morning

"The city has recorded 270 homicides, one more than in 2005 ... The most recent victim was Stephen Brunson, 37, whose body was found shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday ... Yesterday, police announced they had identified a body found in Leakin Park on Saturday as Freddie Thornton, a 69-year-old city resident. He had been stabbed repeatedly..."

A article on Christmas in confinement: "The Single Hardest Day Of the Year: Inmates Mark the Yuletide With Reflection and Regret"

File under human trafficking, prostitution: Jair Francis, age 33, of Wheaton, Maryland was convicted of conspiracy to transport hundreds of women for prostitution purposes to Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.
Elsy and Eliazor Aparicio and their mother, Olinda Aparicio (age 65), Dorinalda Aparicio, Manuel and Rosibel Jandres have pled guilty to their involvement in the prostitution ring.

Eight weapons indictments from the feds.

Racketeering conspirator and ex-Sen. Bromwell is stepping down as head of IWIF. Update: What the?! IWIF agreed "to pay former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell $400,000 to step down in advance of his trial on federal corruption charges." Crazy!!

Gift horse dept.:
Mrs. J's theory on her $83k pay raise (as told to Laura Vozzella) is that Kitty wants the job in 2010!

December 25

National: Tempe, AZ: COP WHO MADE BLACK MEN RAP CLEARED

morning

A man was found stabbed to death in Leakin Park.

And, "The body of a missing 74-year-old Dundalk man was found late Saturday in a stream less than a half-mile from where his partially submerged rental car was discovered that morning."

Wow, some schools have taken my advice and added Mandarin! (nothing to do with crime, we know)

RIP, Grandma Ginny. You'd be sorry to hear that the estate tax probably won't be repealed [<-MD TDR sub.]-- though of course you already knew that was never going to happen! You were right all along-- as usual. And yes, Christmas is a good time to remember to rack up deductions.

Merry Christmas, galt, eeb, Snay, Cynic, hocoJoe burger and all my invisible friends!

December 24

"For the first time in decades, Congress is poised to pass a bill that aims to make the lives of prisoners and ex-prisoners easier, not more difficult."

Radio Jamaica: Matt Jablow "tightlipped" on Holder brothers' murder.

It's Christmas in the HoHoHoCo Hotel and Boxing Day extradition for Quebecoise Olympian, child-custody-order violator Myriam Bedard, caught by local police in conjunction with the Mounties at the behest of babydaddy Jean Paquet.

MD in the National spotlight: first the gays, then the jail sex, now today's most-exported story is Executions and the "broad shift in dynamics that has sprung from a narrow ruling."

• A group you don't think about very often: relatives of the executed.
• A mini-profile of the chief of Vernon Evans Jr.'s defense team, Stephen Hut.
• "The worst physical pain being the prick of a needle." A history of executions in MD from the DPSCS.

In Being a Black Man, the Post profiles one of the FBI's top-ranking Negro agents.

A "bandit shot" on Perring Parkway and Hillen right over the County line in the NE.

Hagtown prison is going to start raising drug dogs.

If you think the city's young offenders have it bad, what with being forced to attend classes and all... check out African juvie.

Prosecutors in the Duke lax case had DNA proof back in April-- six months ago-- that the boys (including MD's David Evans, right) could not have been involved.

December 23

How did it get to that? Dept
Former Olympic biathlon gold-medalist and Canada's sweetheart Myriam Bedard was held in Jessup on child abduction charges after U.S. marshals found her and her daughter on the girl's 12th birthday at a hotel.

Andrew Cawthorne, wanted for the County SuperFresh robbery, was arrested.

A man was shot Tuesday afternoon in the leg in the hallway of an apartment building in the 800 block of N. Fulton Avenue, theft and a White Marsh purse-snatching in the blotter.

Samuel Acquah of Bowie got 3 1/2 years in the federal pen for operating a "marriage fraud mill" for Ghanaian immigrants.

