?

Delegate Don Dwyer holding an interesting fundraiser....selling $10 raffle tickets for achance to win AR-15 or AK-47
— Joce Sterman (@jocefromABC2) April 9, 2013

Just spoke with outgoing @baltimorepolice internal affairs chief Williams, who said he leaves extremely bullish on the agency & leadership
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 8, 2013

This HarfCo Sheriff's deputy is such a badass

le dernier jour

The Senate gave approval to the Medical Marijuana bill-- you know, the one that lets Hopkins set up its own pot clinic in 2016 but has such strict strictures it'll help about 20 patients? In the meantime it looks like the decriminialization bill will waste away in Vallario's committee. How... ironic that he says the bill is a "bad message to kids," while at the same time his son has a flourishing practice as a defense attorney defending people arrested on drug charges. Also "ironic"-- his biggest campaign contributors include Lexington National Insurance Company (as in bail bonds), criminal defense firms and a MD gun-rights group.

Why do denizens of the UK have such huge boners for "the Wire"? Dunno, but David Simon was interviewed by the Guardian recently.

Balt city detectives now on Thames St in fells point investigating blood stains and bits of teeth on cobblestone street. Cc @justin_fenton
— Gus G. Sentementes (@GusSent) April 8, 2013

Idiots afoot

Homicide #53 was a man stabbed in the 200 block of East Pratt St. (as in right by Harborplace) after leaving work* at the Cheesecake Factory at around 2:20 a.m. Update: one Matthew James Darby was arrested, and the victim was named as 20-year-old Anthony Black.* Darby, a Frederick resident, has a prodigious criminal record that includes charges for burglary, assault, DUI and drugs.

Homicide #54 was in the 300 block of S. Payson St. this morning*

Alleged local drug kingpin Jeffrey Cofield was arrested in Atlanta. And Jose Rodriguez of Santa Maria, CA, was arrested in Santa Barbara County for an attempted murder here in February. And a Baltimore guy was arrested in DC for sexually assaulting women in a parking garage.

More on the Renior buyer, Marcia "Martha" Fuqua, and the story's starting to sound a little... skecthy. She went to Goucher and MICA (where her thesis involved analyzing a Renior portrait), was studying to be a blackjack dealer, and btw her brother says she didn't buy the painting at a flea market and that it was actually owned by their mom for many years. Hmm.

In North Baltimore, the owner of the Ashland Cafe was robbed and stuffed in a freezer, a guy accidentally shot himself with his dad's .22 and a woman was carjacked after getting Chinese carryout at one of the (increasingly sketchy) mini-malls at Loch Raven & Taylor.

Would the BPD ever consent to this? Ha. But when police in Rialto, CA wore some camera sunglasses, "Even with only half of the 54 uniformed patrol officers wearing cameras at any given time, the department over all had an 88 percent decline in the number of complaints filed against officers." (Thanks Cham!)

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