Now it's getting interesting!
No doubt inspired by her good showing in the BCrime poll, Del. Jill Carter is jumping in the Mayor's race!
Here's a Jill story from April (with a much better picture). Jill's a nice half-decade above (the royal) us, and we've been shopping for a new Role Model, so Merry Xmas, Jill, you're it! You could not have come at a better time, what with the Britney clam, the Dixon scandals, the arrests, etc. Thanks for stepping up. We suggest Carter rag-doll kits fox X-mas, with pretzel MOM-bashing pintata snack bags...

Hey, Mfume might run, so let's reset and repost the Mayor Poll... that's right, you can vote again!

Dec. 22 nite

Tiffany Gwen Weaver of Resiterstown has become "News of the Weird" fodder in 111 papers worldwide so far, including the NYT, IHTrib and papers in Australia and India, for faking her way into prison with documents using the name of a lawyer out on maternity leave ... all to have full-on relations in front of guards with one Jason Moody, the first-degree murderer (02/03/1975), baby momma to one LaToyrea Thompson, and more (search him on this site or offender search, bookmarked right...)

NIH researcher "Trey" Sunderland III "was ordered to forfeit $300,000 and perform 400 hours of community service but will not have to pay a fine for failing to disclose lucrative consulting work with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer."

Rape charges have been dropped against three Duke Lax players, including David Evans of Annapolis and Bethesda (right). Here's more...

Family Recovery, Part V: "Parents Surmount Temptations in Bid to Get Clean for Keyona"

December 22

Underdog Blog has lots of background links for the Vernon Evans case.
(The Public Defender Blog Guide has a total directory of blogs by, for and about you-can-guess-what).

What the?! Crime is at the lowest level in forty years in the District.
(Though they, too, have an uptick in juvenile crime)

Dirty, dirty: environmental groups allege the Chlalk Point power plant has violated the clean air act thousands of times.

More on murdered Jamaican* immigrants the Holder brothers.

County police are looking for Andrew Cawthorne, left, a third suspect in the Bel Air Super-Fresh shootout that put officer David Garner in the hospital.

Git down bitch!! Git da cigarettes! Hurry UP! A woman in a giant, goofy hat was caught robbing a grocery store eight blocks West of Raven stadium.
(Macy Grey, how far you've fallen...)

PGC: A man's body was thrown out of a car near the intersection of 495 and Indian Head Highway.

A feel-good story about Deputy State's Attorney Laura J. Gwinn, who worked on the racketeering case against MS-13 down South.

James Lubbers, 36, of Olney, got a year for negligent homicide in HoCo. Lubbers killed his co-worker and friend, Carmen White, in a drunk-driving accident on Route 108 with his BMW.

Allegany: In Cumberland, "Operation Community Involvement" and some entity called the C3I Narcotics Unit capped off a year of detective work with a methamphetamine, crack heroin and MJ bust that netted thirteen 'collars.'
Though the headline says 20.

*I'm sure this will confirm Jamaicans' worst suspicions about Baltimore, which has a terrible rep there thanks to The Wire on satellite.

Dec. 21 evening...

The murdered Holder brothers apparently had a running dispute with another pair of brothers, the Minors.

Another fabulous Washington Post series, "Baby in the Balance," about a couple of addicts trying (sometimes) to get custody of their daughter back. There are four chapters out so far.

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Donavon Troy White, 15, of Edenton, North Carolina in the beating death of Joel Bradley, 39. Court documents allege on October 22, 2006 White was seen on close circuit television at the corner of Calhoun and Cumberland Streets assaulting Bradley as he sat on a park bench. Bradley later died of his injuries. An arraignment is scheduled January 25, 2007, Judge Gale Rasin, room 509 Courthouse East.

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Darrell Barnes, 42, of the 5600 block of Leiden Road in connection with the death of Shannon Nanette Jackson, 36. Court documents allege on November 9, 2003 Barnes was the last person seen with Jackson as she left her residence accompanied by Barnes. Ms. Jackson was later found dead in the 5500 block in Moores Run Drive near a stream. An arraignment is scheduled January 26, 2007, Judge Gale Rasin, room 509 Courthouse East.

Horrible child-abuse death of two-year-old Kyla Edwards in Salisbury.

Remember Greg Doda, 18, of Crownsville, who killed Heather Donahue, 29, in a snowboarding accident in Jackson Hole?
He'll spend six months in jail ... and has to write a magazine article (cruel torture!).

December 21

"Two brothers who ran an East Baltimore garage were gunned down execution-style yesterday three hours apart in different city neighborhoods, and police scrambled to protect their families as detectives searched for suspects in the attacks..." Ralson and Everton Holder were partners in a towing business.

A man was shot in the leg in the Western.

"I don’t know what to make of it," said top prosecutor Mrs. J of her 83k raise. The Sun takes a more cynical 'tude, opining that MOM wants to encourage someone to run against his venerable foe.

Ooh, a gang database.
Wonder if it'll be as effective as the domestic-violence database.

Headline of the day: "Investigators: Woman fakes attorney pass for inmate sex"

HoCo police arrested Ronnie Gordon Smoth Jr. for a couple of home invasions after checking pawn shop records.

AAC police are looking for Lamal Lamonte Wise, 17, wanted for killing Marvin Timothy Wilson, 20, of West Baltimore Nov. 15.

In AAC a cold-case rape was solved-- by accident.

Norris for Mayor?

Wow, we were sort of joking putting former Police Commissioner, soap salesman, actor, talk show host and convicted felon Ed Norris on the poll for who should be our next Mayor. After all, BCrime readers are against felons even voting, and anyway, a convict can't run for office without approval of the Governor (or in Ed's case, as it was a Federal conviction, the President himself).

But if Marion Barry could be Mayor of DC, why not Ed, here? It would be a great PR move (we've always felt BMore should embrace its edgy, shocking image), he's certainly one of the most beloved guys in town, and if we're going to live in a police state, we might as well have someone in charge who's seen something of crime and punishment.

And, the campaign would make a great reality show!

Coming in second place in the poll was an even bigger impossibility, Mary Pat Clarke. The inside word is Clarke is ready and psyched to retire and has zero interest in the job.
Smart lady.

So that leaves Keiffer Mitchell Jr., left, as the only viable candidate, with an underwhelming 16 percent of the vote.
We don't know anything about him, other than he looks a lot like Jamie aka "16-piece chicken McNugget Head" from She's Gotta Have It, so we'd better do our civic duty here ...
Looks like he reps the 11th, went to BL (and we hear, taught there briefly), comes from an old well-to-do Baltimore policial family (as in, "Mitchell Courthouse;" see John Sarbanes), lives in Bolton Hill and has two preschool kids and his wife doesn't work.
And he's really young and into education.

YAWN!

Run, Eddie, RUN!
Run like your pants is on fire!

December 20

Hell of a Week in the Ink: "For the fourth time this year there were 10 murders in one week, putting this year's homicide total one above last year's at this time. The city is on pace to match or exceed last year's final total of 269 murders."
No wonder we kept losing count...

• Theodore Caldwell, 29; intersection of West North Avenue and North Mount Street
• Steven Richey, 41; 3400 block of Cliftmont Avenue;
• Joseph Simms, 41; 3900 block of Bonner Road
• Keith Barney, 30; 4400 block of Haddon Avenue
• Ronald Stewart, 29; 4000 block of West Belvedere Avenue
• Christopher Whitfield, 22; 3800 block of Hanover Street
• Kevin West, 39; 2800 block of Virginia Avenue
• Kurt Malone, 19; 1300 block of McCulloh Street
• James Williams, 44; 3700 block of Fairhaven Avenue
• Kenneth Worrell, 28; 800 block of Bethune Road.

The BPB crime lab is now accredited.
Nice news: "In 2001, Koch said, the backlog of cases with evidence awaiting DNA testing stood at 5,100. The backlog now is about 400"

"Mildred E. Boyer, a minority subcontractor with ties to City Council President Sheila Dixon, was charged yesterday with theft, lying on loan documents and filing false tax returns, according to a city grand jury indictment..."
Boyer's company had once employed Dixon's sister.
Doesn't sound like the Dixons did anything illegal, though:
"The indictment mentions a payroll statement as part of Boyer's application for a 2004 car loan that was 'purportedly signed' by Dixon's sister, Janice. But Janice Dixon never prepared or signed the statement."

The newborn was strangled, say prosecutors in the Princess Anne/ Baby Olivera death. The baby was found at Custom Pak, a tomato packaging plant in Westover (20 miles south of Salisbury).

December 19

The Court of Appeals has rejected halting executions on protocol or racial-and-geographic-disparity grounds-- but halted them because the procedures were never approved. The legislature or the gov. will have to approve them now. WW the new gov do?

Tim Evers is 37

"The NAACP* said in court Monday that the Baltimore police department is guilty of a 'larger pattern' of illegally arresting residents."
"Baltimore lawyers said ... that arrests for "quality of life" crimes are not illegal; that the City State's Attorney decision not to prosecute some crimes does not mean those arrests were unlawful; and that using a performance-evaluation system for police officers based on the number of arrests is not unlawful."

"The ACLU also is suing the city and state over what the organizations call a 'gross violation of rights.' The groups say city police officers make 'illegal arrests' and then state jail officials mistreat people taken into custody at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Facility.

The lawsuit accuses the jail of conducting illegal strip searches and holding suspects beyond the statutory time limit of 24 hours."
--
Weekend murder victims Christopher Whitfield 22, and William James, 44, were ID'd.
Keith Worrell, 28, was with the 15-year-old shot in Cherry Hill and has died of gunshot wounds.

Carjacker Keith Ray escaped from the courthouse and onto St. Paul Street, forcing Joe Sviatko to lock his office door.

Psycho in Reist-o
Former Medical Student Mujtaba R. Jabbar, 25, was charged in the County with shooting salesman and aspiring ice skater Paul Schrum at that Owings Mills movie theater near the TJ Maxx.

A "fatal stabbing in Reisterstown and the subsequent police shooting of a man armed with a knife..."

--
Another one of those dead-baby stories. 24-year-old Florentine Olivera was charged with 2nd-degree murder.

--
A man named Carroll and his son Carroll are charged with "animal cruelty, selling contaminated meat and feeding garbage to swine" in (where else?) Carroll County.

--
*Meanwhile, NAACP HQ to GTF out of town!
Wonder if they're going to take Dorothy Parker with them?
We should give them that statue in front of the Train Station as a going-away present...!

December 18

Kevin West, 39; Kirk Malone, 19; and an unID'd man in South Baltimore were all murdered over the weekend.

Marquel Smith, 32, was shot to death in Essex.

In addition to the 15-year-old boy shot over the weekend, two men were shot in the Western (both were sent to Shock Trauma) and a man was shot in the Southeastern. And, in Pikesville, there was a Hannukah double-stabbing in the 4600 block of Old Court Road.

FBI: Crime's up everywhere in America by 4 percent.

Fun! The FBI and local banks are launching an online "Bandit Gallery." Where it doesn't say, somewhere around here we assume?

"Quality is much more important than quantity," Commissioner Hamm opines on the E Letters page.

"A man who was shot by a Harford County sheriff's deputy for holding his pregnant wife hostage and threatening to set her on fire during a 1995 standoff with police was arrested yesterday in York County, Pa., after threatening to set fire to a trailer..."

"Police: Teen Stabbed, Others Struck With Bat During Party" in Crofton.

The perv du jour is, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Michael Malloy, 35, charged with sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography.

WBAL's Chip Franklin: Children "aren't always the victms" in the child welfare system.

December 17 Nite

Executions have been put on hold in California and Florida, as Maryland's top court hears various challenges to the gruesome practice.

Chesterstown police shot toddler-threatening lunatic Clifton Blanchfield, but didn't kill him.

A County officer is in Shock Trauma after an accident on Spooks Hill Road in Hereford.

"... the best ideas become clear through the utterance of weaker ones."
Good Op-Ed about the JHU Party Mess.

December 17

... and Just another terrible day in Murderland!

jeziz. A 15-year-old was shot and is in serious condition in the 800 block of Bethune Road in Cherry Hill.

A hostage situation in West Baltimore ended in suicide.

Horrible: "Lawrence Banks cut a violent path through Maryland on Nov. 19, 1991, shooting an acquaintance in Pasadena after a night of drinking and then killing his own teenage son in Baltimore."
Banks spent less than 10 years in prison, then killed young mother Lisa Brown and her nine-month-old baby in Laurel last Tuesday.

Davon Temple probably got away with double murder, and now he's gotten away with trespassing, too.

HarfCo police arrested one bloody Eveline Bergman, 46, for stabbing her husband to death in Joppatowne.

A drug raid at 2900 West Coldspring Lane (between Wabash and Reisterstown Rds.) unearthed six-figures' worth of various substances.

Under new Federal legislaton, doctors will be able to prescribe "bupe" to 100 city harewin addicts (there's currently a 30 patient limit.)

Baltimore police ID'd the killer of a two-decades-cold murder of 26-year-old nurse Beverly Louise Feight. The DNA of Orrell Youmans, 50, matched when Sgt. Roger Nolan of the cold-case squad ran a sample through the FBI database.

The Post continues the series Being a Black Man.

Stories on the "news" that schoolkids are in gangs were so dumb-n-obvious they weren't worth linking to ... but this high-larious thread of pissy trash talk about it on the Sun forum is!

Some Hampden neighborhood gossip:
When I went to court about the kid who stole my bike last week, the police officer gave me a piece of news about one of my former neighbors on Elm Avenue, a blind guy named Charles (whose house was once set on fire after he let police use it to stake out drug dealers). Anyway, Charles told officer Basil how he came to be blind-- one day he was high on heroin and PCP and gouged out his own eyes!
Wild!

Thanks for the links Simon!

December 16

"... three people were shot Saturday afternoon inside a car in Northwest Baltimore, and one was killed (<259). The car was in front of Booker T. Washington Middle School."

"A 22-year-old man fatally shot in South Baltimore early yesterday (25?) was found by a patrol officer who was close enough to see muzzle flashes and hear gunshots..."

"In a highly unusual acknowledgement of dysfunction in [MD]'s prisons, the administrator in charge of security operations said vulnerable inmates -- especially jailhouse informants -- are routinely attacked even after officials move them to special cells for their protection."

Nine more plaintiffs are suing the police-- specifically regarding the Southeast "SET" team.

Parents of a Cockeysville 10-year-old are a little skeeved that they were only informed that their daughter had an armed, 54-year-old stalker after Stephen Stauffer was arrested. School police say they didnt want to compromise an ongoing investigation.

December 15

Judge Roger W. Brown sentenced Stephanie Madariaga, 27, of the 3300 block of Clarks Lane, to a five-year suspended prison term and three years probation. Madariaga pled guilty August 27, 2004 to accessory after the fact to a homicide in connection to the murder of Kevin Shields, 26. On July 12, 2003 Jason Moody killed Madariaga's ex-husband, Kevin Shields following an argument in the parking lot of Mr. Shields' apartment complex in the 3300 block of Clarks Lane. Madariaga was present at the time of this incident and fled with Moody out of the country. Authorities at Newark International Airport eventually arrested Moody and Madariaga September 10, 2003 as they were returning to the United States from the Dominican Republic. A Baltimore City jury convicted Moody September 8, 2006 of manslaughter and weapons counts and he is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence.

As part of her plea agreement, Madariaga was to cooperate as a State's witness in Moody's trial. Madariaga did testify at that trial, but the State argued at the hearing that she did not testify in accordance to the plea agreement and therefore should receive the maximum penalty, five years in prison. The state introduced into evidence records of more than 400 telephone calls Moody placed to Magariaga since Moody's arrest including a transcript in which they discussed what specific information she would testify to in her plea agreement.

Ronald N. Stewart, 29, of the 4000 block of W. Belvedere Ave. died Wednesday night. Homicide #258, says Gus (who is scheduled to be on Ed Norris this morning at 10:30 with Julie Bike-o-wits for the Friday "round" table).

In the 3700 block of Woodbine Ave. NW a woman was shot in the thigh about 8:20 p.m. yesterday.

The County PO wounded yesterday in the arm and abdomen was German-sheperd handler David T. Garner.

Police are seeking John R. Ridgley IV, 20, of Eldersburg, who stabbed a 21-year-old Kevin Mason in the neck with a knife.

The funeral yesterday for three-year-old Elija Cozart, killed by hit-and-run driver Lazara Arellano de Hogue.

Freezin hell: Jean Marbella has a piece (on Judge Rasin releasing Walter Lomax after 39 years) that only mentions herself once! (...and is even readable, in a disjointed kind of way.)

Like a dog with a bone, E just can't quit the Timothy Gounaris story.
Today's installment, in which The Goun is hired by the same principal twice.
But did the so-called former Principal of the Year knew Mr. Tim's little secret all along?
And isn't eyeliner on a bald man kind of its own flag?
Stay tuned...

Kiss-off lunches of '06:
Vozzella: "Bob Ehrlich gave a farewell luncheon-interview the other day, but only invited reporters from papers that had endorsed him in last month's election. The outgoing Gov didn't just shut out reporters from The Sun ... [but] also excluded scribes from the Associated Press and the Frederick News-Post, news organizations that don't, as a matter of policy, endorse candidates." (Last item)

'06's final Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting was yesterday, but (we hear) Rod J. Rosenstein, Sviatko, old Conaway and old "Old Jerve" (left) were the only Big Names ... Hamm, Dixon, Mrs. J, and, of course, O'Malley were all no-shows ... the soup was Creamy potato and a report on gangs was released.

December 14

Examiner: As of 12 days ago, shootings are up 18 percent, robberies up 9 percent, but a 24 percent decrease in minor sex offenses equals total crime down 3 percent from last year.

ANOTHER, third (as-yet-unnamed) police officer has been shot, this time in Perry Hall in the County, and now that officer is in Shock Trauma and the suspect who shot him is holed up in a shed!

An arrest in the shooting of officer Momodu Gondo, 23. "Collin Hawkins, 24, has been charged with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and two handgun violations." No word on Gondo's condition.
But
Sloe-eyed hot cop Tfc. Eric D. Workman, shot in the lung, can sit up in bed.

Wowee, after 39 years in Jail, Walter Lomax is free.

Frederick Jones, 54, of Columbia, HoCo got life for attacking his ex, Natalyn Tart-Jones, with a machete, cutting off her fingers. Natalyn had a protective order, which Jones violated. A criminal case from two years before had been dropped by the court.

Carmelo Kiyan Anthony is giving back after his appearance in "Stop Snitching"-- he'll be in East Baltimore today to open a "youth center" at 1100 East Fayette.

Speaking of black youths... there's a stat: "For every four black men in college, there are three behind bars."
An interesting idea...
"The report ... endorses the use of more single-sex classes inside regular schools, saying research points to a rise in academic achievement among boys segregated by gender."
...And, the most alarming use of "maybe" in a sentence: "Maybe it is counterintuitive to put children and ex-offenders together. And maybe it's exactly what each one needs." YIEKS!!

Pick up the January issue of Essence magazine, featuring Mrs. J in "The Streets are Watching," an article about witness intimidation in the City.

December 13 Nite

The City Council was supposed to talk about re-opening the Clay case today... wonder what happened with that?